WEST MILFORD Troop 146 chartered by the Upper Greenwood Lake Fire Department is always in motion. The Mission Statement of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law. To do this the troop has a diverse strategy of regularly scheduled meetings, camping trips and other service activities. Each meeting or activity is designed to be fun and deliver a learning experience. Often the boys don’t realize until much later in life how their experiences in scouting helped to shape their life. Within the last 12 months, Troop 146 has backpacked and camped on the Appalachian Trail, spent a weekend hunting for Herkimer Diamonds in upstate New York, biked and camped on both the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers, visited the Pennsylvania Lackawanna County Coal Mine and Steamtown National Historic Site. The troop runs an annual cardboard boat race in June on Upper Greenwood Lake. All boys and their leaders construct boats from nothing more than cardboard, glue, duct tape and paint. Most vessels never finish the course but that’s part of the fun. One year they even had a submarine enter. And just when they thought they’d seen it all, this year the Spirit of Scouting (a plane) entered. The troop also affords the scouts two week-long trips in the summer. One to Camp NoBeBoSco in Blairstown, NJ and the other to Floodwood Mountain Reservation in Saranac Lake, NY. NoBe has operated continuously since the summer of 1927 and is steeped in scouting tradition. At camp the boys have the opportunity to work on a multitude of scout skills and merit badges such as swimming, canoeing, archery, environmental science and fishing. Floodwood is considered a High Adventure trip for older scouts. This year’s trek a combination of hiking and canoeing covered well over 50 miles and more than 15 portages. Over the past year the scouts have supported our troops in Iraq with two massive shipments of supplies and contributed to the food pantries of local churches in West Milford. The scouts have volunteered at the blood drive and for various events at Van Dyke Assisted Living. Troop 146 has many Eagle Scouts among their ranks, past and present. One of the requirements to attain the rank of Eagle is to plan and execute a service project testing a boy’s ability to lead others and to learn the value of following a project through to completion. Last year the scouts build a storage shed for gymnasium equipment at the high school. The most recent project was the construction of an outdoor classroom at the high school that will be used for many different purposes. Other projects include clearing the dam of Upper Greenwood Lake overgrowth and debris and the restoration of the spillway channel. A highly visible Eagle project was completed this summer at the West Milford Presbyterian Church, the paint job on the Parish House. All of these projects are lead and carried out by the boys for the benefit of the community. This coming year, the troop will attend the New Jersey State Police Boy Scout Camporee in October at the State Police Training facility in Sea Girt, N.J. The scouts that go will get to meet some of the state’s finest law enforcement professionals as well as learn about some of the occupations that exist in the area of law enforcement. In November a four-day trip to the nation’s capital and the US Naval Academy is on the agenda. During that trip the scouts will visit many historic sites and earn two different trail medals in the process. The scouts intend to go to an Air show, Great Adventure, (their annual trip) and spend a weekend skiing. There are many scouting groups in West Milford. They provide the opportunity for boys to develop character, leadership skills and to appreciate the values of good citizenship as they participate in a year-round outdoor program. If you are interested in joining Troop 146 please contact Scoutmaster Glenn Morris 973-853-2478 or Jim Harrington Assistant Scoutmaster 973-853-3016 or visit the Troop Web site at http://www.freewebs.com/troop146/index.htm.