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DENTON- Just outside of the Environmental Science Building at the University of North Texas, is a greenhouse that houses many native Texas plants. The plants have sprouted revealing small green leaves in each individual pot. 

The Greenhouse Project, started last year but has recently gained access to the greenhouse in January by UNT student Molly Burke.

The project’s main focus is to find out how the roots and structure of a plant are affected by different pot sizes but will also benefit a restoration prairie sight located at Discovery Park aimed at supporting pollinators such as bees.

Burke is a senior majoring in ecology who serves as vice president of Strategies for Ecological Education, Diversity and Sustainability as well as representative of Bee Campus USA which both advocate for the environment and have helped pollinators’ success. The Greenhouse Project however, holds a special place in her heart.

“It’s pretty cool, the scale that we’re doing this restoration project at and the timeline that we’re doing it in has never been done this quickly before,” Burke said.

 Burke is working with seven different Texas native plant species to find out what pot size works best.

A professor of ecology and environmental science Jaime Baxter-Slye Ph.D, helped Burke request funding through the We Mean Green fund to make the project possible. The We Mean Green fund is a UNT student organization that helps fund environmentally friendly projects on campus upon request and approval.

Slye has helped manage the funds and says that it is more cost efficient to grow plants in a nursery rather than spreading seeds on an acre.

“If we can learn to do that well, then that will be good for the prairie going forward,” Slye said.

President and volunteer of the Society for Ecological Restoration, Mattie Mitchell, says the organization is in charge of the prairie as it tries to come up with more efficient ways to bring back native Texas plants.

“As volunteers, our big thing is keeping native plants added to prairies and what [Molly] is trying to do is find the best way she can incorporate those native plants back into Texas prairies,” Mitchell said.

Getting the word out about volunteer events and workdays at the prairie is another challenge Molly and regular student volunteers still face. With as few as 10 to 20 regular volunteers, Mitchell says there is a lack of student diversity. By involving other student departments outside of the ecology department, Mattie said diversity can be achieved.

“Our professors like to message only the internal ecology students but we’re trying to find ways to better reach out to the English department, the philosophy department and geography,” Mitchell said.

About 1,000 plants are being prepared for the predicted workday on April 27 this year by the time the greenhouse plants are ready, Burke’s project hopes to attract many volunteers.

“It would be really cool if we could kind of merge students and have people that maybe aren’t ecology students come out and help us,” Burke said.

DENTON- It may look like an abandoned garden with weeds to passersby, but this 4-acre prairie and dried up native Texas tall grass at the University of North Texas Discovery Park, houses many plant pollinators especially during the spring.

UNT was the first four-year university in Texas to be recognized as a bee campus and is now one of six Bee Campus USA participants that create a safe and diverse bee-friendly environment.
Environmental Science lab supervisor at the University of North Texas, Jamie L. Baxter-Slye, Ph.D. has served on the Bee Campus USA committee for the last two years.

The initial idea came from Slye’s friend, Jennifer Bailey from grad school. The idea was to turn an invasive grassland known as Bermuda grass into a native Texas prairie. However, the project was made possible by the associate director of sustainability, Gary Cocke.

Working on pest management to keep a pollinator-friendly environment is one of the keys to becoming a bee campus.

“It’s been shown that bees, if they pollinate something with a neonicotinoid pesticide, then it gets into their systems and it’s one of the factors that cause that bee colony collapse disorder,” Slye says.

Neonicotinoid pesticides are known to harm plant pollinators. The neonicotinoid spreads to every part of the plant tissue and harms any bee that pollinates the plant.

It is through the incorporation of friendly herbicide practices and many volunteers that this project has continued to expand on developing a safe environment for bees.

UNT community garden employee, Maggie Brookshire, is a part of the Bee Campus USA Committee and the We Mean Green Fund which approved the project funding. While Discovery park is where Bee Campus USA started, Brookshire likes the addition of the UNT community garden.

“The garden wasn’t founded as a Bee Campus USA, but we have a garden and we wanted to get the campus designation,” said Brookshire.

As a bee campus, UNT provides more than just a habitat for bees, it also provides volunteer workshops on campus that raise pollinator awareness and sustainability. As an employee at the community garden, Brookshire attends the workshops and learns more sustainable practices.

Student volunteers like Brookshire that have attended the pollinator workshops have the opportunity to gain knowledge on the matter.
UNT biology major Kathaya Nhey, was surprised she has never heard of Bee Campus USA or attended a workshop, but thinks the community garden designation is good.

“UNT is all about being environmentally friendly,” Nhey says.

The goal for the pollinator prairie is to expand to 4.5 acres of native grassland for the bees.

The wet season just before spring did not allow for many improvements to be done, but volunteers were able to plant one acre for this spring. Slye says the ground should be ready and prepared to do three acres of seeding and many volunteers will be called on to plant a grand total of 8,300 plants.

“The idea is that they would learn which plants are Texas native plants, how to plant them and what their importance is to pollinators, biodiversity and water conservation,” Slye said.

Do your part today for a better tomorrow, your kids will appreciate.