Kathy Paris
I currently teach 10th grade Biology and 11th-12th
grade Advanced Placement Biology. I have a BS in Zoology, a BA
in Biology Education, and an MS in Biology and have been teaching
for 26 years
I have always been an animal lover and advocate for the environment.
About 20 years ago, when my husband and I purchased our first
home in Spokane, Washington, I wanted to do something to help
wildlife. I turned to the National Wildlife Federation for help.
They had, and still have, numerous resources people can use to
enhance their backyards (or schoolyards) for wildlife. With their
help, I got my hands dirty and planted my first wildlife preferred
tree. I was hooked when I saw the first bird land on MY tree.
When I moved to a different city (Puyallup, Washington) and purchased
a new home, I designed it too for wildlife.
I also had a new school to work (Bethel High School) at and the
grounds were awful. Realizing that a new school was going to
be built on the same spot in a few years, I started to plan for
the future. Part of every new school's budget is set aside for
landscaping. With a little effort, I was able to access part of
those funds. My sophomore biology students designed the landscape
for both the courtyard and the side near the science wing. Many
students were able, along with some of their parents, to help
with the plantings, too (although we had to hire a landscaping
firm for some of it). I was also able to acquire a habitat improvement
grant from our Department of Wildlife and some other donations
to add a diversity of trees to the monoculture lawn. The first
plantings were in 1990. We had a bit of vandalism at first because
some kids from other schools drove their 4-wheel drives over the
trees. That stopped when we put a 3-man rock at the base of each
tree (these rocks were donated). As the trees, shrubs and groundcover
matured, more and more wildlife began appearing. I can imagine
what it will be like in 15 years--it will, hopefully, be a wildlife
sanctuary.
Even though we haven't planted any more trees or shrubs in the
last few years, I still have some of my students design their
own yard for wildlife. It is one of the Save the Earth projects
I offer at end of the year. This activity is available for downloading
in this seminar.
I have shared this project at conventions and in a class I teach
for teachers in grades 3-8 at Seattle Pacific University. I hope
you will try it with your students and/or at your own home. You
may become hooked too.
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