Six Boy Scouts built a bridge at Little Finland in Kimball, Wis., last weekend. Ryan Koski, who is working toward Scouting's top rank of Eagle, directed Adam Magdziak, Ethan Johnson, Logan Jacisin and Emerson and Spencer Lemmons in the project.

The bridge is part of the Taipale nature trail on the back eight acres of the 11-acre National Finnish American Festival complex along U.S. 2. A trout stream runs through the grounds.

The scouts and some of their parents labored six hours on June 21 on the bridge. Bill Perkis is Scout master for the troop.

A week earlier, Nick Wulff built a 36-foot boardwalk over a wetland portion of the trail. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources  specified that the boardwalk had to be 12 to 18 inches above the wetland so as not to inhibit water, plant or animal life.

The bridge had to be two feet above the high water mark, with one end of the bridge anchored. The scouts secured both ends of the 12-foot bridge, which includes a ramp,  over the creek they called Metsä Puro.

The Taipale Trail has been funded by grants from Finlandia Foundation National in Pasadena, Calif.,  and the Irene Banfield Foundation.

The project includes adding berry patches to the grounds, after planners studied berries grown in Finland. Landscaping around the Harma Museum, Haaro House and Maki Sauna is designed to give visitors a feeling of the early life of Finnish settlers in the woods of Iron County and the Gogebic Range.

Little Finland provided a picnic lunch for the Scouts, parents and 10 members of Little Finland who offered support for the project.