Native Plant Pollinator Garden

2012 Davis, California, USA

Da Vinci High School students Brenna Mockler, Nathan Lefkoff, Juliana Arvin, and Innis McComb placed 4th in the 2012 Caring for Our Watersheds contest for their idea to plant a native pollinator garden on their school campus. Their garden will serve to increase plant diversity on campus, provide habitat and nectar sources for pollinators, as well as create a space where students can learn about California native plants. In their proposal, they also pointed out that by planting native drought-resistant species, they will help to conserve water, support insect and butterfly populations, and beautify their campus. The garden will also be incorporated into the Botany class curriculum at school. This hands-on project has already deepened their knowledge of native plants and pollinator conservation. They hope it will continue to have the same effect on students at Da Vinci in years to come.

Soil Microbial Health – The Affect of Soil Amendments on Soil Respiration

2012 Loveland, Colorado, USA

Benjamin Hoyer from Resurrection Christian High School explains that Aldo Leopold said in Sand County Almanac: “What conservation education must build is an ethical underpinning for land economics and a universal curiosity to understand the land mechanism.” Hoyer’s solution was to develop a soils lab module which allows students to connect to their land and water and to further student conservation education. The lab module includes information on soil characteristics, a soils analysis lab, and age appropriate supplemental readings.

“By developing and distributing this lab module students will have the opportunity to become stewards, engaging as citizens in their watershed and building an understanding for their soil.”
-Ben Hoyer

The student module and materials were completed and delivered to the Poudre Learning Center (PLC) for teachers to use during the school school year. The PLC staff said that they had over 14,000 students visit them last year. Hoyer’s hope is that the teachers will consider using the module with their students.

Riparian Repair

2012 Virden, Manitoba, Canada

Chelsi Malach is a passionate student who wanted to improve a local wetland called Eternal Springs, located east of the town of Virden. Along with local community members enjoying the site, this area is also used to teach younger students about the importance of watersheds and wetland conservation.

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While volunteering at the site as an educator, she observed severe bank erosion following the spring flood. There is also an increase in invasive species such as Purple loosestrife.

Her proposal was twofold: to create a buffer zone along the bank by planting a diversity of vegetation, and to assess the invasive species on the site. This would be followed up by manual removal and monitoring.

Chelsi partnered with the Upper Assiniboine Conservation district for their expertise and assistance. As well, the grade 12 biology class participated both in the removal of the invasive species and planting of local vegetation to stabilize the stream back. Her passion enthusiasm for this project has now been shared with the school and community.

The Caring for our Watersheds contest provided Chelsi with over $3,500 to make this ambitious project a reality.

Native Plant Campaign

2012 Calgary, Alberta Canada

The Native Plant Campaign (NPC) was an opportunity for youth in Calgary to learn about and get involved in ecological biodiversity within the City of Calgary. As the first-place proposal in Caring for our Watersheds 2011, the NPC was a project designed by youth for youth. Since the student authors were members of UNA-Canada’s Ripple Effect program at the time, UNA-Canada offered to be the mentor organization for implementation.

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Twenty-four youth, ages 14-20, volunteered their Saturday afternoon, despite the rain, to learn about and plant native plant species along the banks of the constructed wetland on Prince’s Island Park, Calgary. The event ran from 12:30-4:00pm on Saturday June 2, 2012.

The event began with a welcome from UNA-Canada and a brief overview of the upcoming Rio+20 summit in order to connect local actions with global affairs. Once the students had toured the wetland and learned about riparian health and native/invasive plant species, they spent the remaining time planting over 100 plants, trees, and shrubs. The following species were planted: Balsam Poplar, Aspen, River Birch, Paper Birch, River Alder, Chokecherry, Tawny Willow, Black Bud Willow, Pussy Willow, Silverberry, Dogwood, and Dwarf Birch.

One student said, “I really enjoyed the informational nature walk…I learned a lot and it made the plantings that more meaningful. I am definitely excited to participate in another event like this in the future.”

