Boy Scout’s Project Gives Turtles New Place To Bask

A horn blast, the traditional signal to launch a vessel, pierced the air at the Bristol Lagoon last Monday morning, sending AJ Olczak off in his kayak. His partner, Logan Clark, followed closely behind on his paddle board. Their mission was to replace the wooden basking platforms that served as a resting spot for turtles big and small, to give the creatures large and small a safe place to take in the sun.

A crowd of about 25 people stood on the banks to watch what was both a labor of environmental love, and a project that would earn AJ a Boy Scout badge, the first of five steps that the 13-year-old eighth grader at Bristol Borough High School hoped would eventually earn him the prestigious William T.  Hornaday Award.

That award was founded in 1914 by Hornaday to foster conservation. Hornaday was the first director of the New York Zoological Park, and later founded the National Zoo in Washington D.C.

“We have to stay as far from the banks as possible and in the deepest part of the canal so the turtles can rest without being kidnapped” by humans as the turtles rested on the grassy banks of the canal, AJ said.

After some strenuous paddling, AJ was satisfied with the location and he and Logan set to work tying the anchor and chain, needed to keep the platforms in place, and dropping anchor into the deep. AJ’s friends, fellow scouts, and his parents, Beth and Albert, cheered their first effort.

The same actions were repeated again to get the second platform in place.

Susan Taylor, executive director of the Friends of the Delaware Canal, was the one who blew the horn, actually a large pink conch, to get the project underway. She said she was delighted for the turtles.

“It’s especially fun to see a lot of turtles congregated in one place. Now people can do a spectator sport,” she said.

It was two years ago when borough residents Robin Butrey and Jose Acevedo were volunteering for a canal cleanup day and Butrey noticed that the original wooden turtle-basking platforms had rotted away. It was only recently that they found AJ, a Boy Scout in need of a project and having the ability to raise the necessary $280 for the materials, and with a dad who would help in construction.

“Jose and I searched for a long time for funds and someone who could build it. I was talking to Beth (AJ’s mother) and she suggested AJ, who had been looking for a project related to the environment. It worked out perfectly,” Butrey said.

AJ had solicited several local businesses and individuals and collected a total of $1,000. The leftover funds will be used for the other four projects and for activities to educate kids about environmental issues, AJ said.

Steve Salemno, scoutmaster for Troop 121, said that the other four steps for the Hornaday award, each with a different focus on conservation, will earn in turn a bronze medal, a silver medal, a gold badge, and finally, a gold medal.

“AJ is trying to accomplish something that not many people even know about. This is amazing,” Salemno said.

Only 1,000 scouts have earned the Hornaday Gold Medal since the program began, according to Boy Scout records.

Next on tap for AJ, who will start ninth grade at Holy Ghost Prep in Bensalem come September is his Eagle Scout project that he’ll begin soon. He’ll be creating a garden path outside the kitchen at Pennsbury Manor in Falls Township.

And AJ is already considering his next Hornaday step. Possibly something to do with local native plants, he said.