Oliver Elementary students become land stewards on Oliver Mountain

A group of Oliver Elementary School students broke ground up on Oliver Mountain, Wednesday morning.

"We learn about different plants and how to garden and take care of them," said Khloe, a Grade 7 student.

It's for the "Students Plant for the Future" project from the Okanagan and Similkameen Invasive Species Society, aimed at teaching kids about the local grassland.

"We started this project and realized that middle school students are a great age for getting out and learning about the impacts of invasive species and climate change," said Lisa Scott, executive director of OASISS.

"This is all about place-based learning, so it's getting the students out in the environment."

The three-year project is funded by the South Okanagan Conservation Fund and other partners.

The group of 19 Grade 7 students were responsible for planning and planting their own small plots.

"Each one of their plots has a certain number of plants that go in it, and they will be doing some mapping and charting exercises to locate where they are," said Dean Rowland, Grade 7 teacher.

"There's science learning outcomes for sure. And then there's also, getting creative with it, there's a bunch of on-site math that you can do that they've now been working at it. So, it's not some textbook problem."

Students were organized into smaller groups to plant species such as sage brush. In total, three categories were planted: shrubs, forbs and grasses.

"Some of [the plants] grow better together than far away, some of them help the environment. But they also lose seeds very easily, like in the wind, and animals come up here and eat the plants," Khloe said.

Some invasive species were also removed.

"A lot of seeds come out of them too. So you want to, like, pick them up and, like, put them somewhere where they should be," Khloe added.

For instance, students learned about the invasive tree of heaven, which were on site. While they were too large to the young learners to remove, they became aware of their impact on the ecosystem.

These particular students will monitor the land for the rest of the school year, until next year's students take over.

The Students Plant for the Future project will run until 2027.

Photo: Sarah Crookall