Sky Islands High School Native Bird Habitat and Restoration Site
Sky Islands High School strongly believes in connecting students to the environment through restoration ecology projects. During the 2018-2019 school year, students in the Restoration Ecology class were tasked with creating a food-rich environment for native bird species at the south end of their school’s campus.
During the first half of the school year, the students studied ecology and analyzed local restoration sites, in preparation for the restoration of the one-acre site on campus. Students studied water harvesting and erosion control, reforestation, removal of non-native species and weeds, revegetation of disturbed areas, reintroduction of native species, as well as habitat improvement for targeted species. For this project, the students focused on improving the habitat for native birds.
With an understanding of restoration ecology principles, the class set out to design and implement the restoration of a denuded one-acre parcel of land on the campus. They designed passive water harvesting structures, identified native trees and shrubs that would optimize bird biodiversity, mapped out locations for each tree and shrub, and installed irrigation accordingly.
In mid-spring the student planned and executed an all-school tree planting event. The event engaged the entire student body, as well as teachers, administrators and parents. They planted nine different species of native trees that included ironwood, velvet mesquite, netleaf hackberry, little leaf palo verde, desert willow, and catclaw acacia. In all, over 40 trees were planted during the event.
In addition to the positive environmental impacts of this restoration project and the educational value to students who were directly involved in the development and implementation, the site was also designed to function as an outdoor science lab for future Field Studies, Scientific Research and Design, Watershed Management and Horticulture classes at Sky Islands High School.
Prior to the restoration of this site, students conducted a BioBlitz, an event when they record all species found in the area on a specific date and time. As the site continues to mature, students will conduct additional bioblitzes in order to assess the success of the site. Students also measured the initial height of each tree planted, and they will continue to measure the height each year, documenting the growth rate of the trees over time.
Lastly, the students, with help from Elise Gornish and the Gornish Lab, set out to determine if the soil microbiome of mature established trees (15+ years) can help support the success of newly-planted immature trees of the same species. To do this, they inoculated each tree planting hole with a small amount of soil collected from an established tree of the same species on campus. Students will document the overall health, height, diameter at breast height, and canopy cover of trees, comparing those which were inoculated with soil to those which were not.
Once the restoration site was complete, the students in the class showcased their knowledge of restoration ecology and its application to our particular project by working collaboratively to design a poster, project binder, and bird field guide (links below).