Eagle Scout candidate Nick Ostertag (foreground) puts the finishing touches on a new bridge, with help from Evan Cochrane, standing, and Tom Cooke. In the background, from left to right, Mark Beirbower, Bob Huber, Paul Willard, and Tony Shaw make use of the new structure. (Photos by Laura Andrews)

Nick Ostertag accepts a handshake from Paul Willard (right) for his work in completing the bridge as Tom Cooke (left) and Evan Cochrane (second from right) look on.

Last Saturday Eagle Scout candidate Nick Ostertag of Craggs Road drove the last nail into his Scout project—a bridge that spans a stream on conservation land—with help from his father and two other Troop 1 scouts and moral support from the rest of his family, friends, and some town officials. The bridge links the Small Trail at the elementary school with the Dolan Mason land off Slough Road.

Nick and his parents, Sue and Willie Ostertag, pushed to get the required approvals through in early December to be able to start the work before the ground froze—an unnecessary precaution, as Sue pointed out this week.

Because the bridge links two separate properties, the Ostertags needed approval from two separate land owners: the Harvard schools and the Harvard Conservation Trust. Because the bridge crosses wetlands, the Conservation Commission needed to sign off. And because this was an Eagle Scout project, Nick had to secure the approval of his Scout leader, Bob Huber; the Harvard Boy Scout Committee, and the Nashoba Valley Boy Scout Committee; the regional scouting authority,

School Superintendent Tom Jefferson signed off for the schools, Phil Knoettner for the Trust, and Paul Willard for the commission. With Bob Huber’s okay December 14, the project started.

In addition to marking work boundaries, measuring, designing, hauling lumber, nailing boards, and reblazing the trail to link it to the old trail, Nick supervised others doing the same work. Scouts Tom Cooke and Evan Cochrane helped out on the bridge—each will start his own Eagle Scout project this year.

Nick said that the idea for the project came from snowmobile club member Tony Shaw and that the existing bridge—on private property—needed to be moved downstream so the owner could put livestock in his field.

The town paid around $500 for new lumber, Nick said, which he used with wood recycled from the old bridge. Willard confirmed that the money came from the Department of Public Works budget.