pollinator waystation final report sydney...
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Pollinator Waystation Final Report
Sydney Bicknell Jill Syrotchen Claire Freeland Jonathan Bassett
Alex Davis
April 17, 2017
ENVS 4100: Appropriate Technology and Sustainability: The Campus as a Living, Learning Laboratory
Dr. Harold Glasser
Table of Contents
I. Executive summary…………………………………………………………………..…...………....2
II. Introduction………………………………………………………………..…………….……........2
III. Methodology and data………………….…………………………………..………...…………... 3
IV. Examples of best practice on campus…………………………………………..……………….....3
V. Examples of best practice on other campuses……………………………………..……………......4
VI. Discussion……………………………………………………………………………..………….4
VII. Limitations to our analysis and proposed future work…………………………………..………...7
VIII. Conclusions and recommendations……………………………………………………..……......8
IX. References………………………………………………………………………………….….......8
X. Appendix A: Current contact list……………………………………………………………..…......8
XI. Appendix B: Contact logs……………………...…………………………………...………..…….9
XII. Appendix C: Poster locations and email outreach………………………………………………..11
XIII. Appendix D: Image archives………………………………………....………………….…..…..11
XIV. Appendix E: Event survey…...……………………………………………………………....….15
XV. Appendix F: Other documents…………………………………………………………………..16
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I. Executive summary (1) Outline of the problem The problem we chose to address is a lack of quality native habitat and resources for native pollinators on campus, such as Monarch butterflies and several species of bees. In terms of campus sustainability, an addition of a native pollinator waystation would allow for a space where pollinators can lay eggs, find food and water, and rest - this will increase campus sustainability by increasing species diversity and abundance on campus at Western Michigan University (WMU). Currently there is no designated habitat for pollinators on campus. We feel that this garden would provide that habitat, and additionally, provide a more enjoyable green space for all to enjoy on WMU’s campus. In an effort to increase campus awareness of our project plans, and to educate the public on current issues affecting pollinators in southwest Michigan, we hosted a Monarch butterfly and native plant workshop. (2) Results After the educational event we hosted on native plants and monarchs, we distributed a brief survey to the audience which asked a few questions about our waystation. We received positive responses from most of the students in attendance; when asked whether or not students agree that a pollinator waystation would be a good idea, 73% of surveyed attendees strongly agreed. The rest of the results are discussed in section VI and figures 1-7 in that section highlight the results through pie charts. (3) Discussion of the action of proposed alternatives Alternatives to our proposed waystation idea included: implementing a waystation garden outside of main campus grounds, hosting an educational seminar on Monarch butterflies and native plants, creating a pollinator waystation through a container garden in front of the Office for Sustainability, or holding a series of fundraisers in order to fund a waystation garden for Landscape Services to take over. Carrying out just one of these alternatives did not fully cover the scope that we had envisioned for our project. (4) Explanation of why our proposed action is the most appropriate Our group decided that both an educational seminar and finding a place on main campus for a pollinator waystation would create the greatest impact to help pollinators on campus. If we had only held an educational event, we thought that people in attendance would not take more measures to learn about native plants and/or they would not follow through in taking action to help pollinators. Our twofold educate-and-act plan ensures that campus and community members are educated first and foremost, and that they have a therapeutic space on WMU’s campus to enjoy pollinators in their natural habitats. (5) Synopsis of future work that needs to be done Pollinators are at risk of extinction due to overuse of certain types of pesticides and lack of quality habitat. Future work on campus and in the area would greatly benefit the ecosystem as a whole. This future work could include a campus-wide initiative to plant only native species around campus without using harmful herbicides and pesticides. To take this initiative a step further, including native plant species into the landscape that do not require excessive watering and that are drought-tolerant would reduce water consumption.
II. Introduction
Citizen science projects across North America have been emphasizing the need to cultivate native plants for both pollinators and for herbivores such as the monarch butterfly. The common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca, is possibly the most important host plant in the migratory life history of monarch butterflies in eastern North America (Malcolm et al. 1989, 1993) and it supports a diverse community of insect herbivores and pollinators (Agrawal and Malcolm 2002).
