SierraScape October - November 2009
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by Leslie Lihou
Programs and Speakers Committee Chair
In the woods creatures with "1000" legs (millipede) munch dead leaves; predators with "100" legs (centipede) grasp small animals; organisms with six or eight legs scurry, crawl, tunnel in the crumbling environment among tangles of white fungal tendrils. Scientists have arrived to investigate this world. The leader guides the novices and inquires, "Is this rotting log a living thing or non-living thing?"(biotic or abiotic) A ten year old collaborator responds, "It can be either, like Schrodinger's cat." They must observe.
The young scientists wonder about other strange adaptations to habitats around the Green Center. Denizens of a wetland wear exoskeletons, flutter feathery gills, paddle with oar-like tails, dart backward. Six foot plants breathe through straw-like stems because their roots are submerged in anaerobic muck. The young scientists observe, classify, record. In the parched, sunny atmosphere of the prairie the tall grasses harbor plants with leathery, hairy or rough leaves and roots reaching five feet into the soil. Why? The investigators hypothesize. They notice line, texture, shape and pattern. Then they draw, photograph, and write poems. Art captures nature.
Established in 1998, the Green Center, a non-profit organization, interweaves environmental education and the arts to connect the community with nature. Executive Director, Susan Mintz, operates from an office in a 1930 two-story brick house leased from University City. Ecosystems providing learning opportunities include a prairie at Brittany Woods School, an urban bird corridor, and a wetland. The front grounds of the house encompass the Roger Pryor prairie plot, a woodland, an Ozark endemic garden, the volunteers' personal vegetable gardens and a daylily bed managed by Michael Bouman for his hybridization project. A solar-power geodesic greenhouse sits in back of the house. Beware of four-foot gourds dangling from the arbor as you enter the Discovery Garden where the nimble can crawl into a leafy tunnel or tent. A rain garden catches, absorbs and purifies stormwater runoff. And this year honeybees buzz around their hives near the woods.
Utilizing the Green Center habitats in the spring and fall, Education and Volunteer Manager, Jan Oberkramer, and Instructor, Kathleen Evans, coordinate an outdoor inquiry-based adventure for University City schools' fourth and fifth graders. During the Interchange program with COCA, Kathleen visits schools and cooperates with teachers in arts and science experiences. Last year one school created a play about the water cycle involving fourth grade musicians and actors, fifth grade set designers and sixth grade script writers. "Nature Play" events engage grades pre K-2 in an after-school program. Volunteers and staff support teachers and students growing vegetables in school gardens. Boy Scouts' and Girl Scouts' nature programs fulfill badge requirements. In the "Show Me Science and Arts Summer Program "(SASE), the Green Center participates with the Department of Conservation and Department of Natural Resources to create a project which engages inner city children in cave, stream, prairie, and woodland investigations in State Parks and Conservation Areas.
At a teacher workshop create a rock, build a landfill parfait, or design a plant adapted to its habitat. Regularly the University City science consultant and the Green Center staff provide volunteer and teacher training on environmental education topics such as birds, letterboxing, energy, recycling, and botany. Moreover, in 2009, the Volunteer Leadership Training Clinic offered classes in ecosystem restoration, plant propagation, and stream ecology.
Restoration Ecologist, Jennifer Porcelli, tends to the health of the natural landscapes by implementing ecosystem management plans including mowing and fire, and by wrestling and removing invasive plants. She conducts volunteers in collecting seeds, propagating natives and transplanting them into the natural environments of the Green Center. She also participates with state conservation groups and agencies in the restoration of St. Louis City's only remnant prairie at Calvary Cemetery.
Volunteer opportunities abound at the Green Center: teaching, ecosystem restoration, plant propagation, gardening, art show preparation, infrastructure maintenance, office assistance, finance and fund raising. Benefits are plentiful too: satisfaction of helping fulfill the Green Center mission, discovery in the eyes and cries of children, invitations to hands-on teacher training workshops with potluck suppers, tasting dishes prepared from herbs and produce harvested from Green Center gardens, informal field trips, and camaraderie.
A Green Center partner, the River des Peres Watershed Coalition, engages volunteers in litter pickups and invasive plant removal in the watershed. Members of RDPWC also build rain barrels which they sell. Rain barrels may be order through the RDPWC link at the Green Center website or www.thegreencenter.org/rdp/
The Green Center funds its activities with donations, grants, native plant sales, share of sales from artwork displayed at the Green Center, revenue from the Memorial Day Run and special events One delightful fundraiser is the upcoming Fall Fire Festival, Saturday, November 7, from 5:30-8:30 pm at Green Center, 8025 Blackberry Ave. in University City. Join staff, volunteers, neighbors and friends for a bonfire, fire performers, storytelling in the greenhouse, art sale, live art demos, children's activities, food and beverages. Cost: Adults $10 presale or $15 on day of the event; children $5.
Art Show during October: Relics and Reliquaries: New Mixed Media and Fiber Works by Jennifer Wiegel
The website below lists information about volunteer opportunities and events for the Green Center and the River des Peres Watershed Coalition. www.thegreencenter.org/home/