July 2026 Newsletter

Happy July! We hope you had a great, flood-free Independence Day weekend.

Eagle Scout Project Highlights

We want to start by highlighting two awesome Eagle Scout projects recently completed by local Scouts! Both projects support local wildlife and enhance natural opportunities at the Heritage Quarries Recreation Area (HQRA) through the installation of safe, functional habitat. If you aren’t familiar with Scouting America and/or the Eagle Scout program, “Eagle Scout” is the highest rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program. Eagle Scouts plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to any religious institution, school, or community. Learn more about Scouting at the HQRA here.

The first project is planter boxes filled with native wildflowers. These planter boxes will be aesthetically pleasing, support a wide range of pollinating species, and provide a safe, stable place for small critters to hide and thrive. While we don’t want to cover the entirety of the HQRA in planter boxes, intentional installation of planter boxes is a great way to boost native plant diversity while protecting plants in high traffic and/or rocky areas. Mature plants can then be harvested for seed, and supplement reseeding efforts at other parts of the HQRA. We just need to give it a year or two to grow in!

The second project is artificial fish habitat. A few different structures were constructed and installed to provide a variety of habitat options for different depths and species. Historically, fish fry and other small fish have had poor survival rates at the HQRA due to a lack of adequate cover and overpredation. While naturally formed waterbodies typically have gradual slopes and mixed substrates that provide cover and food in the shallows, the lakes at the Quarries are flooded limestone quarry pits. As such, sharp, steep drop offs and hard, rocky plateaus are extremely common. Artificial fish habitat structures provide supplemental cover for small fish and spawning beds, and increases available surface area for biofilm accumulation (while too much is bad, biofilm plays a critical role as a foundational food source for snails, fish, and other aquatic organisms).

CITGO Caring For Our Coast - Year 3!

We are proud to announce that we have been selected for another year of support from the CITGO Caring For Our Coast grant program! This will be our third consecutive year partnering with CITGO for restoration work at the HQRA. They have been a massive supporter of our shoreline and aquatic restoration efforts at the Quarries, and we truly can’t thank them enough for their generosity. We can’t wait to see what the future holds! For this coming year, we are especially excited to continue seeding and planting native species. While the first couple years might feel a bit slow, years 2-3 and on are where things really start to take off for restoration projects!