Campus & Community Policy, Community & Environmental Justice, Education & Awareness, Habitat & Wildlife, Outdoor Education & Leadership

I want to help design a wildlife habitat interpretive garden on my University campus. It will include a wide variety of native flowering plants that will provide food and cover for pollinators and other wildlife throughout the year. The garden will be an inclusive place where students from all backgrounds will feel welcomed to hang out, study, and/or enjoy the scenery. I want it to be a place that inspires other students to plant native plants in their gardens.

1 Harpst St.
Arcata, CA 95521
United States

The team had our first meeting with the Campus Director of Sustainability 2 weeks ago to discuss designating a spot on campus for a wildlife habitat and interpretive garden. The director was supportive of the idea but made it clear that we could not have bird feeders or add any additional water features. Using google earth, he showed us several areas on campus that we could potentially create a garden or enhance the wildlife value of an existing green space. Our group chose 4 of the sites for potential gardens. Tomorrow we will meet with the Director to visit each of them and narrow it down to 1 site, based on criteria such as visibility, sun exposure, and connectivity with nearby forest habitat. Visibility is particularly important because we want it to be seen by students from the Natural Resources and Wildlife programs. Once we decide on a spot and "flesh out" our vision more, we will present our idea to the landscape advisory committee, as all landscape-related activities must be approved by them.

Campus, wildlife habitat, garden, pollinator, community, diversity