EAST BRUNSWICK – If you’ve walked the nature trail near Dallenbach Lake recently, you have an Eagle Scout to thank.
Timothy White, a recent graduate of East Brunswick High School and new Eagle Scout, worked to improve the nature trail and spruce up the area around Dallenbach Lake, adjacent to Crystal Springs Aquatic Center, Dunhams Corner Road. White, who will study at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania this fall, coordinated the work as a requirement for his Eagle Scout rank, which he received in June.
White used to visit the trails and saw how they had fallen into disrepair. So with help from fellow Scouts, friends and his parents, he went about bringing the area back into a useable state.
Not only did White help make the trail useable again, he made a slew of other improvements that revitalized the area and gave residents more open space to enjoy.
One of his first acts was to replace the signposts, which he said were in disrepair from years of “kids beating on them.”
“They were abused and rotted out,” he said.
The signs contain information about the trails, and about wildlife living in the area.
White and his helpers replaced the fish- ing boards, putting down about five new ones. The bench-like pieces give visitors a place to sit alongside the lake.
They also lined the trails so that people have an easier time navigating them.
“Now you can actually see them to walk on,” White said.
All told, almost 380 hours of manpower went into the project. White said he put in about 120 hours, and the rest came from members of Boy Scout Troop 220, friends, parents and members of the East Brunswick Youth Council.
A community service project is essential to gain his Eagle Scout rank.
“This is the main thing you have to do,” White said. “You have to do a service project that is at least 300 hours long.”
Another aspect of White’s project involved putting up new pictures of wildlife on the various signs, replacing images that had become weather-beaten and faded.
White also put mulch down on the trail, removed poison ivy and poison oak growing amid the walkways, and trimmed back the brush.
“I also put in a turtle log, so you can see the turtles that live there [at the lake],” he said.
What did White gain from doing the work besides his Eagle rank?
“I learned that no matter where you go, there is always something that could be fixed or repaired,” he said.