The Douglas Elementary native prairie last spring. Notice the kestrel's nesting box on the light pole.

Illinois kids find upkeep of
native prairie is big job

Kids at Douglas Elementary School in Belleville will have their hands full taking care of the native prairie they planted on the school grounds.

Last spring, the school's prairie project was awarded a Gateway Region Environmental Excellence award. The award was for developing a small prairie that included native Illinois plants that flourished when pioneers came to the state.

The school's prairie also featured nesting sites for four orphaned kestrels, which are small falcons. The kids got to watch when baby kestrels hatched.

The prairie pond, where toads live.

Dozens of toads gave birth to tadpoles in the prairie's little pond. And colorful Monarch butterflies made their home there because of plentiful food.

Eleven-year-old Tiffany Koehler was one of the kids who did planting last spring. "I liked planting the flowers,." she said.

Tiffany Koehler

But, with the start of school this fall, the kids are faced with problems in their prairie. Many of the prairie plants and grasses have grown too big. Teacher Stephanie Jacob said, "The prairie has gotten a little wild around here."

Kids like sixth graders Jessica Glatz, Emily Brabenec and Scott Johnson chipped in this summer to start the clean up.

Eleven-year-old Emily said, "Someone from the school called and asked for volunteers. We worked about 2 1/2 hours one day this summer."

Jessica Glatz

Eleven-year-old Jessica was another of the volunteers. She said, "I pulled weeds and then clipped tall plants that were drooping over the pathways."

Scott Johnson is another of sixth graders who did summer cleanup work. "I used clippers and pulled weeds too," he said.

The school's native prairie project is actually five years old. Planning for the prairie started in 1997. The first planting was done the following year.

Emily Brabenec

Don Kniepkamp of Belleville is an Illinois master gardener. He worked with the kids to plant the prairie. He'll be coming back this fall to help them reorganize it.

The school got four orphaned kestrels from the Treehouse Wildlife Center. Kids put nesting boxes on two light poles near the prairie. The kids got to watch when baby kestrels were hatched.

But, after five years, the kids need a new plan for their prairie. For one thing, wind-blown weed seeds have taken root in the garden. Then, some of the native grasses have gotten so big they dominate other prairie plants.

Scott Johnson

There are some problems with just cleaning out all the plants. For one thing, sometimes plants that look half-dead might still be valuable to animal and insect life in the prairie. For instance, some flowers lose their bright petals but the brown seeds are food for birds and insects.

Also included in the planning this year will be putting in more learning experiences for future kids. Printed signs to identify different plants will be added. Also, lessons that show the growth cycles for plants as well as animals and bugs will be added.

The prairie project has encouraged kids to take more interest in home gardens.

For instance, Tiffany, Jessica, Emily and Scott have different sorts of family gardens at home.

Kevin Miller with a caterpillar that will become a Monarch butterfly

Tiffany and Scott have vegetable gardens although Scott admits he doesn't like vegetables very much. Tiffany said tomatoes were her favorite from the home garden. But, Scott said, "We have tomatoes but I don't like them. I don't eat tomatoes."

Jessica said her family has two ponds and a flower garden. "One of the ponds has a pump to circulate the water but the other doesn't," she said. The family keeps goldfish in their ponds.

Emily said her family's gardening now consists of flowers around trees in their yard. She said, "We had a big vegetable garden but then we got a boat and camper. Now, we park them where we used to have the garden."

(To learn more about different outdoor education projects, go to the St. Clair County education website at www.stclair.k12.il.us. Then click on coills and splashd.)