Bradley Becker had one bridge to get over before becoming an Eagle Scout; the one he built.
Bradley teamed up with CBBEP’s Jake Herring to build a bridge over a small pond at our Nueces Delta Preserve. The pond is on one of our main trails and field trips of school children had to find alternate routes when the water was high. Not any longer.
Bradley, a sophomore at Incarnate Word Academy, first connected with Jake in December 2010 at a volunteer marsh planting for our restoration site along Nueces Bay Causeway. Jake told him about the Preserve and several opportunities for projects there.
Eagle Scouts, the highest rank in Boy Scouts, are required to do a project that shows their leadership skills. After the project’s completion, scouts must complete paperwork and seek approval to receive the Eagle Scout rank.
CBBEP has joined with other scouts for Eagle projects, including bird nesting boxes at the Delta, bollard-and-cable installation along Oso Bay and improvements at Suter Wildlife Refuge.
Bradley, 15, and his grandfather, John Uhr, visited the Preserve, taking measurements and thinking over bridge designs. The two returned to Rockport, worked on the design and soon began purchasing supplies and organizing a work crew of other scouts and friends.
The group worked several Saturdays this spring, finishing the 32 foot bridge in May 2011.
Bradley’s grandfather said he made sure Bradley took the reins.
“I had a long talk with him about that,” he said. “The first day we went out there, I was yelling across the creek giving him directions. But I told him I wasn’t going to do that anymore. He was in charge.”
“The first day, he had eight of them digging one post hole. I said we needed eight of them digging eight post holes. He got it organized after that.”
Bradley said he was daunted by the large task at first.
“I was thinking this shouldn’t take too long,” he said. “But then we were getting into it, and realized it was going to take a while. Each day we worked about 10 or 12 hours each time out there.”
“And on the final day, it felt so good to get it done. I was proud.”
Jake was on hand as Bradley directed his team during April.
“This was a pretty sizeable Eagle Scout project,”
Jake said. “I am glad that we were able to partner in this project and that Bradley chose the NDP for his Eagle Scout Project.”
CBBEP encourages similar youth and volunteer partnerships, Jake said.
“It’s great to see youth involved in helping their community,” he said. “It is great to see the scouts take
charge in a project that they are passionate about.”
Bradley has plans to attend either University of Texas or Drexel University in Philadelphia and become
a mechanical engineer.
“I’ve known this since about the sixth grade,” he said. “I loved to build stuff, take it apart, figure out how
it works, put it back together and work with it.”
For additional information about the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program, contact Beth Wilson, communications manager, at (361) 885-6246 or bwilson@cbbep.org.
Download the .pdf project flyer here.