Shivela Middle School Students Restore Native Grassland

Native and some unexpected plants are reappearing on a once depressed 2-acre parcel on the

This is thanks to the hard work of a group of students, who returned Thursday to document the regrowth as part of a native grassland restoration project.

"I love plants and animals and I want to get involved in the environment," said eighth-grader Mary Stone, who was among 30 students who volunteered for the project.

"Through this I've learned many different types of plants, and the difference between native and non-native," said Mary, who would like to be a scientist one day.

On this third trip of the school year, students hiked in and were tasked with documenting the plants. The flora has re-sprung since the parcel was intentionally burned—with the help of the Riverside County Fire Department—in the fall in preparation for the project.

"By burning we create spaces like this that can be restored," said Carole Bell, Reserve manager, who had been collecting native seeds from around the 12,000-acre plateau with this type of project in mind.

The regrowth they found surprised Bell and fellow Reserve employee Kay Madore, a field botanist.

Spotted Thursday were native plants purple sanicle and blue-eyed grass, and non-native chocolate lilies.

"This is what California used to look like in the native grasslands," Madore said.

The Reserve has the largest native plant community in the state, along with some of the finest examples in the state, according to Madore.

With the help of the students, it can keep that reputation.

The project was a collaboration between the Santa Rosa Plateau Foundation, the Murrieta Valley Unified School District and the California Department of Fish and Game.

SRPF already funds educational outings for elementary-aged students, and this was proposed as a way for the nonprofit organization to reach a different age group.

Guy Romero, assistant superintendent of educational services for the Murrieta Valley Unified School District, sits on SRPF board. His days on the plateau go back to when he taught at Murrieta Elementary when it was a K-8.

He said he remembered bringing seventh- and eighth-grade science students up to the plateau on a regular basis. He wanted to revive that.

The district's middle schools were invited to submit proposals of how they would restore the historic grassland to its natural state. The proposals were reviewed by the district, SRPF and Reserve management, said Ginger Greaves, SRPF founder and president.

"Their response was to include research, education and preservation goals, steps and time lines, and they were to address middle school grade-level natural science standards in the process," Greaves said.

Shivela Middle School Science Department's proposal was selected and a $1,500 grant to cover some of the costs associated with the project was funded by SRPF, Greaves said.

"The students conducted the soil studies, planted the area, (and) have been monitoring and evaluating the project beginning in October of last year," Greaves said.

Accompanying the students Thursday were eighth-grade science teachers Sue Balch and Scott Hanson.

The students involved had volunteered, according to Balch.

"We put the word out on campus and there was a selection of kids who wanted to be a part of it," Balch said.

Eighth-grader Kailee Kristell won a T-shirt design contest for the group. The students sported the green shirts Thursday, along with a sense of ownership.

Kailee said she felt "really good" about the work they'd done.

"Because this is Murrieta, and I've lived here for 11 years," she said.

Fellow student Mary Stone said she has also lived in Murrieta for several years, but had not spent time on the plateau before this.

"It feels really nice, like (the plateau) is a little part of me now," Mary said.

The students' findings will be documented in a book that will eventually be available in the Visitor Center, Romero said.

Looking ahead, organizers agreed they would like to get more area middle schools involved in similar projects.

"We've got 12,000 acres, (so) we've got 11,998 left to restore," Bell said.