When Boy Scout David Brown, a member of Troop 1 Warwick, needed to come up with a plan for the community service project required to attain his Eagle Scout rank, he quickly decided he wanted to do something with the outdoors.

.Being a Boy Scout, you grow to love the outdoors,. said Brown, who first became a Cub Scout in second grade. .We spend so much time outside camping and stuff, I really wanted to do something to help the environment..

Brown said he learned about Buckeye Brook . the state.s largest self-supporting herring run, which flows from Warwick Lake to Narragansett Bay . by reading about it in the papers and thought it was something he might like to support. He asked around and heard about Steve Insana, the brook.s protector and preserver who single-handedly worked to bring attention to it. Now vice president of the Buckeye Brook Coalition, Insana will always give information about the brook to anyone willing to listen.

.He gave me a lot of information, told me all about the history of the brook and took me around to all the different bridges,. said Brown, a 2005 graduate of Pilgrim High School and current student at Rhode Island College. .He told me about how storm water drains into the brook can kill the vegetation if it.s polluted with de-icer [from the airplanes]. Even grass clippings can be bad because it takes oxygen out of the water and can kill the plants and fish. I really learned a lot from Steve..

After spending time with Insana and borrowing from the resources he provided, Brown comprised his own informational pamphlet. With the help of his troop and troop leader, Brown set out to hand-deliver 600 to 700 brochures to people living in the houses around the brook. Brown said he and the troop distributed about 500 or 600 over the course of three hours on Sunday (yes, in the rain) and then he and Eagle Scout Kevin Brady passed out the remainder yesterday, again in the rain.

.I bought everybody pizza and soda afterwards for helping me out, especially in the rain,. he said, adding Insana told him he had already gotten a few phone calls from people receiving brochures looking for more information.

Brown provides .helpful yard tips. in his brochure that include reducing or eliminating watering lawns and using fertilizer; leaving grass clippings on the lawn; avoiding mowing marsh grass (which, by the way, is illegal); and watering as little as possible.

As he calls on local residents to join the Buckeye Brook Coalition, Brown says in the pamphlet, .The Buckeye Brook is a hidden treasure that Warwick has to offer and I am proud to say that I have made an impact in my favorite place in the world, Warwick, Rhode Island. Please be kind to the environment. Don.t drop your leaves wherever you please; make use of your local compost pile, located behind Mickey Stevens Sports Complex..

For more information on Buckeye Brook or joining the Buckeye Brook Coalition, contact Insana at 737-1342.