Troop 295's History in the Making

Cypress Boy Scout Earns Conservation Award

For his efforts to reintroduce indigenous flowers and plants at the Bolsa Chica Wetlands (the Wetlands) in Huntington Beach, the Orange County Council, Boy Scouts of America, has awarded Trevor Osaki, a Life Scout from Troop 295 in Cypress, the William T. Hornaday Award for Distinguished Service in Conservation (Hornaday Award). Dr. William T. Hornaday was the former director of the New York Zoological Society, founder of the National Zoo in Washington D.C. and widely credited for saving the American bison from extinction. Originally founded in 1914 to encourage Boy Scouts and other Americans to engage in conservation efforts, the Hornaday Award is the oldest conservation award given in America.

Trevor’s interest in performing a conservation project at the Wetlands combined his dream of becoming a marine biologist with his love of the Wetlands, which he first visited during a third-grade field trip while attending Vessels Elementary School in Cypress. Trevor noted that, “Bolsa Chica [Wetlands] is home to different types of animals like reptiles, birds and mammals and its fun to visit and see them, especially since they have to live near homes and people. It seems that a lot of the native plants have disappeared from Bolsa Chica which the animals need for food and shelter.” Laura Bandy, Education Director, worked with Trevor to select a restoration project of raising indigenous plants and flowers from seeds and cuttings which had never been done in the past; rather, mature plants and flowers were previously obtained from nurseries. With Ms. Bandy serving as his “conservation advisor,” Trevor developed a plan for seeding, watering, measuring results, planting and continuing care after transferring the plants to permanent locations. Most of all, it was essential that he enlist the help of his fellow Scouts and their parents, especially for preparing pots for seeding and transferring the mature plants and flowers.

Seemingly simple things like watering the seedlings was challenging (water had to be transported from the fire department across the street) since there’s no running water on the grounds of the Wetlands and the five-gallon containers each weighed in excess of 40 lbs. when full. And, despite vacation plans or without help (other than Trevor’s parents to drive him down to the Wetlands), the seedlings needed water at least one to two times per week, without exception. In all, Trevor’s project covered a seven-month span from late January to August 2007 and culminated with 15 of his fellow Troop 295 Scouts helping him plant approximately 350 mature flowering plants in the “dunes area” of the Wetlands. Trevor cared for the plants for another month after being permanently transferred from the pots.

Grace Adams, Executive Director of the Bolsa Chica Conservancy, explained, “The primary beneficiaries of Trevor’s project will be butterflies, field mice, gophers, squirrels, and hummingbirds. Other animals, like the lizards, snakes, hawks and herons will benefit by having more animals for prey. For visitors to the Wetlands, the additional wild flowers will enhance the plant diversity of the Wetlands and help to prevent trespass onto the dunes area.” It is apropos that Trevor is being recognized for his conservation efforts at the Wetlands, since the Orange County Council, Boy Scouts of America, was recently honored by the Bolsa Chica Conservancy as “Conservator of the Year” for 2007. Hopefully, Trevor’s project will be one of many to benefit the Wetlands in the years to come.

Scouts Remember and Honor Veterans

Boy Scouts are synonymous with camping and merit badges, but there’s more to scouting – a lot more. Boy Scouting teaches boys not only outdoor skills, but a full cache’ of life skills, including activities that serve their community. In fact, the second part of the Scout Law is that a scout is Loyal stating, “A Scout is true to his family, Scout leaders, friends, school and nation.” On the Saturday before Veterans’ Day, approximately 200 Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts and Brownies came together to demonstrate this at Forest Lawn Cemetery by volunteering their time in remembrance of our men and women in uniform who have served our country.

For past four years, Troop 295, sponsored by the American Legion Post 295 of Cypress, has been hosting a flag planning event in which all Scouts and adult leaders are welcomed to join in positioning miniature flags on the graves of veterans, Merchant Marines, and other public servants who protect our country and communities. The event kicked off early in the morning at 8am in which hot chocolate and donuts, donated by Krispy Kreme, were served by the parents of Troop 295. Then, Troop 295 Assistant Scoutmaster Carlos Hinestrosa presented a brief history of Veterans Day, Life Scout Trevor Osaki led the Pledge of Allegiance, and First Class Scout Johnny Tiehen gave the benediction before commencing with the flag planting. Troop 295 Scoutmaster, Mike Eyre, instructed a large group of Boy and Cub Scouts how to identify military service grave markings and how to properly plant a flag so it remained secure throughout the weekend and into the following week. Carlos Hinestrosa, a Master Sergeant in the Air Force Reserves, commented that it is important for the Scouts in his troop to remember and honor our veterans. Assistant Scoutmaster Hinestrosa stated, “Freedom isn’t free. Those who serve understand the real cost and even more so, the benefits. The facts are that most of our warriors die young – too young. And, by having our boys participate in this important activity, they can express their thanks for a job well done.”

Forest Lawn, while modest in size to other cemeteries, seems vast to the eyes of 10-15 year old. However, it was amazing to watch the crowd of adults and youth disburse in every direction, as if on cue and start walking down the rows of grave sites in what looked like an organized manner, yet there was no command to start and instructions were done in smallish groups. Though many of the youth were still sleepy from arriving as early as 7am, they quickly became purposeful and moved with a sense of urgency in their actions, pairing off with best friends, organized by families, and some staying together with their troop in order to complete their duties. Impressive was the swiftness and total completeness in which the volunteers covered each of the sections of Forest Lawn followed by other groups of Scouts and adults to ensure that each veteran and public servant had a flag on their grave. What was most striking was watching the groups of Scouts stop to read many of the inscriptions on the grave sites and think about what that person did and at what time in history it was done. A Girl Scout from Troop 1262 in Cypress, Haley Gardner, mentioned that this was the first time her troop had participated, stating,” This event provides an important opportunity for my Troop to thank and honor all of the men and women who put themselves at risk in order to protect our freedoms.”

