A local Eagle Scout sought to beautify the community he lives in for a long time, not just a few months.

And he did just that.

Shane Biffar, a member of Boy Scout Troop 320 in Columbia, decided to do a more permanent landscaping job in front of Rogers Elementary School in Waterloo where the butterfly garden is.

“We wanted something that would be there for years, not just normal landscaping that would get torn out the next year,” Biffar said.

He did a lot of planning with his scout troop to get everything lined up and ready to go for the project to begin.

“With the (scouts), it’s a very strict protocol, so I had to get my idea confirmed by the troop committee and the council,” he said. “I also did the fundraising, ordered the supplies and organized the days I was going to work on the project.”

After the planning, Biffar reached out to local businesses who donated money to help him buy the needed materials.

“The school itself already had the flower beds there, but I re-did what was surrounding them,” he said. “We put in garden wall blocks to replace the railroad ties.”

Biffar received help from fellow scouts and family members to work on the two-day project.

“Me and my dad put probably 40 hours into it just between (us),” he said.

Everybody who has been by the project since he finished it has offered positive feedback, Biffar said.

“Everyone I’ve heard from says it looks 10 times better than it did before,” he said.