Terra Linda students work in wetland

On Friday, February 26, around 90 Terra Linda Elementary third-graders and their teachers and parents turned out in the rain to plant vegetation in the Cedar Mill Wetland area that straddles Barnes Road between Cedar Hills Blvd. and Cornell (see April ’09 CM News).

Students and parents get instructions from Jennifer. Photo by Neil Hefty

The outing was arranged by local farmer and businessman Bill Triest. He is a certified Master Woodland Manager, similar to the Master Gardener program, and he likes to conduct volunteer events as part of his practice. He knew that he wanted to accomplish two goals with the project: to expose children to the natural world, and to let them experience volunteering for the community.

After searching for several weeks to find a willing group, he found that the three third-grade teachers at Terra Linda were eager to help. Mary Johnson, Ruth Miller and Megan Craft organized their students and parents, and provided preparatory background information as part of the outdoors/environmental component of the school’s curriculum.

Jennifer Wilson of the Wetland Conservancy brought kid-sized shovels

Bill contacted Jennifer Wilson at the Wetlands Conservancy, the organization that owns and manages the wetland, and they set the date and began preparations. Jennifer has extensive experience working with school groups and has the system well organized to make sure that the right plants go in the right place. She had color-coded ribbons on bamboo stakes placed in the planting areas, and all the kids and parents had to do was match up the plants in their bags with the ribbons.

Over 300 bare-root plants, including the endangered checker mallow, elderberry, dogwood, ninebark and others were planted, along with about 300 cuttings of willow and spirea. The plants were provided by the Conservancy.

One of the kids joked that they were planting “beaver food” since they viewed several freshly gnawed plants in the area. Beaver and nutria are common in these wetlands, along with seasonal birds and several varieties of amphibians.

Mud and rain didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the parents and students who declared the day a success. Thanks!

The kids get busy planting vegetative cuttings. Photo by Bill Triest

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