Shaler Area students study local land, boost native species

Students at Shaler Area High School are helping to improve and preserve undeveloped land in their district, through a partnership with Allegheny Land Trust. According to an article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, five years ago, students from the high school were first part of the Trust’s effort to protect Girty’s Woods, a 155-acre tract of undeveloped land in the local Millvale community. Since then, students have remained connected to the project by studying, improving and preserving the land through the school’s sustainability class and club. But thanks to a new grant awarded to the Trust from the state Department of Environmental Protection, they will have a greater opportunity to study the plant life and help boost native species.

The $5,000 grant for “Girty’s Bees and Beyond: Habitat Planning for Pollinators and Watersheds” was part of about $1.2 million in environmental education grants to 68 projects promoting stewardship across the state. In the coming year, Shaler Area students will take field trips to the area and conduct an inventory of plant species there as well as plant flowers, trees and shrubs. The grant will help cover the costs of the trips and supplies. They will also learn from a local master beekeeper, with hives in Girty’s Woods, about pollinators and the native plants that help support them, as well as explore how native species of plants can help manage stormwater in this area prone to flooding.