Throughout the morning, adult volunteers drove around extra flags to each of the sections of the cemetery to ensure that volunteers never ran out. By 10:30am Forest Lawn was again quiet; all of the flags had been planted and remembrance completed. One Boy Scout, Garrett Latiolait from Troop 295, had just finished volunteering and was on the way out to meet his mother shared his thoughts about giving up his Saturday morning to plant flags. Garrett said, “This event is about celebrating those who fulfilled their duty, a duty that I have not yet had the chance to fulfill myself.” He could not have said it better.

Those Cypress area-based Scout troops participating included Boy Scout Troops 295, 450, 490, 660, 676, 735, 892, 1505 and 1673; Girl Scout and Brownie Troops 37, 179, 232, 671, 926, 1262, 1447, 1544, 1656, 1794, 1814, 1992 and 2021; Cub Scout Packs 295, 379, 611, 660, 662, 673, 676, 683, 735, 1506, 1673 and 4673.

Boy Scout Troop Visits Santa Cruz Island

California is home to some of the greatest national parks in the country from Yosemite to Death Valley, but none is as unique as the Channel Islands National Park, a chain of five islands off the coast of Ventura/Santa Barbara. What makes this national park unique is that over half of the park is under the surface of the ocean in which portions of waters extending from each island are protected from recreational and commercial fishing. The five islands consist of Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Santa Barbara and San Miguel Islands, all of which are accessible and offer camping depending on the season.

15 Scouts and five adult leaders from Troop 295 of Cypress recently made the trek to Santa Cruz Island for a weekend of camping, kayaking and hiking. Our Saturday morning trip over to the island started from Ventura Harbor on the 65 foot turbo-powered catamaran, “Island Adventure”, that would typically complete the 24-mile channel crossing in just over an hour if it weren’t for encountering the unexpected – blue whales. Blue whales, an endangered species, are the largest mammals on earth and can be over 100 feet long and 200 tons. We spotted three blue whales that breached and showed their massive tails several times before diving down and disappearing for good.

Our destination was Scorpion Cove located at the east end of Santa Cruz Island. Knowing that it is considered one of the best places to kayak, we brought kayaks for the Scouts and adults to use in exploring the caves and cliffs of the expansive cove. One of our leaders, Rudy Solorzano, provided a seminar on kayaking techniques and safety before the boys could go off on their own in pairs. Some of the boys went snorkeling amongst the kelp forests spotting garibaldi, sea bass and octopus while waiting for their turn to kayak.

Our camp site was just over a quarter mile from the landing pier and was situated in a canyon among a eucalyptus grove. This camp site had fresh water that is spring fed and it’s the only potable fresh water on any of the Channel Islands. On the way to the camp you can’t help but notice and feel the history of the island as you pass and old farm house (which is still well-maintained), corral, storage sheds, rusted tractors and plows, and a wind mill. Open fires are not allowed on the Channel Islands so we made due with a lantern for a faux camp fire to enjoy stories in balmy 72 degree weather. Each night, the only indigenous mammal to the island, the island fox, came out and visited our camp for about 10 minutes, quietly looking around for scraps before taking off for another camp site. Merely the size of a large house cat, the gray and orange island fox is also an endangered species and was almost completely wiped out 10 years ago by the golden eagle.

At night, Santa Cruz Island was a star gazers paradise with no light pollution whatsoever! Those of us who just brought a good set of binoculars were able to see several planets, the Milky Way, and shooting stars by the bundle.

One of our day hikes was a six-mile round trip to High Mountain that included a 1,200 foot elevation gain. While the trail was in good condition, the hot weather and agonizing switchbacks made for a challenging experience. Looking back towards camp, our camp looked like a green oasis amongst the brown hill sides framed by the Pacific Ocean. Once a the summit, breathtaking is an understatement to describe the 270 degree view had with neighboring Anacapa Island to the east, the Ventura/Santa Barbara coastline to the west and Point Dume to the south.

Our trip back to the mainland was equally spectacular as we were greeted by hundreds of porpoise and dolphins that surfed in our boat’s wake and jumped in unison as they followed us for miles. One time, a dolphin jumped and did a summersault within 10 feet of the passengers on the bow!

Troop 295 Scouts and adult leaders making the trip to Santa Cruz Island were Chang Lee, Howard Lee, Kevin Ichien, Garret Latiolait, Colin Miller, Jonathon Getscher, Alexander Hinestrosa, Adam Holloway, Phillip Minott, Zach Minott, Trevor Osaki, Johnny Sin, Rudy Solorzano, Jr., Johnny Tiehen, Zach Collins, Charlie Osaki, Rudy Solorzano, Sr., CarlosHinestrosa, Gary Minott and Mike Eyre. Santa Cruz Island is truly a special place for either a multi-day camping trip or just a day trip. Arrangements for transportation and camp sites can be made through Island Packers (Ventura or Oxnard) and the National Park Service, respectively.