Aldo Leopold Community School students planted native plants at Heritage Hill, May 30, 2024. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A group of Green Bay elementary schoolers got their hands dirty Thursday to help Heritage Hill with its native plants initiative.
Ned Dorf, a teacher at Aldo Leopold Community School, brought his students to Heritage Hill to plant native plants in the stone wall garden in front of Tank Cottage, the oldest standing home in Wisconsin.
It’s part of a wider collaboration between Heritage Hill and the Green Bay chapter of Wild Ones — a group dedicated to restoring biodiversity of native plant communities.
“Heritage Hill has undergone, this year especially, a commitment to returning more of the park to native prairie and native plantings, versus mowed grass,” explained Director of Development Elizabeth Jolly-Haslitt.
Heritage Hill is all about building restoration, preservation of history and stories, but also ecological as well to kind of tie in the park side of us. Not having mowed grass certainly makes the park look a little bit more as it would’ve been historically where these buildings would’ve been. They would not be, you know, beautifully mowed, manicured lawns, necessarily.
Jolly-Haslitt said not only is this initiative beneficial for the environment, but it reduces the strain on Heritage Hill’s small staff and volunteers to maintain the park’s landscaping.
Additionally, it provides opportunities for partnerships — like this one with Mr. Dorf’s class — to teach students about the importance of ecological restoration.
Students planted in just one specific area of the park Thursday, but more native plants are set to be planted in other locations.
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