The main focus of my Hornaday conservation project was managing, removing, and controlling invasive plant species at Dunwoody Nature Center. I dug up, pulled up, and/or cut back a total of 1,085 Chinese wisteria, Chinese privet, and English ivy in three areas of the following footage: 200’x59’; 36’x70’; and 94’x97’. My mother sprayed the wisteria, privet, and some ivy with RoundUp, better managing and killing them when I was unable to dig up their entire roots. The impact of my work, specifically related to managing invasive plant species, is that a large area of land is free of wisteria, privet, and ivy overtaking, choking, and killing native plants and trees. Not only did I remove wisteria and ivy from the ground, I also tore it down and clipped it off of 20 100-foot tall trees. Wisteria vines, up to 3” in diameter wrapped themselves up the trees in a spiraling manner, choking them, with their leaves blocking out the sunlight of the tree leaves. Seeds from wisteria plants that climbed the tall trees had scattered along the ground below, causing so many 100s of plants to grow on the forest floor. Removing the invasive plant species from the trees and the ground better controls their spread, and opened up an area for native plants, including ferns, holly, and oak trees to better grow. During the 3-month follow-up period of my work, I observed that there were approximately 30 invasive plants that grew back, then 80 more, then 50 more, but my mother sprayed all of those with RoundUp, and I removed them once they died. I also completed additional activities for my Hornaday project at Dunwoody Nature Center. This included building and placing five bird houses, specifically for wrens and chickadees; and mulching two walking trails of 380’x2’ to prevent erosion and conserve soil. Further, I planted 60 Autumn ferns in areas where I removed invasive plant species to replace plants removed and help conserve soil. I also regularly filled four bird feeders and three bird baths with bird seed and water; and cleaned the bird baths. I removed branches and logs from trails and areas where I planted the ferns. Leadership experience I gained through my Hornaday project included holding two troop workdays on March 11, 2017 and April 15, 2017 at Dunwoody Nature Center. On the first troop workday, a total of 4 people were there, and on the second troop workday, 3 people were there. On March 11, I was the leader in mulching two walking trails in the woods at Dunwoody Nature Center. A total of 23 hours were invested into my project that day, and everyone earned the Conservation Good Turn Award for my troop. On April 15, I led my group in planting 60 Autumn ferns and removing invasive plants. Everyone put in a total of 22.5 hours of work that day. But, since we didn't finish everything on April 15, I came back on Easter Sunday to water in all of the ferns. For that day, I earned the Keep America Beautiful Hometown USA Award. In total, I completed 333 individual service hours for this project that totaled 623 hours and included 35 volunteers. This project was a huge endeavor for me. I learned much, and am happy I did the project. Doing this work has inspired me to potentially pursue a career in science, and possibly in biology, the environment, and/or working with people and animals. I hope to earn the William T. Hornaday Badge Award for my work on this major service project as a Star-rank Boy Scout with Troop 548 in Snellville, Georgia, United States. Please read more information about my project at myhornadayproject.wordpress.com.