Monofilament Fishing Line Recycling Containers

2012 Colusa, CA, USA
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In looking into water issues in their small community, Aimee Galvez and Yajaira Cruz saw that there was a lot of fishing line thrown into the river by anglers who seemed unaware of the danger this could cause to local wildlife. Their idea was to place monofilament recycling containers at four local boat ramps and landings. They believed that by providing a place to recycle line and signs to encourage use, they could reduce the amount of line left in the river or on the water’s edge.
To start the process they first designed the aluminum signs that would be placed on top of the containers. The signs urged anglers to “Reel in and Recycle” to help keep the Sacramento River “tangle free” as used fishing line can pose hazards to wildlife, birds, and aquatic species. The signs also explained that the Colusa High School Environmental Science Academy would be maintaining the containers and collecting the line to be sent in for recycling.

Aimee and Yajaira then built the containers themselves out of PVC pipe, screws, and hose-camps. monofiliment3-2 They visited each landing ahead of time to see where the best place would be to put the containers, conferring with the landing owners and staff. With full support and permission of the landing operators, they installed the containers and signs. Nutrien provided $342 in implementation funds for the project, which will be an ongoing effort carried on by the students at Colusa High School during Environmental Science Academy service hours. They are thankful that they were able to make their idea a reality and provide a simple solution to a problem in their watershed!

Native Plant Pollinator Garden

2012 Antelope, CA, USA

Antelope High School student Melanie Mititelu has learned about the importance of native plants in providing habitat for local wildlife. She is especially concerned about the loss of habitat for pollinators, as we depend on them to pollinate most of our agricultural products. In many places, this necessary service of pollination is at risk from habitat loss, pesticide use, and introduced diseases. She decided she could help by planting native pollinator species in planter boxes adjacent to the school garden. By providing nectar sources to forage in, she would encourage bees and other pollinators to help pollinate the plants in their garden. Her pollinator garden will also serve as an educational tool for Environmental Science classes when they learn about the decline in honeybees and
the importance of pollinator conservation.

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For her garden, Melanie chose plants that bloomed at different times throughout the year to provide a continuous food source for pollinators. She chose plants all native to California so that they would not require much irrigation or fertilizer. However, she did install an irrigation system to help these plants get established during the first few years.

In addition to providing particularly good habitat for pollinators next to the school garden, this native plant garden will be used to educate students and teachers at Antelope High School on the benefits of native plants, as well as botany and plant ID skills. Next year, they plan on adding interpretive signs that identify the native plants and explain their important role in agriculture and the environment.

Milk River Stabilization Project

2011 Milk River, Alberta, Canada

Jessie Tollestrup, an Erle Rivers student, submitted a proposal to Caring for our Watershed contest. Her proposal was on bank stabilization due to erosion problems on the Milk River. She proposed building willow wattle fences at a location where stream banks are being eroded. Continue reading…

Students Create a Demonstration Garden to Showcase Native Plants

2011 Arlington, Virginia, USA

When sixth grade science students at H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program examined stream conditions at Gulf Branch in Arlington, they noticed that the vegetation alongside the stream was dominated by invasive species, including garlic mustard along the paths, Japanese honeysuckle growing out of logs, and English Ivy, its vines snaking their way up trees, on the ground and almost everywhere else. Following up with the county’s invasive plant coordinator, they arranged to join in a garlic mustard pull in the park and tour a native plants demonstration garden, where they helped plant native honeysuckle.
Continue reading…

Lake Winnipeg Watershed Model Project

2011 Gimli, Manitoba, Canada
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Gimli High School students Cole Wear, Christine Durocher and Erik Isliefson are concerned about the health and sustainability of Lake Winnipeg. They believe an understanding of watersheds is very important for stewardship and sustainability. As a class project, they constructed a model of the Lake Winnipeg Watershed. The project was created by Enviro Club members with support from a local Conservation District.
Continue reading…

Native Plants – A Step Toward Improving Our Watershed

2011 Campbellford, Ontario, Canada

Kiersten Bertrand and Abbi Brown won first place in 2011 for their idea to plant native plants especially close to bodies of water. Through this project they wanted to involve local youth and schools, to raise awareness to the sensitivity of our watershed.

With funding from Nutrien the environmental club at Campbellford District High School, staff from Lower Trent Conservation, the Municipality of Trent Hills and community volunteers planted native shrubs and wildflowers along the Trent River shoreline at Hastings Village Marina.

The shoreline planting provides a colourful shoreline buffer, increase wildlife habitat and protect the shoreline from erosion.

The Hastings Village Marina is a popular location for the local community and visitors to the Trent-Severn Waterway. Signage will be installed at the site to educate the public on the importance of natural shorelines.