Franklin Hayes/Splash! Magazine Brian Register, 17, coordinanted volunteers, state and federal officials and materials for the planting effort as his Eagle Project. Some undeveloped areas of Santa Rosa Island now resemble the Bonneville Salt Flats - an expansive white plane devoid of the towering sand dunes that made the area famous. The hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005 nearly leveled many of the residential and natural structures that once dominated the island's horizon. One group of dedicated boy scouts recently teamed up with federal park and state environment experts to restore some of Pensacola Beach's natural habitat.

Bryan Register, 17, and approximately 25 other volunteers gathered near the Fort Pickens park entrance Saturday, Jan. 20 to plant approximately 1,200 seedlings as part of his Eagle Scout project.

"This project will give a foothold for dune restoration," said local Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) spokesperson Sally Cooey. "The barrier islands serve as a critical habitat and also protect our coastal and inland properties. These islands break the wave action and are part of the bigger picture."

"The sand that's down here now is the only sand we're going to have. The sand here now came down here in the last ice age. We've got to keep it on the island because we're not getting any more." - Riley Hoggard National Park Service The Boy Scouts from troop 484 and their volunteers planted native specimens of Iva, sea purslane and panicum that were grown in a local DEP greenhouse.

Jim Lappert, local environmental manager for the DEP's ecosystem restoration section, said the plants would serve as a collection point for the sugary white sand and would "give the dunes a chance to come back." Lappert said once the vegetation takes root, the dunes would probably grow back at a rate of one foot per year.

Riley Hoggard with the National Park Service, which has jurisdiction over the Fort Pickens area, said the vegetation would be left to mother nature and will play a critical role in the preservation of the island.

"The sand that's down here now is the only sand we're going to have," Hoggard said in sharp disagreement with an older theory that the island is constantly replenished with sand from local water cycles. "The sand here now came down here in the last ice age. We've got to keep it on the island because we're not getting any more."

Hoggard added he would like to see the dunes grow to approximately eight to 10 feet high, but said that would require relatively quiet hurricane seasons over the next decade.

Lappert said the state has spent close to $100,000 over the last two years growing approximately 40,000 plants to restore habitats throughout Florida.

"This effort is just the tip of the iceberg," Lappert said, describing similar projects in Perdido Key and other areas of Pensacola Beach. "We do this kind of thing in as many dune areas as we can."

Register, a senior at Pensacola High School, said the environmental necessity of the project is what attracted his attention.

"I've learned a lot about the beach," Register said. "I learned how important the dunes are to the beach ecology. They are a habitat for crabs, mice and other animals."

According to Scout Master Scott Isern, Eagle Scout candidates must choose a worthy community service project, coordinate resources, present their ideas to a board of directors and complete the project before their 18th birthday. Isern said the project serves as the candidate's last major function with Boy Scouts and can consume anywhere from 80 to 100 man hours.