Pollinator garden provides an outdoor classroom at TCCES
Volunteers Becky Sedares, left, Elaine Schindler, Rick Schindler, Dalton Vlad, Rome Marinelli and Ed Marinelli gathered native Ohio plant species to create the new environment for pollinators.
A small unused bank of land behind Tuscarawas Central Catholic Elementary School in Dover is being transformed into a habitat for pollinators, butterflies and other species, providing an outdoor classroom for students.
The project, which saw a group of volunteers planting 14 different varieties of native Ohio plants in freshly prepared soil on June 1, is overseen by Rome Marinelli of New Philadelphia.
Marinelli is co-founder of Sustainable Wildlife Area Restoration Movement. The organization worked together with the school to convert the unused space for insect, bird and other wildlife habitat.
SWARM seeks to turn unused local land into habitable environments for animal and insect life. “Elaine Schindler, one of our SWARM board members, is a very passionate person about what we do and suggested this little unused slope may be a good habitat to explore,” Marinelli said.
Schindler also is a staff member at the school.
The habitat will become a part of the education experience for students once the land and plantings gain a solid foothold.
Marinelli said Schindler approached the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for funding help. “The resulting grant helped with the kinds of tools students can use here in the habitat and the classroom, like hand lenses and microscopes.”
“For years we’ve done a monarch conservation project,” Schindler said. “It was another teacher, Mrs. Becky Sedares, and I who put that project together. It started out with just bringing a few caterpillars into the classroom and some milkweed. Then we decided we could have our own plants here as a source for the caterpillars but also as a nectar source for adult butterflies. A couple of years ago, we had a small section of this bank planted with milkweed and zinnias and other nectar sources, and it was very successful. The students could clearly see the butterflies arriving immediately, and caterpillars began chewing the leaves on the milkweed. So we looked at this grassy space, which was just lawn that had to be mowed. Now it will be restoration habitat for the pollinators: bees and butterflies.”
“We’ll attract great diversity just in this small section of land,” Marinelli said.
The resulting outdoor classroom, which should be fully developed by fall 2021, will be a “land lab,” Schindler said. “It adds interest for the students rather than being in a static classroom indoors.”
“There are a lot of STEM components to this,” Marinelli said. “There’s mathematics; there’s social studies. A lot comes from this small land lab. It’s good for the environment and good for students.”
The volunteers worked to plant varieties of native milkweed, golden Alexander and other species. “All of the plants are native and would have been found here prior to European migration,” Marinelli said. “It’s more than just butterflies and bees; it’s about creating a whole habitat where species of insects, birds and small mammals can thrive and raise their young.”
And what about attracting bees to an area where children play in the autumn and spring months? Both Marinelli and Schindler were quick to point out children will be instructed in staying safe.
“There’s a lot of education that goes along with this for students,” Marinelli said. “They’ll learn how to be respectful and which species can sting and which do not and why. They mainly pay attention to you if you are a threat to their home, just as you or I would to protect our family. The teachers will do an incredible job educating students about the 450 species of bees found in Ohio alone.”
“If you leave them alone, they will leave you alone,” Schindler said. “The students will learn about that along with everything else.”
“It’s about the bees. It’s about the butterflies, the plants, the soil and all of it,” Marinelli said. “The students can gain a lot of knowledge from this small bank of ground.”