Great Pollinator Census

As you might already know, our high school has a pollinator garden certified through Monarchs Across Georgia (MAG). We submit a report to Monarchs Across Georgia on an annual basis to stay in line with the certification. The plants we planted a few years ago have grown strong and attract all sorts of butterflies, monarchs included. Every year we see an increased population of monarchs and other pollinators. Establishing microhabitats for the Monarch butterfly along their migration path makes a big difference in Monarch conservation. With the help of a MAG Pollinator Grant we have created a habitat designed to give the Monarch butterfly and other native pollinators a safe place to visit. Our garden highlights mostly native and some adaptive plants that attract pollinators, including several varieties of the milkweed plant. The monarch lays its eggs exclusively on milkweed which is critical to their survival.  MAG works together with teachers, students, families, communities, businesses and others to study Monarch butterflies and restore butterfly habitats across the state. Its mission is to inspire future caretakers of the natural environment by educating about monarch butterflies and other pollinators. Our students and our beekeeper, Keif Schleifer, take good care of maintaining the garden.

And because we have this garden established, we were invited to participate in a project with the University of Georgia. It is a pollinator census project that collects data. Some students from our environmental science class participated past Friday in the Great Pollinator Census.

This is exciting and underlays our striving to connect the science curriculum with our Green School Initiative. We will share the results once available.