DALLAS, TEXAS (May 2023) – Boy Scout Oliver Burke led his fellow Scouts in a community wildflower seed building service project to help preserve and protect the endangered Blackland Prairie.  Burke received a national Hershey Heartwarming Young Heroes grant through Youth Service America to conduct the community event.  

Burke serves as the Senior Patrol Leader of Circle Ten National Scout Jamboree Troop #1, a youth contingent of Scouts who will travel to the Bechtel Summit Reserve in West Virginia for the National Scout Jamboree from July 19-28, 2023.   The wildflower seed ball project allowed the Scouts to meet one another through active community service in advance of their Jamboree trip. “Most of the Scouts didn’t know each other at the beginning of this project.  We are all from different schools and come from both rural towns and urban cities throughout North Texas; it was really tremendous how we all worked together to positively impact our local environment and make a difference in our community,” Burke said.  

As a part of Global Youth Service Day and Earth Day 2023, Burke educated his fellow Jamboree Scouts about the importance of preserving the endangered Blackland Prairie, a tall grass prairie unique to North Texas.  With less than .05% of the original Blackland Prairie remaining, it is considered one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world.  Burke previously led conservation projects to stop erosion by transplanting native grasses at the Connemara Conservancy Meadow, a 72-acre tract of Blackland Prairie on the edge of McKinney and Allen, Texas.  And, in order to promote wildlife diversity, Burke is currently raising hundreds of Northern Bobwhite Quail to band and release into various Blackland Prairies across the metroplex.  For this project, Burke carefully selected eight different species of native Texas wildflower seeds, including colorful Mexican Hat, Plains Coreopsis and Indian Blanket, which particularly thrive in the Blackland Prairie.  He and approximately 50 Scouts from across the Dallas metroplex then joined together to make over 3800 native wildflower seed balls.  Once dry, more Scout volunteers will throw the seed balls in designated pollinator patches at the Connemara Conservancy, the Northaven Trail, a commuter and reacreational bike and hike trail built and maintained by the Dallas Parks and Recreation Department, and other Blackland Prairies throughout Dallas.  

Global Youth Service Day (GYSD), a campaign of Youth Service America (YSA), is the longest-running annual youth participation event in the world and the only one that asks all youth ages 5-25 to find meaning and purpose by working together for the common good.  Launched in 2020, the Heartwarming Project’s Grants Program supports young people like Burke, who are advancing inclusion, empathy, kindness and connection in their schools and communities. YSA awarded 135 Hershey Heartwarming Young Heroes grants to youth all over the United States and Canada to lead community-building activities to foster meaningful connections and community-building activities, promote inclusion, and teach empathy.

Oliver Burke, a rising junior at Greenhill School and Life Scout with Boy Scout Troop 577 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, is especially passionate about community service.  He serves on Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne’s Congressional Advisory Committee, a leadership opportunity for high school students to work with their federal representative while serving their community.  Burke is also a Trail Captain of the Northaven Trail through the Friends of the Northaven Trail, a volunteer organization for the support, maintenance and beautification of the Northaven Trail.  The only youth serving as a Trail Captain, Burke regularly walks and monitors his section of the Trail, reports issues, and assists with trail range management.