Boy Scouts to lend a hand keeping state parks beautiful

By Shelia M. Poole

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Thousands of Boy Scouts and volunteers will perform service projects this year benefiting Georgia's state park system, which has been hit by income shortfalls and budget cuts. Those declines have forced the park system to scale back maintenance, cancel improvement projects and reduce staff.

The new initiative, "Scouting for State Parks," was announced Thursday at the Capitol.

Each of Georgia's 13 Boy Scout chapters -- called councils -- has pledged to undertake a service project for a local state park during 2010, which is also the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America.

Councils will also encourage youths pursuing the Eagle Scout rank, the highest level, to perform their capstone community project in a state park. About 1,200 Georgia Boy Scouts earn the Eagle Scout rank each year.

"For 100 years, the Boy Scouts have served Georgia's communities," Scouting's Georgia state president, Scott Sorrels, said in a release about the project. "Now, during Scouting's centennial, we're focusing our resources like never before to tackle a critical need -- the budget crisis in our state parks."

The initiative is being co-sponsored by Sen. Chip Pearson (R-Dawsonville) , state Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs) , Sen. George Hooks (D-Americus)  and state Rep. Pedro Marin (D-Duluth), all of whom are Eagle Scouts.

Also at Thursday's announcement were Gov. Sonny Perdue and Georgia State Parks, Recreation and Historic Sites Division Director Becky Kelley.

Kelley said her division's state appropriations were reduced by just under 50 percent from the 2009 fiscal year to the 2010 fiscal year .

"This is truly an exciting thing," she said of the Boy Scouts initiative, adding that Verizon Wireless is a corporate sponsor of the effort. The other partner is the Friends of Georgia State Parks.