In an attempt to restore habitats for monarch butterflies in the area, the Native Roots club has taken on the project of building milkweed gardens at three elementary schools.

Starting March 30 through April 1 they visited Criss, Madison and Vienna elementary schools. At each school they built an indoor garden, called a “grow tower,” to grow milkweed and other plants that benefit pollinators. Pollinators are insects such as butterflies and bees that help with plant pollination.

This project is important to the club because the amount of milkweed in the US has been steadily declining, causing monarch butterflies to have nowhere to lay their eggs and live. Due to this, the number of monarch butterflies in North America has been shrinking so building these gardens of milkweed will help to restore the natural habitat of the butterflies while teaching students about climate change and the environment.

“I have been in some type of gardening club since elementary school,” club member Nikki Rather said. “I’ve grown up gardening and teaching others how to, and I want to have a career with elementary children, so being able to combine both of my passions into one really made me excited.”

Native Roots decided to pursue this project because they received a grant from the Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action Group (MOVCA) that allowed them to bring the climate change project to local elementary schools. They chose the project as an easy way for students of all ages to help with climate change and the dwindling population of monarch butterflies.

“Because my students were really into the idea of working with the younger kids, I pitched that idea to the MOVCA,” Native Roots adviser Abby Taylor said. “We can also teach the kids about their role in helping to mitigate climate change by just simply having a garden.”

The milkweed garden project has given the Native Roots members a chance to learn how to be leaders as well as teach those younger than them. Along with building the garden, the Big Red students had the opportunity to teach the elementary students a lesson about monarch butterflies and their importance in helping plants and flowers with pollination and reproduction.

“We call the project ‘Plight of the Monarch Butterflies’ because they really are struggling primarily due to habitat loss,” Taylor said. “All across America and in Canada there used to be milkweed that grew wild all over the place but as people began building farms and houses and communities, it was considered a weed and we kept destroying it.”

In May the club will return to each school to send home seedlings with the students to start their own gardens. They will also be building a raised bed planter at their schools so that they can have a garden of their own to help the pollinators. By participating in these projects students are not only learning about climate change, but they are taking an active part in improving the environment and the world they live in.