Scout Projects

Girl Scout Troop

In the summer of 2023, city council member Gerald Garner received a call from a Mountain Brook Girl Scout Troop who had noticed a carpenter bee "nuisance" in the pavilion at Overton Park.  The bees were boring nesting cavities into the wooden pavilion and thereby disrupting the use of the pavilion by human community members!  The troop had a project in mind to install a carpenter bee trap in order to eradicate the nuisance.

Mr. Garner looped in the city's Parks/Rec Director, Shanda Williams.  Ms. Williams let the troop know about our Bee City point-of-view and that the city is committed to finding alternative methods to co-exist with the pollinating carpenter bees rather than eradicating them...

The Parks/Recreation and Planning/Sustainability department heads organized an educational session with the scout troop to educate about the importance of carpenter bees, and to assist them in formulating their initial plan to build a bee hotel for the carpenter bees; one which might relocate the carpenter bee nesting focus instead of capturing and eradicating them!  

The scout troop ws very engaged with city staff during the session, and had plenty of good questions and bright ideas!  The troop made a plan to build a bee hotel with carpenter-bee-sized nesting cavities, decided on a location at Overton Park, and planted a native planted garden to support the bees in the bee hotel.

Eagle Scout Project - Douglas W. Shook III

Shook is a member of Boy Scout Troop 53, chartered to St. Peter’s Anglican Church in the Vulcan District of the Greater Alabama Council of BSA.  In October 2023 Shook was awarded scouting's highest rank - Eagle Scout.  

For his Eagle Project, Doug planned and led a group of volunteers in the construction of a Bee Hotel and Pollinator Garden at the Beechwood Road entrance to the Jemison Trail.  In preparation for this project, he met with city department heads from Parks/Recreation and Planning/Sustainability to learn the nuts-and-bolts about pollinator habitats, the do's and don'ts about creating a bee hotel, and to coordinate with the city on the location and maintenance of the proposed bee hotel and associated native plant garden in a city park.

Photos below show how great this project turned out!  And as Spring 2023 rolled around Doug's Bee Hotel has its first guests... Mason Bees!  Look closely at the photos below to see bees in the cavities and flying to and from the cavities... these are female mason bees (native to North America), and they are filling the cavity tubes with eggs and pollen sources for the larvae growth during pupation!   Also, a bird's nest is cozied up in the upper chamber.