Timothy Wilson, son of Bill and Janet Wilson, was presented with an unexpected surprise at Boy Scout Troop 271’s court of honor on May 23. Scoutmaster Carl Galle, Mr. Ron Hill, and Mr. Bill Schultz presented him with the National Boy Scouts of America William T. Hornaday Silver Medal for distinguished service to conservation and natural resource management.

The Hornaday Silver medal is highly prized by those who have received them. This award represents a substantial commitment of time and energy by individuals who have learned the meaning of a conservation/environmental ethic. There are several different Hornaday awards for Boy Scouts. All require specific advancement requirements and substantial conservation projects. The Badge requires one project, the Bronze medal requires three projects and the Silver medal requires four major environmental projects in four different environmental fields.

Wilson is the 92^nd Silver medal recipient since 1975 and only 1,200 bronze and silver medals combined have been awarded since 1914. The Silver medal, the most distinguished in Scouting for exceptional conservation service, is awarded for clearly outstanding efforts in planning, leadership, execution of plans, involvement of others, and opportunities taken to help others learn about natural resource conservation and environmental improvement.

Wilson had to do all of the above to finish the four Silver medal projects he chose. He led volunteers from the community, Packs and Troops 271 and 211 to work over 1400 hours in the two years and three months it took to finish all four of his projects.

The Water Garden and Outdoor Nature Center for the Ocean Springs Middle School, his first project and also his Eagle project, included a waterfall, pond, deck, picnic benches, bird houses and garden plots.

The GCRL Nature Trail and Outdoor Class Room at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, his second project and his Hornaday Badge project, involved putting in ½ mile wood chipped trail, 30 plant identification signs, 5 foot bridges, 100 feet of board walk and 2 educational kiosks.

The third project at the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge was Chinese tallow tree eradication involving not only poisoning the Chinese tallow tree (popcorn tree) but educating the public about the need to eradicate them from our environment.

The fourth project, also at the refuge, was the Pine tree removal project which required the removal of Pine trees from the savanna and displaying educational exhibits on why we need to save our savannas.

The William T. Hornaday Awards program was created to recognize those that have made significant contributions to conservation. It was begun in 1914 by Dr. William T. Hornaday, director of the New York Zoological Park and founder of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Dr. Hornaday was an active and outspoken champion of natural resource conservation and a leader in saving the American bison from extinction. He named the award the Wildlife Protection Medal. Its purpose was to challenge Americans to work constructively for wildlife conservation and habitat protection. After his death in 1937, the award was renamed in Dr. Hornaday’s honor and became a Boy Scouts of America award.

In the early 1970s, the present awards program was established with funding from the DuPont Company. At that time, the late Dr. Hornaday’s idea of conservation was broadened to include environmental awareness. The fundamental purpose of the Hornaday Awards program is to encourage learning by the participants and to increase public awareness about natural resource conservation.

A few days before the troop’s court of honor Wilson received a letter saying he was awarded the Silver medal and it would be sent to the council office. “All the volunteers who worked and helped on the projects were the reason I would receive this recognition.” said Wilson, “I decided the court of honor would be a good time to thank everyone who helped with my projects and give out a few special awards.” Wilson gave the golden shovel award for their back breaking work on all four projects to Hunter Robertson, Joey Quiros and Daniel Carter. The silver hammer award for hammering away on three of the projects went to Zachary Foil and Joseph Janikowski. The bronze clipper award for special recognition for work and support was presented to Mr. and Mrs. Terry Robertson, Chance Robertson and Chad Curtis. The special yellow shovel award went to the emergency vehicle, Chad Curtis’s yellow jeep. At the conclusion of his presentation, Scoutmaster Carl Galle, Mr. Ron Hill, Mr. Bill Schultz surprised Wilson by presenting him the William T. Hornaday Silver medal, certificate, and square knots.

When asked about his projects, Wilson explained, “When I was looking for an Eagle project, I wanted to build something and give back to the community. I really wanted to build a nature trail, but the Ocean Springs Middle School wanted a teaching water garden. So that became my Eagle project. I still wanted to build a nature trail and heard Gulf Coast Research Laboratory was looking for someone to put one in. At this time my mother told me about the Boy Scouts of America William T. Hornaday Awards program. The water garden as a fish and wildlife project and the nature trail as a soil and water project would qualify. I would need one more project for the bronze and two more for the silver. I decided to go for the silver medal. When I finished the nature trail, the only place I could think of with range management was Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge. They came up with my last two projects: Pine tree removal for Forestry and Range management and Chinese tallow tree eradication for invasive species. The Chinese tallow tree was my weakest project and I really did not think I would be awarded the Silver until I received the notification.” The projects involve commitment, time, work and a lot of paper work. So what kept Wilson focused during the two year duration? “Simple,” Wilson said, “because my brother didn’t do it and I really enjoyed doing the projects.”