Scout’s ‘golden’ effort to save birds
By Dawn De Busk
Staff Writer
CASCO — Like a songbird announcing spring, 14-year-old Girl Scout Meghan Case has figured out some ways to spread the word about endangered birds in the alpine zone.
Case has chosen a Gold Award project in which she will supply the educational materials to summer camps and provide informational plaques to Mount Washington State Park about the region’s birds that face becoming threatened or endangered.
The young Casco resident started out with what she already loves: Birding and the mountains in Maine and New Hampshire.
“I enjoy birding a lot. I just generally enjoy birding,” Case said.
“When I was researching project ideas, I came across a couple birds, mainly endangered in the alpine zone. The American Pipit — that was originally the bird I was going to do project for — it is at Mount Katahdin. It only breeds in three places in the world: Mount Katahdin and Mount Washington and farther north in Canada. I was going to do trail signs on both mountains. But, obviously, it is hard to get a permit,” Case said. “So I pivoted and did the current project on all birds in Maine and New Hampshire.”
The signs Case plans to have manufactured will aid people in identifying birds. The proposed signs will also inform folks how they can protect the avian population.
“What is threatening birds? A warming climate and people not staying on trail. Hiking-wise, if people are not staying on the trail, they are crushing nests,” Case said. “For the shore birds that are endangered, it is that water is rising so much coming up and flooding the nests. Therefore, not as many birds are living through the summer.”
Currently, Case is in the fundraising stage of her Gold Award project. She is trying to raise $3,000 to cover the costs of materials.
Her efforts have resulted in being almost one-third of the way toward her financial goal.
On Saturday, Case enlisted the help of her dad and two sisters for the fourth car wash on her fundraising calendar.
Girl Scout Meghan Case’s Gold Award project
What: Two State Endangered Bird Program on Facebook
Objective: To raise $3,000 to purchase patches and educational materials for summer camps; provide classroom curriculum and signs for the Audubon Society building in Maine and in New Hampshire; and to put signs in the public buildings at Mount Washington State Park.
How to help: People can order T-shirts with bird logo. Also, be on the lookout for future fundraisers.
“I’ve been at the Naples Fire Department for past three weeks. This is my last car wash and bottle drive,” she said.
“When I had more people, we were waving bright yellow towels and holding the signs, and we got more people who were driving by,” she said.
She said the car wash/bottle drive was fairly successful and she raised about $200 each Saturday.
Also, she is selling T-shirts with a bird logo to fund her project. Those can be ordered through the Facebook page, Two State Endangered Bird Program.
Her Gold Award project had already been submitted and approved. She shared some of the details.
“I am creating a patch (badge) program that will be put at the local summer camps in Maine and New Hampshire. I am creating lesson plans for grades 3 through 6 for the Audubon societies to teach, for both Girl Scout summer camps in Maine and for Camp Mechuwana in Winthrop,” she said.
“I am doing signage for Maine and New Hampshire Audubon locations as well as a sign on the summit in the observatory on Mount Washington — a plaque of one specific bird, the American Pipit bird, will be up there. I am working on getting drafts of the signs to order them and get them up there.”
One requirement of the Gold Award is that it is sustainable and continues to exist beyond the time it is established.
