To gain an understanding of prairie reconstruction tasks, the students enrolled in plant science began collaborating with Polk County Conservation. The first field trip required that the students identify and remove invasive willow trees and plant seed that Polk County Conservation had harvested the previous fall.
The plant science students marked off the boundary of the first phase, and seeded about a quarter of an acre. This seeding was followed shortly after by torrential rains that ended up flooding much of the state.
I had the pleasure to work with Mr. Reif on the prairie restoration project. As the president of Environment Club at Valley I couldn't resist Mr. Johnson's offer to help Mr. Reif with launching the project. I have to admit that I absolutely knew nothing about the prairie's important role in maintaining the health of our ecosystem and I was clueless that majority of the prairie land was converted into farmland. The club members and I were excited that we could potentially have a hand in restoring a prairie. All of them had fresh ideas about how to fundraise and how to advertise about this construction. We knew that we the prairie belongs to the community and that each one of us had responsibility in maintaining it. One of the members, Kirsten garnered a generous donation from MidAmerican Energy that pushed our project from the planning stage to execution of our ideas. Mr. Reif then helped us buy the seeds and guided us to start cultivating this land. Before long students came to help us seed and I am so ecstatic to know that the project is going well. When I come back to Iowa in the summer I look forward to seeing the prairie!
ReplyDeleteThanks Mr. Reif, Mr. Johnson and Ms. Downing!