Visitors at Laramie Plains Lakes have a new place to enjoy a picnic thanks to Jamison Bade of Laramie.

As part of an Eagle Scout project, Bade worked with Wyoming Game and Fish Department personnel to build five picnic tables, one each at Lake Hattie, Gelatt Lake, and Meeboer Lake, and two at Twin Buttes Reservoir.

Bade is a member of Boy Scout Troop 138 in Laramie and a seventh-grader at Laramie Middle School. He is working to fulfill the requirement to become an Eagle Scout, including completing a service project.

The Eagle Scout Service Project must benefit the scout’s community and requires a significant effort on the scout’s part. “You have to learn a bunch of skills, and then prove that you know them, and then do a project to prove your leadership abilities,” Bade said in a statement. “I learned how to use a lot of new tools, and it was fun learning skills for building things. I also learned a bit about leadership and how to place things together.”

Bade worked with Habitat and Access staff Micah Morris and Mark Worth to build and install the tables. Once built, he stained the tables to protect them from the elements. Then Bade helped take them to each site and chain them in place to prevent theft.

“Building the tables was easy, but the hardest part was putting the locks on them. We kept having to re-do it but after awhile we finally got it figured out and then it went ok.” He also helped build concrete forms for new fire pits at each of the sites. “We finished building all the tables in one day, and then we had to go out and place them. Once we learned how to do everything with the first table it got easier after that,” he said.

While the physical part of his Eagle Scout project is over, he still has a lot of work ahead. “I have to fill out all the paperwork and then go in front of the board for the Eagle Scout review,” he said. “My goal is to be done with Eagle Scout by the end of the year.”

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