(This past summer, five individuals from Boy Scout Troop 118 participated in the Eagle Scout Court of Honor to receive the highest award in Scouting. To earn their Eagle award, Nicholas Conti, Steven Tucker, Jack Reynolds, Gavin O’Rourke, and Albert Kirienko needed to complete a community service project. Throughout the summer, The Cornwall Local, has described in more detail the work completed by these young men.)

Black Rock Forest played a major role in Nicholas Conti’s childhood. His first campout as a Boy Scout was there in the woods and he’s taken about five other school field trips to learn about the Hudson Highlands, the ecosystem, and the environment. When it came time to choose an Eagle Scout project, there was no doubt it would involve giving back to the forest.

Conti first joined Cub Scouts as a Tiger. His parents wanted him to try a variety of activities, including sports, but it was Scouting that stuck. Over the years, he continued on his quest for Eagle as he enjoyed learning important life skills, as well as hanging out with his friends on a weekly basis. He met a small contingent of kids who grew up together, crossed over from Cub to Boy Scout, and ultimately completed their journey by earning Eagle.

When it came time to choose a project, Conti didn’t consider any others. He knew he wanted to do something in Black Rock Forest, so he met with forest manager Matt Brady to discuss ideas.

Similar to fellow scout Jack Reynolds’ project, Conti removed invasive plants from the forest, but while his companion focused more on replanting native species, he was more driven by the removal of unwanted plants.

The plan entailed removing 1580 individual plants - Burning Bush and Barberry - from an area of the forest off Rt. 9W and replacing them with White Oak, Walnut, Dogwood and Quaking Aspen. The 11 plants were surrounded by wire fencing to protect the vegetation as it grew.

Conti also needed to log how many invasive plants were removed and handed the data over to Brady. Conti explained the forest receives grant money from the state for removing and reporting the elimination of invasive plants.
Conti met before the Boy Scout counsel in early spring last year and received approval without additional modifications. Three, three-hour work sessions were held between April and June last year with five to seven volunteers contributing to the effort each time.

One of the biggest challenges, Conti notes, was having to deal with the heat. Unfortunately, the immediate area where he and his team were working didn’t offer any relief from the sun, so they had to walk a bit to find shade. Conti made sure he had plenty of water on hand.

A second challenge was taking on a leadership role and being the authoritative figure overseeing the project. “A lot of the people who came out to help were friends and classmates,” Conti said. “They’re people I’ve talked to at the same level all my life and now I have to be above them telling them what to do. It’s not something I was used to doing.”

Having worked in a restaurant for four years, Conti took a page out of how he would train a co-worker, by taking a more passive aggressive approach. Not being direct with instructions made the job easier.

“I’m happy with the way it turned out,” Conti said after the project was completed. “It felt accomplished to look back on the area and see how it had physically changed from when I was first there.”

Conti has no immediate plans to return to scouting, but hopes to encourage his kids to join in the future.