COROLLA, N.C.—Wild horses couldn’t drag Don Andes away from his dreams of becoming an Eagle Scout.

They helped.

Spurred by time spent in Carova Beach, N.C., the Carrsville teen produced a video as his Eagle Scout project to help the Corolla Wild Horse Fund protect and manage the horses that call the Outer Banks beaches home.

Concerned about the decreased habitat due to an increase in rental homes, Andes hopes the video titled “Operation Save the Banker Horses” can be shown to visitors.

“I wanted to educate people on how to share the beach with them and how to keep them wild and free,” he said. “The focus of the film covered things (visitors) could do to help.”

The film can be seen on YouTube and the Schoolhouse Museum/Wild Horse Museum in Corolla. Andes continues to work to get the word out to more and more people.

While Elizabeth Pasieczny of Pickleman Productions directed the film, Andes produced, co-wrote, filmed and edited the project.

“It was as much a learning experience for me as it was a community service project,” he said.

Andes spent 451 hours on the project; the majority was spent editing 16 hours of footage to about seven minutes.

“I am very impressed,” said his mother, Norma Andes, who co-wrote the film. “It’s a bigger project than most kids want to do.”

Carrsville Troop 37 Scoutmaster Phillip Bradshaw called the project from the troop’s 33rd Eagle Scout unique.

“I thought it was a major undertaking,” Bradshaw said. “It took some time and a lot of planning.”

Andes will be the troop’s fourth Eagle Scout this year.

The scout, who is also the son of Robert Andes, graduated from home schooling in June and plans to attend Paul D. Camp Community College to pursue a theater degree.

Completing his board of review for Eagle Scout meant a lot to teen, who has pursued the rank since he began in Scouts.

“I’ve started working toward Eagle Scout as a Cub Scout,” Andes said.

The video can be seen here.