Pollinator Plot Approved by OCSD School Board
Proposed Pollinator Plot – Looking East from Bike Path – Photo Provided
By Hailey Brown
(Oskaloosa, Iowa) – According to the United States Department of Agriculture, one-third of all agricultural output in the U.S. depends upon pollinators – birds, bats, bees, butterflies, and roughly 200,000 different species of animals that assist with transferring pollen from one flower to another. Without the assistance of pollinators, most plants cannot produce the fruits and seeds needed to support and maintain important food sources and habitat for wildlife and humans alike. The Oskaloosa High School Pheasants Forever chapter has taken notice of these important facts and recently approached the Oskaloosa School Board for permission to facilitate another pollinator plot near the school, in addition to the pre-existing plot that was established in Spring of 2015.
According to a slideshow presented by students at the OCSD board meeting on Tuesday, May 8, the project will be a collaborative effort between the OHS Pheasants Forever and FFA chapters, the Mahaska County Pheasants Forever chapter, as well as students from the science classes at the high school. The location, spanning roughly 1-2 acres east of the Mahaska Community Recreation Trail, will be similar to the existing plot north of Langkamp Funeral Home at the corner of North 3rd and East Glendale Road in Oskaloosa.
A spring planting is just out of reach for the current year, but OHS science instructor Mike Goudy estimates a Fall 2018 planting to establish the pollinator plot, which will be rich with native grasses and plants.
The item was unanimously approved by present members of the board. School board member Carl Drost urged the group to contact the Mahaska County Recreation Foundation about the project with the hope that the project could join forces with an effort MCRF is currently committed to.
“[MCRF is] in the process of doing a major wildflower planting, and this would fit right in with what our project is,” said Drost. “I think it would be a very good cooperative project.”
