Contact Info
Past Feature Story Links
Site Feedback
Feature Story
Click here to see a slideshow of the certification ceremonies. Above is the Root Elementary Green Team.
Two Schools Recognized as Certified Schoolyard Habitats
Root and Washington Elementary have recently become the first schools in the district to be recognized as certified National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Schoolyard Habitats.
Schoolyard Habitats serve as living laboratories where teachers and students have an opportunity to engage in hands-on learning experiences that bring classroom curriculum to life and spark a sense of stewardship for the natural world.
To become a certified Schoolyard Habitat, schools ensure adequate food, water, shelter, and places to raise young are available for a variety of wildlife including birds, insects, squirrels, amphibians, and other animals. Habitat building activities at schools have included planting Arkansas native trees and shrubs and installing bird feeders and water sources. Root Green Team students also built bat boxes and birdhouses to be installed at the school in the spring.
Both Root and Washington were recognized for their commitment to creating wildlife habitat with a certificate and National Wildlife Federation sign. With generous support from Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association and Fayetteville in Bloom, each school also received a habitat resource box that includes: two NWF books -- Access Nature, a habitat activity guide book and Attracting Birds, Butterflies, and Backyard Wildlife; a bird feeder and 20 pounds of birdseed; a suet feeder and suet; magnifying glasses; Arkansas Game and Fish Commission bird identification books and coloring books; a pollinator poster from the Natural Resources Conservation Service; and habitat handouts from the Audubon Society.
The resource boxes are intended to help teachers and students continue building their habitat areas and to use the schoolyard habitat as a compliment to classroom curriculum.
Root Elementary Green Team received recognition and a resource box at an after-school club meeting that involved walking around the school to identify existing habitat. Cindi Cope, Fayetteville Schoolyard Habitat Steward and Fayetteville in Bloom organizer, also provided a brief presentation to students about Arkansas wildlife and native plants. John Coleman, City of Fayetteville Director of Sustainability and Strategic Planning, presented Washington Elementary with their sign and certificate at an all school assembly last week. Leverett Elementary and Happy Hollow Elementary have also been working to improve their schoolyard habitats and have applied for NWF certification.
The schoolyard habitat certifications are part of a volunteer-based initiative, Fayetteville Community Wildlife Habitat Project, of the Environmental Action Committee to “create attractive landscapes that provide healthy habitat not only for butterflies, songbirds, cottontail rabbits, hawks and other interesting wildlife, but for ourselves and for future generations as well.”
The Fayetteville Community Wildlife Habitat Project offers habitat workshops and trainings to the public, neighborhood associations and other groups interested in learning more about how to create and certify habitat with the National Wildlife Federation. The group is also working to help Fayetteville become the first Certified Community Wildlife Habitat in Arkansas.
For more information about the Community Wildlife Habitat Project, please visit: http://habitat.accessfayetteville.org
For more information about certifying a schoolyard habitat, please contact Dana Smith, FPS Arkansas Energy Corps member at dana.smith@fayar.net or Cindi Cope, Habitat Team Member at copecindi@aol.com