Consumers Energy, Cub Scouts Build Platform to Give Osprey Safe Place to Nest
ALMA, Mich., March 3, 2017 /3BL Media/ – Local Cub Scouts this past weekend built a nesting platform they hope will entice a pair of osprey away from using an electric utility pole for their nest site.
“I asked my nephews who are members of Cub Scout Troop 3600 from the Breckenridge area if they and their scouting friends would be interested in helping give ospreys a safe place to nest,” said Darrel O’Boyle, low voltage distribution designer for Consumers Energy. “About five of the Scouts finished making the nesting platform on Saturday in about three hours.”
The Scouts made the 3-feet square cedar platform plus a perch for Ospreys which have nested on a pole that supported electric lines in the Big Rapids area.
Consumers Energy is donating the pole for the platform, and its crews will erect the platform in a safer nesting site on Michigan Department of Transportation right-of-way about 100 feet from the electric lines. The energy company is coordinating the nest relocation project with MDOT and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
During installation, the crews will remove the nesting material from the previous nest and place it on the platform built by the Scouts to make the new site more attractive to the ospreys. Vertical boards Scouts installed on the platform floor are designed to help the birds weave material into their nest.
New poles being installed in an electric system upgrade in the area are being configured to deter the birds from attempting to reestablish a nest near the electric lines. Consumers Energy crews will erect the platform before April, when ospreys typically return to Michigan to nest. Participating in the project qualifies the each Scout for the Conservation Good Turn certificate.
“I can’t say enough about these dedicated Scouts. We’re hoping the ospreys are as impressed as I am with the finished project and find their new home to their liking,” said O’Boyle, an Eagle Scout. “The birds should also appreciate their new, more expansive, view – their old nest was on top of a 45-foot pole; we’re using a 65-foot pole for their new site.” With the help of Consumers Energy, Cub Scouts in Michigan built a nesting platform last week that they hope will entice a pair of osprey away from using an electric utility pole for their nest site.
About Consumers Energy
Consumers Energy, Michigan’s largest utility, is the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy (NYSE: CMS), providing natural gas and electricity to 6.7 million of the state’s 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties. Our Growing Forward strategy calls for investing more than $6 billion in Michigan over the next five years. That includes significant investments in energy efficiency, renewable energy, environmental and customer service enhancements, and new power generation. The investments make Consumers Energy one of the largest investors in Michigan and will help the utility maintain and improve service to customers, create jobs, boost the state’s economy and expand the
state’s tax base.
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