Three Rivers Land Trust partnered with Salisbury Academy through the Land Trust’s Leopold Society Program to work with 75 children in the sixth through eighth grades to enhance wildlife habitat.

The students came to the Land Trust’s Point Property in Davie County with Shea Overcash, a middle school science teacher at Salisbury Academy. Land Trust staff met with them from 10:15 a.m. to noon, as students helped plant sunflowers by scattering seeds over five acres of field that had previously been disked. Planting sunflowers benefits songbirds, butterflies and other pollinators.

The Land Trust owns approximately 1,400 acres where the Yadkin and South Yadkin Rivers confluence. After planting sunflowers, the students were able to walk the property to see the variety of habitats, including hardwood forest to agriculture, that are present on the landscape.

“Providing a diverse matrix of habitats on one property allows a wide variety of wildlife to use the site,” states Conservation Lands Manager Cody Fulk.

The Land Trust’s Leopold Society is designed to enlighten youth participants from grades six to 12 on the natural world and conservation issues. Participants learn conservation techniques, outdoor skills, and hands-on natural resource stewardship and service by engaging in outdoor recreation and skill-building activities. The long-term goal of the program is to instill a lifelong love of nature in youth participants that will translate into positive action as adults.

To learn more about how you can get your school involved in the Leopold Society, or how you can support Three Rivers Land Trust, contact Michael Nye Fulk at 704-647-0302.