Carmel Green Teen Micro-Grant Program
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    • 2018 Projects >
      • Helping Ninjas Help Pollinators
      • Helping Ninjas Help Garden and Compost
      • This is NOT a Plastic Bag
    • 2017 Projects >
      • UHS Bat Boxes
      • Don'f Flip It, Save It! - Water Bottles
      • River Road Habitat Restoration
    • 2016 Projects >
      • It's in the Reusable Bag
      • Plots to Plates Gardens Tour
      • Millbrook Nature Trail
      • UHS Poultry Project
      • Green Cubs Tree Planting
      • OLMC Tree Replacement
      • Woodbrook Butterfly Garden
      • Turn Up for Compost
    • 2015 Projects >
      • OPE Recycling Cubs
      • Goodbye Plastics 2
      • UHS Monarch Waystation
      • UHS Hydration Station
      • CHS Earth Fair
      • CHS NHS Event Recycling
    • 2014 Projects >
      • Girl Scout Teaches Conservation
      • Carmel Pollinator Garden
      • Trees For Future Generations
      • CHS TEDx Conference
      • UHS Campus Green Up
    • 2013 Projects >
      • CHS Teaches Conservation
      • Bug Repellent Daisies
      • Kids Against Crayon Waste- Crayon Recycling
      • UHS Community Garden
      • A Greener College Wood
      • Do Something Trees
      • No Crayon Left Behind
      • Prairie Trace Trees
      • Goodbye Plastics
      • Carmel Green Trees
      • CHS Recycled Arts Garden
      • Going Green at the CLC
    • 2012 Projects >
      • UHS Tree Hugging Trailblazers
      • Girl Scouts Bikeyard 100
      • Bat Boxes- Nature's Bug Zappers
      • CHS Green Shower Power
    • 2011 Projects >
      • Mission Recycle
      • Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
      • Recycling at CHS
      • A Greener Tomorrow is in the Bag
      • Fishing Line Recycling
    • 2010 Projects >
      • MOSAICS Family Garden
      • Coolers are Cooler with Cups
      • Ban the Bottle, Try the Tap
      • Butterfly Reintroduction Carey Grove Park
      • Butterfly Reintroduction Clay Middle School
      • Tree Scouts
    • 2009 Projects >
      • River Trail Wildflower Reintroduction
      • Scouts' Reusable Shopping Bags
      • St. Christopher's Garden
      • Earth Day Tree Seedling Giveaway
      • CHS Green Lights Club
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Blazers' butterfly garden - monarch waystation 2015

University High School EcoBlazers
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The University High School EcoBlazers built a perennial flower garden specifically designed to attract and support Monarch butterflies. While the garden’s focus is providing for the monarch butterfly, the plant selection attracts a wide variety of butterflies, moths and pollinators. Monarch Waystations are outdoor spaces that provide the resources essential for monarchs to produce successive generations and sustain their migration. Recently, the monarch population has plunged from an estimated 1 billion to less than 60 million. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined the decline is due to loss of milkweed and native flowering plants.
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To begin, the group had to turn over the dirt. The ground was all clay and hard to dig up. Despite delays due to broken tools,  they continued to work, and with some determination they were able to complete this first task.
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Parents, students, faculty and staff volunteers attended special work days dedicated specifically for the installation of the garden. This ecosystem restoration project is designed to provide host plant milkweed during the monarchs' spring and summer reproduction time and nectar plants for monarchs during their fall migration to Mexico.
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The butterfly garden bed is about 282 square feet large. It is located between the UHS Community Garden and the tennis courts. The garden not only provides for the needs of the monarch butterfly, it also is a teaching tool for biology classes.
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The finished garden meets criteria set by Monarch Watch.org, and is registered as an official Monarch Waystation. Monarch Waystations are places that provide resources necessary for monarchs to produce successive generations and sustain their migration.
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The need for host plants for larvae and energy sources for adults applies to all monarch and butterfly populations around the world. Milkweeds and nectar sources are declining due to development and the widespread use of herbicides in croplands, pastures and roadsides.
