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Students Get Dirty, Learn From Nature

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By KLINT LOWRY

The Suncoast News

Published: June 22, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - For several local home-schooled children, Starkey Environmental Education Center in Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park is kind of a "school away from school."

Hardly a week goes by that NPR Homeschoolers, a community organization of home-schooling families, doesn't have some sort of session at the center, usually tapping recreation leader Katie Mac Millen's vast knowledge of nature. Some weeks they are at the park more than once. They even have the occasional overnight event.

"As home-schoolers, we don't limit ourselves to books," said parent Sandy Goldman.

Recently, students and parents, along with Mac Millen, got down to the dirty business of hands-on educational experience as they planted the first round of foliage in a garden outside the education center. But as Goldman explained, this project is more than just digging some holes, sticking some pretty flowers in them and giving it a once-over watering.

"We got math, science, language arts and team building," Goldman said.

Before they turned the first shovel of dirt, the students did a lot of research and planning. The goal was to create a nice-looking bit of landscaping made up entirely of native plants. The park has - as did most of Pasco County before humans began redefining the landscape - what is called a pine flatwoods ecosystem, Mac Millen said.

So the goal was to create a garden consisting only of plants that are a natural part of that ecosystem.

Learning what plants exist in a pine flatwoods ecosystem was just the beginning. As Mac Millen explained, the sloping, sandy, semi-shaded patch of ground had been the site of another planning project some time ago that didn't fare well over time.

To improve their garden's chances, the students had to consider the soil type, the amount of light and the drainage. With that in mind, they looked at what combination of native species would do best there.

They had to look at what was available. There are only three plant nurseries in Pasco County that specialize in native species, Mac Millen said.

A combination of 30 different species eventually was chosen. The students mapped out the area and figured out how the plants should be distributed. Park manager Ken Stay designed a walkway to wind through the garden from the parking lot to the center, with a wooden border and paved with wood chips. He installed it a few days before the planting.

Though it's mostly bare dirt now, Mac Millen said, once the greenery takes hold, the plants should spread out and cover the sloping patch of ground. People are used to stomping up the hill any which way to get to the building. Along with adding to the garden's aesthetics, the walkway is a practical addition.

The Starkey Environmental Education Center soon will offer an eight-week summer science program that will include tending the garden through its infancy. After that, the NPR Homeschoolers will take over during their frequent visits, leaving their mark on a facility that has contributed to their growth.

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