High School STARS : "Glacier Park Stewards"

Theme:
The high school STARS program can be a service learning project all day at the native plant nursery or out in the park helping with a restoration project. In either case, students will work and learn at stations staffed by park native plant program staff. 

Glacier National Park's Native Plant Nursery serves as the support center for the Native Plant Restoration Program. By revegetating with native plants, the we support the National Park Mission of preserving natural resources. This work also helps to keep the larger ecoystem healthy.

Goals (students will understand):

• The connection between the mission of National Parks and the work being done by the Native Plant Restoration Program.
• The variety of work that goes into growing native plants and running the native plant nursery.
• The importance of pre-planning before poanting.
• That careful observation of identifying traits of plants can help us to identify them.
• Why and how we collect seed for native plant restoration.
• Their role in stewardship of GNP

Objectives (students will be able to):

• List the components in our "Sunshine Mix".
• Diagram the 3 main parts of a seed.
• List the steps to making a cutting.
• Name the physical traits of seeds dispersed by wind and animals.
• Use math to figure out how many plants to grow, taking into account plant mortality.
• Properly plant native plants for best survival.
• Critically evaluate when, where and how to plant based on site conditions.
• Use a dichotomous key to identify the plants we are collecting seed from.
• List 3 different ways the seeds we collect are dispersed.
• Properly collect different types of fruits and seeds.

Vocabulary: Biotic/abiotic, enzymes, rhizome, stolon, vegetative reproduction, seed coat, embryo, endosperm, angiosperm, gymnosperm, seed dispersal, tree, shrub, grass, forb, fern, dichotomous key, micro-site
Subject: National Park Service, restoration of disturbed lands, horticulture.
Concepts covered: Native plant restoration, genetic integrity, propagation from seed and cuttings, germination, plant nutrient needs,
Curriculum Standards:
Science Standard 1; Students design, conduct, evaluate and communicate scientific investigations
Science Standard 3; Students demonstrate knowledge of characteristics, structures and function of living things, the process and diversity of life, and how living organisms interact with each other and their environment.

 

NPS PHOTO

Students working in native plant nursery

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Overview of native plant nursery day:

1. Students are divided into three to five groups, dependant on group size. These groups will rotate through stations where they will learn about nursery work through doing it! Four students per station are ideal, but stations can be run with 6 to 8 students at the most.
2. Groups rotate through 20-minute work stations, with one adult at each station.
3. Adults at stations help facilitate the activity, giving a short introduction on how and why we do the work, and answering any questions the students may have. Each person running the stations will need to feel out how much information they want to share at each station, according to the time available.
4. Some of the possible stations we have run are:
5. • Seeding conetainers or 4 inch pots
   • Up- potting plants
   • Splitting plants
   • Mixing soil, if you are up- potting or some other activity that uses soil
   • Culling plants
   • Dish washing
   • Filling conetainters
   • Cleaning berries
   • Cleaning seeds
   • Setting up Logan Pass forb sod boxes
   • Weeding

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Overview of a day out in the park at a restoration site:

Monitoring Station:

1. Students first learn about the restoration cycle.
2. They then review the native plants that they have learned on the seed collection hike, and definitions of words like Population, Community, and Native Plant Community.
3. Students are shown two ways to sample a plant community, then work in pairs to do a point count along a transect or a random sampling of vegetation with monitoring squares.
4. The group then visits a site that has been restored by past classes. How does this site compare with the site we surveyed today?

Seed Collecting Station:

1. This program starts with an introductory talk. The diversity of seeds we collect is discussed, and how we have learned a lot about native seed collection from Native Americans.
2. Students are given instructions on how to identify ripe seed, and how to do so without negatively impacting native populations of plants.
3. We discuss why we wear orange vests when seed collecting, and that the park mission of protecting natural resources does not allow seed collection by visitors.
4. Students then head out to the first species to be collected. Dichotomous keys are used to identify the plants we are collecting from.
5. A picture of the plant in bloom is shown, and a student reads a few facts about the plant to the rest of the group before starting to collect that species. The student who reads the card also has the bag that everyone puts this species of seed into.
6. The seed collection hike continues, with each new species being identified, and all students putting seed into one bag. · As we seed collect, stops are also made to look at human impacts in the area.

Planting Station:

1. This program is held on site at an impacted area in the Fish Creek Campground.
2. Students first take a close look at the site to be worked on. What human impacts do they notice?
3. Students then learn about the specific plants to be planted, including natural history.
4. Staff demonstrate the correct way to plant plants, and discuss safe use of tools.
5. The class ends the day with implementing their revegetation plan by out-planting and watering native plants into the site.

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