Jackson Daisy Scouts prepare park for National Trails Day ribbon cutting ceremony

Jackson, NJ – Armed with shovels, rakes and a whole lot of community spirit, the girls of Daisy Troop 110 from the Lucy N. Holman elementary school landscaped and  planted a flower garden this morning at the Bunker Hill Bogs Wildlife Recreation Area, Jackson Township’s newest park.    The park consists of over 5 miles of hiking and scenic trails along the Bunker Hill Bogs which was preserved and saved from developers through many years of hard work by the Jackson Pathfinders.   The girls were on a tight deadline today as the official ribbon cutting ceremony takes place tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m., followed by a short hike through the preserve and a community cleanup project.  Mayor Mike Reina is expected to be in attendance along with members of the Pathfinders organization and other township dignitaries to celebrate National Trails Day and the official opening of the park.

Above you can see the before and after of the Kiosk flower garden at Bunker Hill Bogs.

The girls, ages 5 and 6,  and their parents led by troop leader Kathleen Malmstrom,  arrived at the Bogs at 9:00 am and started clearing out their garden area, removing branches, picking weeds and turning the soil in preparation for their transformation.

They then headed to I&G Farms on Whitesville Road, just a minute from the park where Justin, an employee at the farm center helped the girls pick out flowers, plants and bushes that are both beautiful and deer resistant as the bog area is home to many dozens of white tailed deer, beavers, groundhogs, rabbits and other plant eating animals.

After picking the right flowers for the jobs, the girls headed back and got busy digging and planting their flowers, which I&G farms gave a generous discount on to the scouts. (hint: go to I&G farms and buy some flowers).   

By noon, the girls and their parents finished the garden and were ready to go home after  hard day’s work.    Their flower garden and the park is a gift to the Jackson community given by Jackson residents.   The entire park has been created through state grants and volunteer efforts by the Pathfinders, Jersey Shore Boy Scouts, Jersey Shore Girl Scouts and dozens of volunteers who have worked very hard this past winter to get the park and trails ready for tomorrow’s ribbon cutting ceremony.

The plants and landscaping supplies for this project were donated by Jackson NJ Online with the help of our friends at I&G farms who were generous to provide the scouts a discount on their materials for the project.  “When you give children the tools to give back to the community, it’s amazing how well they respond.” said Phil Stilton, an organizer of the project “These girls could have slept in today and watched cartoons, but they knew the mayor and other important people will be here tomorrow morning  and wanted to do something special for Jackson. Every one of them went home covered in dirt and mulch this morning.”    

After meeting park site manager Art Rosky over the winter and realizing the girls still needed to work on a community garden for the scout program, Mr. Stilton felt the Pathfinders and the Girl Scouts were a perfect match and introduced the two groups to each other.  Each hour of time donated on this project helps the pathfinders earn credits from the State of New Jersey to buy more trees from the Forestry Resource & Education Center.  “I’m hoping other scouts and community organizations can see what both the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts have done here and help make this place beautiful ” he continued, referring to the informational Kiosks built and provided earlier in the year by local Boy Scouts “There are many opportunities here at the bogs  with all sorts of environmental  projects for children to lead and I’m sure our kids can continue to deliver.”

Any other volunteer organizations who wish to help make this park beautiful by planting flower gardens, working on cleanup projects or donating materials to this effort should contact Karen Borga, chairperson for the Jackson Pathfinders at (908) 330-2579 or visit the Pathfinders online at www.jacksonpathfinders.org.   The garden still needs appropriate border material to be complete.

If you are interesting in having your daughter join the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore, visit http://www.girlscoutsjs.org/ or call (800) 785-2090  to find a troop in Jackson.