By Kathleen Ganster
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Tyler Praski is a senior at Fox Chapel Area High School, but he hadn't realized a nature reserve was directly across from his school.
"I never knew this was here until we came over for class," said Praski, who was at Crofton Nature Reserve with classmates from Kelly Leslie's ecology class.
It was the third time Leslie has brought students to work on the reserve on Field Club Road in O'Hara. "It's a great break for them from the classroom," she said.
The reserve was created in 2002 after a microburst wiped out the trees on the eight-acre site, said Colleen Filicky, assistant coordinator for the Pittsburgh office of the Wildlife Habitat Council.
"The forest here was destroyed. Our main goal is to reforest it and to create an area for natural habitat," she said. The reserve was created by the Fox Chapel Area Land Trust, O'Hara and the Crofton Neighborhood Association in conjunction with the Three Rivers Habitat Partnership.
The Fox Chapel Area students were participating in Nature Reserve Beautification Days, which held periodically and designed to encourage the community to help with projects at the reserve.
Over the past three years, volunteers under Filicky's direction have planted trees, shrubs and plants; created and mulched trails; and placed bird houses throughout the reserve.
A local business, Vygor Fitness, put in most of the trail on the site, Filicky said.
"We need more volunteers to monitor the birdhouses and to help with other projects," she said.
Leslie brought 51 juniors and seniors from her classes to work. The students spent Sept. 19 and 20 digging, planting and mulching.
"This class has grown in popularity incredibly in the five years that I have been teaching it," Leslie said. "My ultimate goal is to raise awareness of how we are all connected to the environment. If we didn't come out here, some of these kids would never get the chance to do this kind of work."
Praski, of Sharpsburg, is one of those.
"This is something I haven't done before," the 17-year-old said as he spread mulch with his classmates. "We have a small back yard, so I don't do this."
Meris Westberg, a senior, was taking a break on one of the benches that were built as a senior project by last year's students. "I like learning about nature and the environment," she said. "Yesterday, I was pulling out weeds from the garden. The thistle was really overgrowing in there. Today, I've been helping with the mulching."
Ed Divers drove by while the students were working and stopped to see the work.
"I live right over there," he said, pointing down the street. "I lead nature walks and give slide shows. I am glad to see that you are doing this."
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