Scouts' good stewardship.

Back in 1988, several wildfires in the Pine Ridge forest near Fort Robinson, Nebraska, devastated thousands of acres of land. Starting in 1989, groups of local and out-of-state Boy Scouts, along with their parents and other volunteers, have held an annual tree-planting project to restore the land. Eldon Stahl, a reader of THE NEW AMERICAN, was one of the Boy Scouts to take part in the original "tree plant," and brought this event to our attention. That first year, 400 scouts planted 700 trees.

During this year's tree plant, 1,200 scouts from several states descended on the Spring Creek area and planted 15,000 trees in one day. The total number of trees planted since the project began now numbers over 300,000.

Jim Schmitt, organizer of the event, was quoted in the Chadron (Nebraska) Record: "We've always went on the premonition that the kids want to give back."

The Record also quoted Paul Even, leader of Cub Scout Pack 116 of Lusk, Wyoming, who spoke about the benefits to the scouts that come from working on the project: "This shows them that the outdoors is not free."

With the participation of many of the scouts' parents in the annual tree planting event, it has become a project that unites families as it helps practice true conservation of our nation's beautiful forestland.