In January Ecology Club learned it had received the Illinois Habitat Action Grant to plant a pollinator garden in the courtyard off of Grant Street. Sponsor Cherise Lopez, English teacher, had applied for the grant in the fall of 2021 through the Department of Natural Resources. Students in the club will plant the garden in May.

Before the schoolwide construction approved through the Referendum, the Ecology Club had planted an herb garden in the school courtyard near the cafeteria; however, after learning that a new building for the guidance office would cut through the courtyard, students moved all garden beds to the Grant Street courtyard.

“We initially had a herb garden so that the cafeteria could use what we grew in lunches,” Lopez said. “Upon learning we’d have to move the garden, we decided to reevaluate the garden use and school needs and club members opted to replant as a butterfly garden to promote a healthy ecosystem around the school.”

The school did have a native plants area in the back of the building, but another new building for the pool was built over that. The grant covers purchases of native plants to construct a natural habitat of local species, such as prairie dropseed, Culver’s Root and leadplant, all native to Illinois.

According to Illinois’s Department of Natural Resources, planting native species improves overall biodiversity for insects and other animals and improves soil quality. Butterflies, bees and hummingbirds are just a few of the species that benefit from these types of gardens, some of which who have suffered loss in numbers in recent years. Most recently the monarch butterfly has become endangered.

In order to prep for the planting, Lopez visited a native plants sale at the Peabody Estate in Oak Brook and worked with a prairie steward to ensure she acquired the correct plants.

“I was fortunate to meet with someone at the Peabody who walked me through the options for native plants, and then the Ecology Club students constructed a layout on which plants should be near each other before they started digging,” Lopez said.

Working alongside the Rotary Club of Hinsdale, Ecology club members also took part in Operation Pollination, an event on Earth Day to plant native seeds around campus, and used some of those seeds to complement the new garden habitat.

Beginning in the fall next year, Ecology members will tend to the garden and create lesson plans to share with the science department so that the space becomes a collaborative area to learn more about the important, local ecosystems.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources makes these grants available through the generosity of the Jadel Youth Fund, the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Foundation and the Illinois Conservation Foundation.