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PHOTO BY BILL OGDEN

PLANT PLAN. About 60 students from Foss and Bellarmine joined forces March 26 to plant more than 150 native plants on the west slope of Foss High School’s campus. This is part of the schools’ effort to expand natural habitats for the wildlife of the Snake Lake nature center, which is located between the two schools.

Schools partner in natural habitat expansion

By Clare Jensen

Foss High School and Bellarmine High School recently joined forces to expand the habitat area for Tacoma’s Snake Lake Nature Center, which lies between the two schools.

Students at Bellarmine have been planting native plants on campus for the last eight years, according to Bellarmine’s research developer Ron Nilson, but as of March 26 the effort to restore vegetation in Tacoma’s urban central neighborhood received another key player.

Foss and Bellarmine students planted 163 native plants and trees on the west slope of Foss’ campus.

“There’s a big section of open acreage between Metro Parks (headquarters), Bellarmine and Foss. We’re trying to make it more environmentally friendly…bring it back as bushy as it can be,” Nilsen said, who added he is pleased to see Foss joining the partnership, as it is something that has been discussed for years. “We’re all pretty excited that this is going to take off.”

The schools’ Student Environmental Grants Appropriations (SEGA) board, which is comprised of 15 students from Bellarmine and Foss, received $9,650 from Pierce County Conservation District’s Tahoma Fund to begin filling the Foss campus with native plants.

“The grant was really to get Foss off the ground,” said Tim Ford, an advisor at Foss, who added students will continue to restore other parts of the campus each year.

Bellarmine, which has put thousands of plants into their grounds over the last eight years, has turned the yearly tradition into a senior project, something that all students participate in before they graduate from the school.

They are currently focusing their attention on the bare space around the athletic bowl on campus.

Bellarmine math teacher and greenhouse coordinator Donna Pitt believes the planting program has been successful because of the faculty’s passion and enthusiasm for the environment.

“Our students are kind of our last resort. If we can’t get them to find it [habitat restoration] important, then it’s eventually going to be lost,” she said.

John Garner, director of education and conservation coordinator at Snake Lake Nature Center, said he values the partnership with Bellarmine and Foss to expand the area surrounding Snake Lake. He said areas at the two schools, space behind Metro Parks headquarters and the nearby Delong Pond and China Lake can all work together as a network of natural areas. He said the schools’ work in creating more habitat links these places together.

“We’re maintaining the biodiversity of the area,” he said, which is important with increasing development in this part of the city.

The ongoing project between the two schools will be continually added to and evaluated by students each year.

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