Gladstone High School science teacher Michaela Freeby’s advanced biology class helped on Oct. 18 restore a riparian wetland in Gladstone Nature Park. These 26 GHS students worked to replant the Winter Pond area with 200 native plants funded through a grant from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.
“We were really pleased with the result and look forward to working with the students again,” said FOGNAP President Nancy Eichsteadt.
Located on the west side of the park near Kraxberger Middle School, Winter Pond comes and goes when it rains. It supports plants like ash trees and salmonberries that like to be wet.
GHS students also put wood chips around the plants to help suppress weeds. Before the planting, volunteers invasive species like poison oak, exotic grasses and Himalayan blackberry.
Other species planted to support pollinators like monarch butterflies included Western yarrow, red columbine, showy milkweed, Oregon sunshine and tufted hairgrass.