Last February, I received a phone call from a young girl who said in a small but determined voice that her Girl Scout troop wanted to make bird boxes for the birds in Rose Canyon, and could Friends of Rose Canyon help? With that call, fifth-grader Robyn Wilkinson and her fellow Scouts set themselves, their parents and Friends of Rose Canyon off on an adventure that was Troop 3012’s Girl Scout Bronze Award Project. We had no idea how to do this, so we called Richard Griebe, who has built and installed bird boxes in Mission Trails Park for years. In no time, he had secured a grant for materials from the California Bluebird Recovery Program, purchased the lumber, pre-cut the pieces, and brought everything, including power screwdrivers, so that every girl could assemble and decorate a bird box. Then he helped us scout out good locations in Rose Canyon in University City, and taught the girls how to put up the boxes. Most of us would have thought that was the end of it. But the California Bluebird Recovery Program involves something far more interesting: the girls were to go out with a parent every week to monitor and record what was happening in the boxes. Within a few weeks, the first excited emails from parents reported nest building in a number of the boxes. Soon after that, eggs! Then chicks! And by June, empty nests. Gretchen Nell, from Friends of Rose Canyon, helped with the monitoring, collected all the data, and sent it to the California Bluebird Recovery Program. The Scouts also planted native plants that are good for birds: lemonadeberry, toyon and elderberry donated by Recon Nursery. The Scouts planted them on canyon slopes at three homes where the homeowners agreed to care for the plants until they were established and could survive on their own. Troop 3012 has girls from Curie Elementary in University City and Hawthorne Elementary in Clairemont. The purpose of a Girl Scout Bronze Award Project is to make a difference in the community and inspire others to act. Troop 3012 succeeded on both counts. MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Among birds there is fierce competition for suitable nesting spots, so providing additional nesting spots can help the birds reproduce. In addition, for aesthetic and safety reasons people frequently cut down decaying trees that would otherwise provide nest sites. Bird boxes help replace those dead trees with man-made nesting sites. INSPIRING OTHERS TO ACT: The Girl Scouts inspired Friends of Rose Canyon to become involved in a project that we otherwise would not have taken on. We learned a lot, had great fun and saw the benefits for birds. This year, 30 percent of the boxes were occupied, and next year that should go up. There were three species of birds, and that could go up as well. We’ll be looking for new monitors, so let us know if these Scouts have inspired you and you’d like to help. For more information on Friends of Rose Canyon, visit www.rosecanyon.org. — Deborah Knight is the executive director of Friends of Rose Canyon

Save the birds! Local Girl Scout Troop 3012 wants to see nature thrive. So, to start locally, the Junior Girl Scouts — fifth-grade students at Curie and Hawthorne elementary schools — have been working very hard to earn their Bronze Award by helping the birds in Rose Canyon. They got hooked up with Debby Knight and Gretchen Nell from Friends of Rose Canyon, working with a grant for volunteer resources from SDG&E and worked out the details. The girls decided to put up birdhouses in the canyon, and then plant native plants for the birds to eat. “Replacing lost habitats makes sense, since we have destroyed lots of their natural habitats,” said a man that lives on the edge of the canyon. Our Girl Scouts agree that it is the least we can do to make up for the trees we have cut down and loss of bird habitat. To make the nest boxes, the girls got in contact with Richard Griebe, who has made bird boxes for other areas of San Diego. The California Audubon and the California Bluebird Recovery Program, with help from the San Diego Audubon, donated money for the supplies, and the girls set out to build some boxes! They posted 12 boxes in three areas of the canyon, and also planted many native plants. Recon Nursery in Imperial Beach donated the plants. There is a special thanks to the Fortier/Goldstein, Frederich and McLaughlin/Kjellman families for allowing the troop to plant on their property. The girls will spend three months monitoring the boxes and supplying data to the state program. Look for the brightly decorated bird boxes along the trail, but be quiet! There may be bird babies sleeping. Let nature thrive! — Robyn Wilkinson, fifth grade, Hawthorne Elementary School