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Mission Accomplished
Cody Bennett, center (baseball cap, no sunglasses), and volunteers revived Putnam's Nature Trail as Bennett's Eagle Scout project. Courtesy photo.

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Before
After
From left: Bousquet, Mayor Barney Seney and Bennett.



Bringing the nature trail back to life
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
The deciding factor for Cody Bennett, candidate for Eagle Scout, was which project would help the community the most.
Bennett, a member of the Boy Scouts of America Troop 25 of Putnam, set his sights on refurbishing the Putnam Nature Trail behind the Putnam Middle School.
Originally he had wanted to do something for veterans but then a former Eagle Scout in his Troop recommended that Bennett contact Willie Bousquet, director of Putnam’s Parks and Recreation Department.
“He (Bousquet) gave me a few options ad I picked this one because I thought it’d help the community the most,” Bennett said.
It’s quite a process for an Eagle Scout candidate.
Bennett had to plan out what had to be done, have that approved by the troop and then the council. Get the materials and volunteers, acquire donations for food (Broken Crust) and on work day, lead all the volunteers that he had. Some 17 or 18 volunteers helped Bennett. “I had to organize who would do what based on their skills,” he said.
The town donated the materials for the project including: hardware (worth $80), stair treads ($1,450), markers ($30), and processed material ($50).
First they blew all the leaves off the trail. In doing that, the group uncovered a “hidden” trail near the softball fields. They got to work on that with rakes and loppers, clearing that, too.
They put markers on the trail on the river side, cleaned off the stairs and leveled them and put treads on the stairs. They put lag bolts on the uprights on the handrails because they were loose. Bennett said they also filled in the washout at the bottom of the stairs.
Bennett now has to write up the completed project and present it to the Board of Reviews with the troop and the council, probably in June.
He said “I’d like to thank the town of Putnam for the opportunity to do this project. I hope the community will enjoy the trail. I’d also like to thank past and present Troop members and my family for their support.”
Bousquet said: “The Town of Putnam appreciates the update to the stairs at the Putnam Nature Trail along with the trail cleaning and marking that Cody Bennett accomplished as his Eagle Scout Project”.

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