Picture 260 high school environmental science students. Add to that a collection of pruning loppers and hand saws and a handful of seasoned Audubon volunteers for guidance. The bush honeysuckle on the Eureka High campus didn’t stand a chance! By 3 pm on Friday, October 11th the students had cleared about 1.5 acres of the non-native invasive plant.
Environmental science instructors Mary Kay Sandhu and Mandy Kotraba led the project for Eureka High which fit neatly into their recent course modules on birds and trees. The students reviewed the problem of invasive species, in general, and bush honeysuckle, in particular, in class the week before. They were primed to get their hands dirty and do their part to help restore the woodland on their campus. There’s more of the honeysuckle that remains, and we intend to work with the school as long as it takes to clear it. As important, we also look forward to assisting them with restoration plantings of native trees and shrubs in future years.
In the morning, the students were joined by 20 employees from Missouri American Water. This is the second year we’ve worked with Brian Russell and his co-workers as they give back to the community with a day of service through their AmeriCANS in Action program. Last year, they assisted with a honeysuckle removal we held at St. Vincent Park in Normandy. We dare say they are getting quite good at identifying and attacking this plant! Missouri American Water also supports the St. Louis community with financial contributions to causes and organizations, most especially those that directly connect with their mission of delivering drinking water. Many St. Louis Audubon programs, including our conservation stewardship efforts and the Bring Conservation Home program, promote healthy watersheds which have a positive impact on the water input to their treatment system. In recognition of and support to our work, Missouri American Water President Debbie Dewey presented St. Louis Audubon with a $7,500 check the same day. In total, we have received $30,000 from American Water since we began working together in 2012!
Many thanks to Debbie, Brian and the Missouri American Water crew for their assistance and financial support! Thanks to Mary Kay, Mandy and all the environmental science staff for leading their students on this important work, and of course kudos to every one of the students for digging in and making a difference! Finally, special thanks to our volunteer leaders for the project, including Herb Huebner, Karen and Glenn Meyer, Alfred Strout and Bob Virag!
As a teacher, I loved watching how the students move from not really caring or knowing about the bush honeysuckle in our forests to almost becoming addicted to pulling it out of our woods. So many of our students seemed to realize that they were making a difference that day.
