Boy Scouts of America partners with Notre Dame to support bluebird population

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- Some local boy scouts in South Bend have partnered with Notre Dame to support the local blue bird population at Warren Golf Course.

Local Boy Scout Troop 122 and Cub Pack 108 built 14 new bluebird nesting boxes for the golf course as a service project. The Warren Golf Course has had bluebird nesting boxes since it opened in 2000. It first started with about 20 boxes, then expanded to over 50.

The collaboration for the nesting box project came after a chance encounter between Scoutmaster Adam Heet, and Notre Dame Athletic Fields Crew Office Assistant Kathy Maloney while volunteering at the Osceola Bluegrass Festival.

Maloney said she was a former den-mother herself, and met Heet with his scout troops and thought building nesting boxes would be a great project for them. They built 14 new nesting boxes, replacing existing ones that were old and damaged. Maloney said it’s a win-win partnership where scout members can advance in their ranks and the golf course can continue to be a certified Audubon sanctuary.

“One of the things you have do to maintain your certification as a sanctuary is to prove that you provide a great habitat for wildlife on the course property. So, the nesting box project is a huge component to our certification, and we’ve been certified as a Cooperative Sanctuary for golf courses since we opened, “Maloney said.

These nesting boxes typically last three to four years before they need replacing. Around 2,000 bluebirds have hatched at Warren Golf Course, since the start of the nesting box program.

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