Chase Cousino has been preparing for his Eagle Scout project his whole life.

The Newport youth recently completed the project at the young age of 13.

With help from his friends and Boy Scout Troop 508 of Carleton, Chase built eight four-foot by four-foot osprey nesting platforms.

Earlier this month, Chase and DTE Energy installed one of the platforms at Pointe Mouillee State Game Area in Rockwood.

Chase has been a Boy Scout for years, but his experience with ospreys goes back even farther.

His dad, Jason Cousino, is a member of DTE’s Green Team, which carefully relocates endangered birds who built nests on power lines.

“(Chase) has done this since he was a baby. He’s been through all phases of this,” said Jason. “Chase got to be there the day we took some young out of the nest and banded them.”

Jason said osprey sometimes build their nests on power lines, which can cause fires and power outages. He and the DTE team work with state and federal agencies to relocate the federally protected birds.

“We put in habitats for wildlife. We started seeing osprey building nests on power lines quite a few years ago. They tend to like those spots,” said Jason.

Chase, his fellow troops, family members and friends from St. Charles School in Newport decided to help the efforts by building platforms from treated wood donated by DTE.

On the installation day, Chase and his family got started early. Hours before ground was broken, Chase and the DTE line crew gave safety briefings. The crew consisted of three linemen, a general foreman and an environmental engineer.

Chase and the crew attached one of the platforms to a 60-foot utility pole. Then, using an industrial auger and other machinery, workers installed the pole in the ground, about 10 feet from the water. Sticks and grasses were left on the platform to get the osprey started with a nest. Everyone who helped with the project signed the platform.

“That’s one less set of birds on our power line. It’s proactive,” said Jason. “Now is the time osprey migrate to South America. We wanted to get the platform done before winter, so it’s ready to go in the spring. There is no guarantee they will use it, but most likely they will. It’s in a perfect place. Osprey like high spots. They like to be by the water to hunt.”

Work took about four hours. Watching the project were Chase, Jason, mom Jodi, sister Camryn, friends and representatives from Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Osprey Watch and DTE.

“It went smoothly. It was a nice day, a perfect day for building. Nothing went wrong,” said Chase on installation day.

“It was cool to see the finished project,” said Jason. “It went very well. It’s a good relief to be done. He learned a lot. I was pretty proud today."

Now, Chase is just steps away from earning his Eagle, Boy Scout’s highest honor.

“The remarkable part of this is that he only needs to finish up this project and one more merit badge. Next month he’ll finish up. To get it that young, he really excelled, he’s really worked hard. I didn’t get my (Eagle Scout) until I was 17 1/2” said Jason, the assistant scout master for Chase’s troop, which is sponsored by Ash Township Firefighters Association.

As part of the Eagle project, Chase had to fundraise, create a proposal, get approval and work with groups like DTE, Osprey Watch and the Michigan DNR.

The remaining seven platforms will be stored at the Michigan DNR.

“That way the extra seven will be right there for the DNR or some other group. If anyone needs one, they're already paid for, they're already built,” said Jason.

The project’s challenges, said Chase, included getting all the materials and then constructing the platforms, which took about 10 hours.

DTE donated the pole, many materials and labor.

Jason and Chase estimate the full cost of the project was at least several thousand dollars.

“The poles are expensive,” said Jason.

DTE began relocating osprey about 15 years ago, said Jason. Relocation has been done for other birds, such as Bald Eagles, Red-Tailed Hawks and Peregrine Falcons, but the greatest need seems to be for osprey.

“I get a call at least once a year, people say there are nests on one of your lines,” said Jason. "DTE is an environmentally friendly company. We try to do the right thing. We can’t have nests on our lines. They cause fires. But, the birds want to be up there. We put up a pole and platform adjacent to where they want to build. It’s been very successful.

"The mother takes to it and lays her eggs. They get dead trees and build circular nests of sticks. In the center, we’ve found all kinds of stuff, mostly grasses. They get a big chunk of grass with their talons. They are very resourceful. The center is where the eggs go."

In some cases, just a deterrent is needed to keep birds away from electric lines.

“We try to deter them on some of our poles with plastic pieces. Other places, we put up poles and platforms,” said Jason, who's installed platforms at Monroe's Navarre Field and the Frenchtown ball field on Nadeau Rd.

Once, DTE workers moved a nest 1,300 feet.

“We put the nest in the truck. That mother follows us 1,300 feet. That’s the farthest we’ve moved a nest. Normally, it just goes right behind it,” said Jason. “We work with U.S. Fish and Wildlife and get permits. They let us take it down when there’s a threat to public safety. We collect the nest and move it to another place. We put eggs in soft coolers and then rebuild the nest. We’ve had good success.”