After the success of 2023’s SPFHS Native Pollinator Garden, SPFHS science teacher Zachary Rittner has proposed the SPFHS Native Ecosystem Restoration project, which would take place in the last months of the school year as a part of Senior Project. 

The Native Ecosystem Restoration project will focus on restoring a native ecosystem in our courtyard. The Native Ecosystem is the culmination of a wide variety of projects and initiatives. 

The project has been in development since September, as from September through November, students developed a proposed site plan of what they desired the courtyard to look like in five to 10 years. 

Under the supervision of the Environmental Club, club members have taken the opportunity to help care for the ecosystem. Senior students on the Environmental Club Board, will specifically be responsible for the planting of vegetation like canadian serviceberry and smooth arrowwood, among others in the courtyard.

“The Native Ecosystem [Project] provides students with a unique opportunity to not only model horticultural practices and study animal behavior, but also connect students with their environment and serves as a gateway stewardship experience for students,” Rittner told The Fanscotian. “Through the program, students learn to see connections between human land use and the natural world. It is an opportunity to help conserve numerous pollinator species that face perilous decline throughout their range and protect biodiversity in our own backyards.”

The proposed site plan was completed with help from Pinelands Nursery, Wild Birds Unlimited, Rutgers Cooperative Extension and the Xerces Society. The proposed map is divided into five zones, the first of which will be constructed this year as part of Senior Project.

Those involved in the project will include last year’s Native Pollinator Garden, which was developed with help from Rutgers Cooperative Extension, Pinelands Nursery, Xerces Society and Wild Birds Unlimited.