Kaleb Erickson On Saturday, May 10, Kaleb Erickson, a Life Scout on his way to attaining Eagle rank, led a service project to benefit residents in the local area.

Kaleb and a group of 20 volunteers from Troop 6678 installed five barn owl boxes previously constructed in Kaleb's garage in Simi Valley. The group installed the boxes at Oak Canyon Community Park.

The barn owl boxes will benefit and improve the safety and cleanliness of the park, owned by the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District, by using environmentally safe means to control the rodent population of the park.

Barn owls in a family can kill approximately 1,000 rodents a year.

Grounds supervisor Eugene Molnar worked with Kaleb to design the boxes and determine the location for each. Park district volunteer Colleen Janssen oversaw the project.

Lumber for the project was provided by Stock Lumber, and an automatic auger was provided by Simi-U-Rent to dig the post holes.

Local contractor Rand Johnson offered his services as site manager, and drafting engineer Mike Shinsel helped with the construction of the boxes.