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Girl Scout rebuilds nature trail

Clintonville project earns Gold Award

Shown (from left) are Tim and Amy Maas, of Marion, with their daughter Alice Mass, a Senior Girl Scout, and Larry Marty Committee chair of Christus Church Camp.
Submitted Photo

In 1984, Clintonville Boy Scout Marshall Urbanz chose the Christus Church Camp for an Eagle Scout project.

Urbanz built a half-mile nature trail through the 60 acres of church land.

More than 50 groups have used the trail during the past three decades.

Twenty of those groups are Girl Scout and Boy Scout Troops.

As time has passed, the nature trail has become overgrown, flooded at times, and the cedar posts that mark the trail have decayed.

In 2020, Senior Girl Scout Alice Maas decided to recreate the Christus Nature Trail for her Gold Award Project.

The Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout can earn.

Maas submitted a proposal to the Gold Award Committee of the Girl Scouts of the Northwestern Great Lakes Region.

The committee interviewed Maas and approved her application.

She worked under the supervision of her project advisor, Larry Marty, who is the committee chair of the Christus Church Camp.

After the project was completed in April and the final paperwork was approved, Maas was notified last week that she had earned the Gold Award.

The 15-year-old Maas made a major commitment of time and effort to the project.

She spent more than 100 hours working on the project.

She began by meeting with the church camp committee to discuss her plans and seek their approval.

The Christus Church Camp Committee supported Maas and her efforts to restore the nature trail.

She worked many hours to relocate the trail and, during the winter, made four benches to place along the trail for hikers.
Maas identified 25 plants and trees for trail users to observe while walking the trail. Each plant or tree is marked with a red banded and numbered post. The posts have been treated so they last longer.

Hikers can read detailed descriptions of the plants and trees in a trail guide booklet that Maas created. The trail guides are kept in a mailbox that hhikers can find at the trailhead.

The trailhead area needed much work and Maas made the steep stairs safer by repairing their railings.

Se sanded and painted the original trailhead sign, then mounted the sign on two treated posts for trail users to walk under as they begin their hike.

Maas has been a Girl Scout of Troop 2127 since kindergarten. Her mother has been her troop leader throughout her years in scouting.

She earned the Bronze Award as a Junior Scout and the Silver Award as a Cadette Scout.

A freshman at Fox Valley Lutheran High School, she is the daughter of Tim and Amy Maas of Marion.

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