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Project Name: Chimney Swift Tower for Orono Intermediate School Project Description and How the School will Benefit: The summer of 2009,during school renovation,it was discovered that a school chimney scheduled for removal was a nesting and roosting habitat for almost 300 Chimney Swifts. The school district was contacted by a community member with ties to Audubon Minnesota and asked to try to preserve Swift habitat. After learning that the Chimney Swift population has declined by 50%in the last 40 years and that their appetite of insects is important for a balanced ecosystem and to reduce the mosquito population on the school grounds,the school district was interested in educating their students and community about Cbimney Swifts and creating a new habitat to replace the chimney that would be removed. The goal was to find a way to construct a substitute tower as a community service learning project,and educate the community with an informational kiosk built around the tower.This tower is an ideal fit for a Boy Scout Eagle Project I will lead the design and construction of the tower and get other scouts and community volunteers involved.Audubon Minnesota offered to play a key role by providing educational teaching materials to the school district and expertise needed for the design of the tower. Also,Audubon Minnesota will document the project through photos and videos to use this chimney replacement as a teaching model statewide of how individuals and organizations can work together to sustain this rapidly declining,important bird species. Teachable moments and hands-on learning are primary focuses for the Orono School District's elementary environmental learning program. Nothing impacts learning more than tying it to real world problems that students can observe and impact The Chimney Swift tower and kiosk provides a perfect opportunity to make environmental education real and meaningful. Students will understand the ecological system that supports the Swift and learn how human actions have inadvertently destroyed their habitat Then,importantly,students will learn how to restore habitat and help educate the community about the need to protect habitat for this diminishing species. All of the Orono School District students benefit from having a school nature center on their school grounds. Students and all visitors to the school grounds will be able to observe the Swifts and learn more about them from the tower's kiosk. Many people statewide will learn more about protecting Chimney Swift habitat from the Audubon's documentation of our project. In the nature center,the school tries to get students educated. Through this project,students will learn that they can make a difference in the ecosystem. The Swifts are dependent upon man-made chimneys for their habitat and man depends upon the voracious insect appetite of the Swift to balance our ecosystem.Students will learn about a real world example of where human actions have damaged habitat and caused declining Swift population.Then,importantly,they will learn how to reverse that damage and restore needed habitat. Derek Meyer Eagle Project—Chimney Swift Tower for Orono Intermediate School 2