Slevin's Island is located at Fort Missoula on land owned by the University of Montana. It's actually a peninsula that runs along the Bitterroot River and is forested with a beautiful cottonwood stand. This spring, my students and I participated in a restoration program at Slevin's sponsored jointly by the Natural History Center and the UM Division of Biological Sciences. Our leader for the project was Tom Duster, a senior in wildlife biology and an intern at the Natural History Center. Throughout our time together, my first- and second-graders listened as Tom discussed the history and ecology of the area, the native plants and the proliferation of the non-natives. For a specific project, Tom suggested we help restore some of the native plants. We decided to grow monkey flowers from seed then transplant them. Josh Slotnick, Kim Murchison and other UM students helped us plant the seeds at Garden City Harvest Project greenhouse. From them, we learned about soils and plant care.
I hope these experiences provide my students with "a sense of place," an appreciation of the natural world and a feeling of empowerment knowing they can make their community a better place. I am indebted to parent volunteers who drove weekly, carried shovels, planted in the rain and kept kids from getting their feet too wet. Without their help and the cooperation of the staff at the Natural History Center and Marilyn Marler at UM, the project would not have been possible. My students and I plan to return often!
- Kathy Owens, teacher
Suzanne Saroff: I planted monkey flowers with Josh and Tom and I got a worm.
Miles Douglas: We were digging holes for monkey flowers. I used a shovel. I dig 10 holes.
Tessa Grigsby: I planted lots of monkey flowers by the slough. It was a gray day with lots of clouds.
Bowen Newell: I have a worm in my pot. One of Josh's students helped me find a worm. There was a deer skeleton in the water. Cottonwood trees need lots of water.
Alice Amundson: New plants will grow from the willow nodes. I liked planting the willows because we got to work in the sand by the river.
Cora Bucher: We planted willows by the river. I am making the area look better.
Forest Chaput: Dead trees are important because they are homes to many animals. We had fun climbing trees.
Aidan Shackleton: We went bird watching with Dick and Sue. We used a list of birds. We broke into two groups to see how many birds we could find. These are some of the birds we found: crow, robin (nest) killdeer, downy woodpecker, European starling, mallard ducks, flicker, swallow (nests) golden-crowned kinglet.
Arwyn Anthony: My favorite bird is the great blue heron. We saw one down in the swampy area.
Izzy Vance-Kaye: Many tracks have been found, mostly mice, raccoons, skunk, squirrels, deer. It was fun looking for tracks even though we didn't find very many.
Katie Welp: I learned the slough area was created by underwater springs and cottonwoods need lots of water. I had a worm in my pot.
Alexander Fisher: I remember looking at the animal tracks with Tom and the class. I had fun planting the monkey flowers on Slevin's Island. I like looking at the outdoors.
Rusty Hutto: I pulled knapweed. We drank water and ate fruit snacks. I pulled knapweed at the M.
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