WOOD DUCK BOX BUILDING DAY

In fall, 2007 CWA prepared for one of the largest scale Wood Duck nest box building operations it had ever seen. The goal: 250 wood duck boxes in approximately seven hours at Scout Expo 2007.

Early on a September Saturday morning, the CWA area on Beale Air Force Base was bustling with excitement. The entrance was lined with 42 decoys of various duck and goose species beckoning at many curious passers-by. Dozens of CWA volunteers and employees busily assembled tables full of displays and information on CWA programs. The construction stations were set up in front of four heaping stacks of carefully cut and sized wood for each piece of a wood duck nest box. Each volunteer and staff participant, outfitted in a CWA shirt, anxiously awaited the arrival of the first scouts.

Once the building began, there was hardly a moment to take a breath. The scouts came in swarms, anxious to participate in the noisy construction project. Upon their arrival they received a presentation on wood ducks describing everything from their amazing feats as ducklings to their plight from habitat destruction. It seemed that the scouts couldn’t get enough information about the project as they continually asked questions: during the presentation, while they were building their nest box, and even after they had written their troop number on its side. One scout, after just such an interrogation session, exclaimed, “I LOVE Wood Ducks now!”

With the last screw in place and the nest box completed, each construction crew of Boy Scouts carried their assembled nest box to the finishing area. The scouts then spray-painted “CWA” across the front of their masterpiece and signed it with their troop number and box number. Upon completion, each scout received a certificate with a California Waterfowl patch and as they turned the giant score-board style counter to the next number on the way to 250, they rang a large cow bell in celebration of their participation in the conservation project.

When the final cow bell was rung, the scouts, with the exceptional help of the CWA volunteers, had made 262 wood duck nest boxes in about six hours. It's estimated that over 1,000 scouts, leaders, and parents were reached.

Each participant contributed energy, enthusiasm, and fun to the box building marathon, and each of the 1,000 scouts, leaders, and parents left with a new appreciation and understanding of the necessity for conservation and what is being done to help. Educating so many people about such important subjects and having so much fun doing it is reward enough, but thanks to all the efforts of CWA volunteers and the Scout Expo 2007, we also have 262 new homes for wood ducks.