‘Budding Botanist’ grant will help expand Chimacum Elementary’s garden program

Posted

The native prairie along Chimacum Creek will be restored with the help of students from nearby Chimacum Elementary.

The school recently received a “Budding Botanist” grant from the Klorane Botanical Foundation.

Chimacum Elementary Principal Jason Lynch said the funding will help the school’s garden program add a new element: a native plant propagation and habitat restoration project using the elementary school’s garden, greenhouse, and campus.

The garden program just experienced a growth spurt, with a state grant last year that added an all-season greenhouse to the campus.

“It just got built this year. It’s a pretty amazing greenhouse, with heat and fans and all that. Now we are able to expand the program through the colder, rainier months,” Lynch explained.

Produced in partnership with the Community Wellness Project, Chimacum Elementary’s School Garden Program currently grows fruit, vegetables, culinary and medicinal herbs, and ornamental plants. With the Budding Botanist grant, the new part of the program will feature two components: an on-site native prairie restoration project, in collaboration with the nonprofit Olympic Peninsula Prairies, and propagation of native riparian plants for habitat restoration along local salmon-bearing streams, including Chimacum Creek.

Once established, Chimacum Elementary hopes to have native plants available to share with others in the community working toward habitat restoration, including native rain shadow prairies and stream-side riparian zones.

The elementary school, made up of grades three through six, is particularly well-placed for the project, considering its location next to Chimacum Creek.

“The native rainshadow camas prairies once dominated all of our surrounding area. Now only a few small prairie remnants remain,” Lynch said.

Lynch said the school will work with Olympic Peninsula Prairies on a small prairie pilot project to grow several types of rare grasses and other native plants, including camas, a perennial wetland crop.

Expanding the garden program will help it reach beyond the basics of growing food to include a rich, project-based element focused on biodiversity, conservation biology, ecosystem restoration, and environmental stewardship.

“And just even the importance of prairies as the source of food for traditional tribes,” Lynch said.

The effort will include the propagation of native willows that eventually will be planted in restoration projects.

Chimacum Elementary was among just a handful of schools across the country to get a Budding Botanist grant, awarded by the Klorane Botanical Foundation to support programs that teach respect for the environment and that protect nature through the preservation of plant species and biodiversity.

Only 15 grants were awarded, and Chimacum Elementary was the only school in Washington state selected for funding.

“It’s pretty neat,” Lynch said. “We’re excited about that.”

“I couldn’t be more thrilled with our partnership with the Community Wellness Project.

“They are really helping us,” he added, not only for the opportunities to apply for grant funding and “to offer this creative learning for our kids.”

Students will have the ability to improve the habitat we live in and next to as part of the program, Lynch said.

“Kids, more than ever now, need to be outside and taking the learning outdoors. This is just a great opportunity to make learning relative,” he said.