ArrowCorps5
Five Sites - Five Weeks - Five Thousand Arrowmen
Manti-La Sal National Forest Project a Great Success!
Congratulations to participants and staff at the second week of ArrowCorps5
at Manti-La Sal National Forest in Utah! Approximately 13,000 acres, or 33 miles,
of channel area around the Joe’s Valley Reservoir and Dry Wash on the Manti-La Sal
National Forest and in the Buckhorn Wash on Bureau of Land Management land were
affected by the removal of tamarisk. Tamarisk is an invasive species of evergreen
shrub that depletes ground water and brings salt to the surface soil. As with the
first ArrowCorps5 project at Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri,
these project results greatly exceeded expectations, and at Manti-La Sal it was
done with fewer Scouts than expected.
The Manti-La Sal project was carried out from June 14 - 21. Total participants
and staff were 463 – 145 participants, 165 staff, 43 Instructor Corps members, and
110 agency personnel. Twenty-one different agencies were involved in the project,
including the US Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the City of Huntington,
Emery County School District, and Emery County.
Tom Fitzgibbon, Western Region Director of the Boy Scouts of America, and Mike
Neider, a member of the Boy Scout Committee and Second Counselor of the Young Men
Presidency of the LDS Church, visited the site during the week. Utah Lieutenant
Governor Gary R. Herbert visited on Wednesday evening and spoke to the group. He
was a big hit and really connected with his comments. Bill Steele, National Eagle
Scout Association Director and member of the Boy Scout Division staff, visited the
site on Thursday and toured the various work areas. Mark Rey, Undersecretary for
Natural Resources and Environment, visited the site on Friday evening and spoke
to the group during the closing gathering. The project also received considerable
media attention, including articles in
The Salt Lake
Tribune and
other papers.
A patch auction was held during the week and raised more than $4,000. This money
was donated to the Canyon View Junior High School in Huntington, Utah which served
as the base of operations for the project.
Huntington Mayor, Hilary Gordon, and the City
Council expressed their thanks to the Scouts by serving ice cream and cookies to
the entire group Friday evening after the closing gathering.
Congratulations and thanks to everyone involved in this, the second of the
ArrowCorps5 projects!
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