Drury’s campus is full of life this time of year thanks to its many flowering plants and the efforts of Drury Grounds. A new addition to campus will give students the opportunity to volunteer and learn about native habitats. Students can also reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills by using Drury’s composting system. Together, Drury Grounds and Drury students can create a more sustainable campus and community.

New native habitat restoration area

Drury received a grant from the Missouri Department of Conservation to establish a native habitat restoration area on campus. The habitat restoration site is beside the Hammons School of Architecture and behind Drury’s Law Enforcement Academy, making it visible to those driving by on Chestnut Expressway. Over the summer of 2018, Drury Grounds began the first steps of this long-term project by planting native seedlings on the site’s slopes and sides.

Test plot. Photo via Taylor Stanton.

Dr. Karen Spence is a professor of architecture and the co-chair of the President’s Council on Sustainability. Spence worked with Drury Grounds to shape the vision and plan for this project.

“I think we were looking for a way to introduce the native restoration areas at Drury, so students could see them and the community could see them,” said Spence.

Although the site was originally planned to be closer to the center of campus, Spence suggested that the site’s current location will expose the area to the larger community.

“It’s so visible,” said Spence. “It’s really the front corner. It enables us to have a front corner that shows the community what we are about: that we value native restoration, that we value natural landscaping, and that we realize that native restoration can greatly help heal an area.”

The native habitat restoration site includes a mixture of bushes and wildflowers, such as milkweed and prairie bluestar. The project will bring natural Missouri beauty to campus as well as provide an educational opportunity for students and community members to learn about native habitats.

The native restoration site will also attract animals and improve the quality of life for those already living in the area. Spence explained that groundhogs, rabbits and red-tailed hawks use the area consistently. Turkey and deer also pass through.

Drury Grounds works to remove the site’s invasive species like Bermuda and Johnson grass. They cut the invasive species as short as possible to stop the plant from putting energy into growing roots. When a plant’s stalks are cut, it focuses on growing taller to obtain more energy. In the future, once the native plants begin to flourish, the site will function on its own with little to no maintenance.

Drury applied for more funding from the Missouri Department of Conservation this September.

“We’re asking for more plants, to do some signage there, and we’re going to build an insect hotel,” said Spence.

Why grow native?

MDC recommends “native perennials” for attracting butterflies and other pollinators.

Among the list of suggested Missouri-native plants are milkweed, wild bergamot, blue wild indigo and purple coneflower. These plants are best for encouraging a healthy occupancy of pollinators, such as monarch butterflies and our state insect, the honeybee. With populations of these crucial insects deteriorating, it is vital to secure a proper habitat for them in Missouri.

According to Grow Native! (a program sponsored by the Missouri Prairie Foundation) native plants are important to use in landscaping to attract pollinators because they are more likely to coexist and not compete. This can mean that pesticides and fertilizers are not necessary as the biodiversity of native plants helps to foster healthy, sustainable landscapes.

Native plants are also a great addition to any landscape because they are low-maintenance. They require minimal water, grow compactly as to prevent weeds and can thrive for many decades. In many ways, landscaping with native plants can be much easier than struggling with plants not as naturally suited for the region.

Drury’s campus is an example of the seamless integration of native plants into a variety of locations. The diversity of native species is apparent in the many colors, sizes and growing conditions of plants around campus.

“Our approach to landscape at Drury is something a lot of the students respond well to. If we can continue to do that, it gives us an identity that I think a lot of students connect to somehow,” said Spence.

As many Drury students have noted, native plants seamlessly beautify any space. Not only are the vibrant flowers and foliage aesthetically appealing–they provide habitats for pollinators like butterflies which enhance the landscape further. Sophomore Anna Meadows finds Drury’s thriving butterfly population refreshing while walking around campus.

Photo via Olivia Thompson.

“I’ve seen a lot more butterflies this year, which has been nice between classes,” said Meadows.

Native plants do more than just make our campus serene and stunning. They create a desperately-needed, ideal environment for our Missouri pollinators to thrive.

Contributing to campus with compost

Three wooden bins sit beside Smith Hall near the sand volleyball courts. Of the students who pass by these bins, many do not know that they can use them to dispose of food scraps. Sydney Winders, a junior music therapy major, lived in Smith Hall her freshman year, but she only recently discovered that she could compost on campus.

Sydney Winders pictured next to Drury’s composting bins. Photo via Taylor Stanton.

“I lived in Smith my freshman year, and I never saw it. Then, I added Drury Grounds on Facebook and asked if they had any opportunities for us,” said Winders. “They responded back, and they told me about this.”

Winders has been composting since high school. Back home in St. Louis, Mo., she encouraged her family to invest in an in-home compost bin.

“One of my values is to be accountable in everything that I do, including my contribution to waste,” said Winders. “While I’m living on this earth, I’m making an impact, and it’s important to not only be kind to people but to the planet that I’m living on.”

Winders collects her food scraps throughout the week, keeping them in a container in the freezer. Once it’s full, she walks to the compost bins to dispose of what she and her roommates have collected.

“My roommate eats like three bananas a day, so there’s a lot of stuff that would be in our trash. We freeze it, so it doesn’t get gross and attract bugs,” she said.

Winders explained that you can compost any kind of food from bread crusts and eggshells to fruits and vegetables. You can also compost meat, but Winders doesn’t recommend it. Meat slows down the decomposition process and attracts pests.

You cannot compost materials like plastic, glass or paper. However, you can compost biodegradable plastics.

“There are a lot of things that will say on the package if it’s biodegradable,” said Winders.

Composting on campus is easy, according to Winders. All you have to do is collect your food scraps and place them in the bin labeled “Add.” When the materials in the “Add” bin are ready, Drury Grounds moves them to the “Wait” bin, turning the materials and adding more soil. Then, those materials are moved to the “Ready” bin, which is what Drury Grounds uses around trees and plants.

Written by Olivia Thompson and Taylor Stanton.