Woodbrook Elementary Webelo Scout Pack 198 seeded the River Trail pedestrian and bike path in the spring of 2010 with native Indiana wildflowers to address a need to restore plant, insect, and animal biodiversity to the area.

Woodbrook ElementaryWebelo Scouts are happy to have funding for their River Trail Wildflower Conservation Project.

Working with spades, shovels, and watering cans, the group learned how the lack of wildflowers can negatively effect the numbers of insects and animals in the area.

Here is a “before” seeding the River Trail photo. Note the absence of flowers and insects native to Indiana.

A group of over 30 youth and adults worked together to seed and plant Indiana wildflowers along the Carmel – Clay parks trail.

Carmel – Clay Parks’ River Trail includes a paved 2.5 mile multi-use path along the scenic White River. When this path was created, many of the native flower species were inadvertently destroyed.

“Our group hopes to show that through teamwork, important environmental projects can be accomplished,” said Brandon Fischer of Woodbrook Scout Pack 198. Butterfly weed, shown above, was another native Indiana species reintroduced along the River Trail.

Here is an “after” picture. A year after planting, this Spiderwort and other native wildflower species are flourishing and bringing butterflies to the area.