Restoration and stewardship of pollinator habitats through outdoor learning spaces
About the Project
The goal of this project is to address the environmental issue of the loss of native habitat, specifically native pollinator habitat, and the loss of place-specific ecological knowledge and stewardship through the creation of an outdoor learning space to be utilized for hands-on learning and outdoor education.
This outdoor learning space is located on our office campus where we are restoring monoculture law into a native pollinator habitat. This space will include a wildflower meadow, pollinator garden, compost station, food garden, and restored wetland habitat.
During the project timeframe of August 2024 to May 31, 2025, our team
- removed 244 invasive Chinese tallow trees from the wetland
- planted a mixture of 40 different flora, tree, grass, and shrub species in the outdoor learning space
- constructed the pollinator garden
- implemented educational lessons on native flora, wildlife signs and tracks, and shoreline grasses
- winter sowed trays with 14 native seeds to be planted by students in the pollinator garden in the spring
The outcomes we are most proud of during this program…
The building of the pollinator garden for the outdoor learning space
This pollinator garden is one component of the outdoor learning space and is currently 30 meters by 80 meters with plans to expand overtime. We currently have 42 various native flora species seeded in the garden, have planted 16 native shrubs, and planted 6 trees. This area was monoculture lawn grass before this restoration action.
The removal of 244 invasive Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera)
Twelve members of our project team identified and removed tallow trees along the outdoor learning space wetland during the months of August and September, then partnered with the Grand Bay NERR to remove tallow from their pollinator area in May with 30 Master Naturalist volunteers. The areas along the outdoor learning space have since shown wonderful restoration with the growth of beautiful native flowers and irises.
Implementation of lessons in the outdoor learning space
The project team led and facilitated 11 separate events that included various educational lessons in the outdoor learning space including bimonthly Garden Club, “Kindergarten Extravaganza”, North Bay Elementary Field Day, and East Biloxi Boys and Girls Club Field Day. Educational lesson topics included germination and propagation of native plants, native plant and pollinator ecology, climate resilience, greenhouse growing, wildlife signs and tracks, habitat management using fire, nature journaling, and monarch butterfly ecology.