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After digging up the dirt, the bed was loosened with a rototiller. This softening and aerating of the soil is very important to cultivating healthy plants in any garden.
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A variety of small, pollinator-attracting plants were transplanted into the garden. Common milkweed is the food source needed for Monarch caterpillars. To get more details about monarch restoration and free milkweed seeds to create your own garden, click here.
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Everybody chipped in to make it a success.  The students used compost created from school cafeteria and garden waste which was aged in the huge compost tumbler purchased as part of last year's Carmel Green Teen funded UHS Campus Green Up project.
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As proof of a successful first year, a cluster of bright yellow spherical eggs appeared on the underside of one of the milkweed plants (Asclepias syriaca) in the garden. Without milkweeds throughout their spring and summer breeding areas in North America, monarchs would not be able to produce the successive generations that culminate in the migration each fall.
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To offset the loss of milkweeds and nectar sources UHS students felt the need to create, conserve, and protect milkweed/monarch habitats. Without a major effort to restore milkweeds to as many locations as possible, the monarch population is certain to decline to extremely low levels.
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  • HOME
  • About Us
    • Overview
    • In the News
    • Awards
    • Meet Our Board
    • Annual Reports
    • Contact Us
  • Application
    • Criteria
  • Project Ideas
  • Funded Projects
    • 2021 Projects
    • 2020 Projects
    • 2019 Projects
    • 2018 Projects >
      • Helping Ninjas Help Pollinators
      • Helping Ninjas Help Garden and Compost
      • This is NOT a Plastic Bag
    • 2017 Projects >
      • UHS Bat Boxes
      • Don'f Flip It, Save It! - Water Bottles
      • River Road Habitat Restoration
    • 2016 Projects >
      • It's in the Reusable Bag
      • Plots to Plates Gardens Tour
      • Millbrook Nature Trail
      • UHS Poultry Project
      • Green Cubs Tree Planting
      • OLMC Tree Replacement
      • Woodbrook Butterfly Garden
      • Turn Up for Compost
    • 2015 Projects >
      • OPE Recycling Cubs
      • Goodbye Plastics 2
      • UHS Monarch Waystation
      • UHS Hydration Station
      • CHS Earth Fair
      • CHS NHS Event Recycling
    • 2014 Projects >
      • Girl Scout Teaches Conservation
      • Carmel Pollinator Garden
      • Trees For Future Generations
      • CHS TEDx Conference
      • UHS Campus Green Up
    • 2013 Projects >
      • CHS Teaches Conservation
      • Bug Repellent Daisies
      • Kids Against Crayon Waste- Crayon Recycling
      • UHS Community Garden
      • A Greener College Wood
      • Do Something Trees
      • No Crayon Left Behind
      • Prairie Trace Trees
      • Goodbye Plastics
      • Carmel Green Trees
      • CHS Recycled Arts Garden
      • Going Green at the CLC
    • 2012 Projects >
      • UHS Tree Hugging Trailblazers
      • Girl Scouts Bikeyard 100
      • Bat Boxes- Nature's Bug Zappers
      • CHS Green Shower Power
    • 2011 Projects >
      • Mission Recycle
      • Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
      • Recycling at CHS
      • A Greener Tomorrow is in the Bag
      • Fishing Line Recycling
    • 2010 Projects >
      • MOSAICS Family Garden
      • Coolers are Cooler with Cups
      • Ban the Bottle, Try the Tap
      • Butterfly Reintroduction Carey Grove Park
      • Butterfly Reintroduction Clay Middle School
      • Tree Scouts
    • 2009 Projects >
      • River Trail Wildflower Reintroduction
      • Scouts' Reusable Shopping Bags
      • St. Christopher's Garden
      • Earth Day Tree Seedling Giveaway
      • CHS Green Lights Club
  • Impact
  • Ceremonies
    • 2018 Award Ceremony
    • 2017 Award Ceremony
    • 2016 Award Ceremony
    • 2015 Award Ceremony
    • 2014 Award Ceremony
    • 2013 Award Ceremony
    • 2012 Award Ceremony
    • 2011 Award Ceremony
    • 2010 Award Ceremony
    • 2009 Award Ceremony