Game Commission press release — Brianna Weghorst, of Wilkes-Barre, recently completed her Girl Scout Gold Award service project to help area wood duck populations. Weghorst, a member of Girl Scout Troop 33206 in Wilkes-Barre, built 10 wooden wood duck boxes and recently delivered them to the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Northeast Region headquarters in Dallas.
The boxes are artificial nesting structures that provide female wood ducks with ideal places to lay their eggs and tend to ducklings prior to them fledging.
“Wood duck hens typically build their nests in tree cavities near wetlands and, in many areas, they have difficulty finding suitable natural nesting sites,” said Game Commission NE Region Information and Education Supervisor William Williams. “Wood duck boxes provide an excellent alternative to natural tree cavities and placing them in wetlands can increase local duck populations.”
Weghorst spent over 80 hours on the project and said that her biggest challenge was juggling her many other activities and school functions to find time to construct the boxes. The boxes will be placed in wetlands on state game lands by Game Commission wildlife habitat management personnel.
“Brianna did an excellent job in visualizing this valuable project and seeing it to completion,” Williams said. “She gained insight into the interesting aspects of wood duck nesting and brood rearing activities and her project will help boost local wood duck populations.”
The Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout can earn and Weghorst is hoping to be the first scout in her troop to receive the honor. Only about five percent of all Girl Scouts receive the award, but Weghorst would like to see more.
“I wanted to help wildlife and set an example for other Girl Scouts to follow,” she said. “Hopefully, I can encourage others to make a difference in their communities by taking on similar projects.”