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The common milkweed is at risk throughout corn-growing areas across the Midwest and southern Canada from the use of herbicide-resistant crop varieties. Widespread use of herbicides to suppress weeds from competing with crops is resulting in the extensive loss of many plant species valuable for the basis of ecosystem services. The State of Michigan is currently generating a plan to mitigate these losses and enhance ecosystem services from pollinators and monarch butterflies (Managed Pollinator Protection Plan “MP3” http://www.michigan.gov/mdard/0,4610,7-125-2390_76976-387345--,00.html). The common milkweed is an important component of these services because it acts as a very important host plant for monarch butterflies (Malcolm et al. 1993) and other specialist herbivores (Malcolm 1991; Agrawal and Malcolm 2002), and it is also an important nectar source for threatened bees and wasps. With this information in mind, one type of citizen science project that advocates for monarch habitat cultivation is the Monarch Waystation program through Monarch Watch. Monarch Watch is a nonprofit organization based out of the University of Kansas that concerns itself with monarch habitats and migration. It supports conservation, education, and research endeavors (Monarch Watch, 2017). Monarch Watch keeps a database of registered monarch waystations, which can be accessed for free at the following web address: bit.ly/monarch-waystations. A quick search of the database shows that 15,684 total waystations have been registered so far in the United States and Canada, with 1,188 registered in Michigan, and 30 in Western Michigan University’s 49008 zip code. All organizations in List C3, Appendix C maintain registered monarch waystations. Local Kalamazoo community member Ilse Gebhard serves as a conservation specialist for Monarch Watch, and Dr. Stephen Malcolm at Western Michigan University’s Biological Sciences department actively researches the plant-herbivore interactions between milkweeds and their specialists. Because the city of Kalamazoo already has such an active pollinator-loving community, we determined that implementing a monarch waystation on WMU’s main campus would be our project’s ultimate goal. We knew that to reach our goal, we would need to garner both financial and social support for the waystation. Therefore, our group fundraised in order to secure working capital (see Appendix D, figure D1 for photos), and hosted an informational event on the importance of pollinators and native plants in order to secure a supportive base of students on WMU’s campus. Please see Appendix D, Figures D2-D5 for a snapshot of our workshop. Along the way, we formed our secondary project goal in bringing together a human-enjoyed space (a park) and an insect-enjoyed space (a habitat). We felt that on main campus, students lacked a place to truly engage with nature. Our project seeks to fill a need on WMU’s main campus for a peaceful, natural space, as well as an ecological need of native pollinator habitat.
III. Methodology and data Our project has been relatively site-specific to WMU’s campus, so we chose to focus our efforts into researching plants native to our habitat. We also conducted background research using WMU’s Library Database to determine the threats currently posed to pollinator populations in the Midwest. At our April 10th pollinator and native plant event, we conducted a brief survey of some of the event attendees. The survey was handed out after both of our speakers, Ilse Gebhard and Carol Klug, finished their presentations. The survey can be seen in its entirety in Appendix E, Figure E1, and the complete set of results can be seen in Table E1. Results of the survey will be discussed in Section VI of this report.
IV. Examples of best practice on campus On WMU’s campus, Landscape Services and specifically the Natural Areas and Preserve Manager, Steve
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Keto, have grown and introduced more native plants around campus. According to Carol Klug, a native plant expert, the grass species used for most lawns are non-native and have short roots that require constant watering. Native plants obtain water more successfully without the need for supplemental watering, and their extensive root systems aid in reducing runoff and erosion. Also, native plants provide essential food for native animals species such as pollinators. The addition of native plants around campus enhances sustainability by decreasing the amount of water and fertilizer required in landscaping and increasing resources for native animals.
V. Examples of best practice on other campuses Locally, Western Michigan University’s neighboring Kalamazoo College maintains a certified monarch waystation in the Lillian Anderson Arboretum. This waystation is not on Kalamazoo College’s main campus, however, and is instead part of a system of nature trails. (Lillian Anderson et al., 2017). Additionally, the native plant landscape at WMU’s Gibbs House site achieved their waystation certification in 2014. Our proposal is unique in that we seek to introduce a certified monarch waystation in a place where many students can easily access and enjoy its presence on WMU’s main campus on a daily basis. We also looked at other schools that are part of Bee Campus USA. The Bee Campus USA program does not focus just on bees, but all pollinators such as monarchs. Southern Oregon University is a great example. A student group maintains a pollinator-friendly garden of herbicide-free wildlife areas. These students have even found plant suppliers who do not use neonicotinoid pesticides, insecticides that are believed to harm honeybees’ immune system and disrupt their ability to learn and find their way back to their hives (Stiles, “SOU Named Nation’s First ‘Bee Campus USA’”).
The campus planted hundreds of native plants and trees throughout its 175-acre landscape and Southern Oregon University sees that only as the beginning phase. Their Landscaping Services are determined to maintain a pollinator habitat on campus. Part of Southern Oregon University’s goal is to share its native plant list, suppliers of those plants, and a less toxic Integrated Pest Management Plan to be shared on the Internet as an information source for others. In addition, Southern Oregon University hosts annual events to raise awareness of the importance of pollinators and encourage student services to enhance pollinator habitat on and off campus. As a Bee Campus USA participant, a University must either offer a Pollinator Ecology course or conduct workshops on Integrated Pest Management or Landscaping for Pollinators targeted at pesticide applications and landscaping designers (Southern Oregon University, “SOU Named Nation’s First ‘Bee Campus USA’”). Finally, each certified campus is expected to post educational signage in appropriate places, like signs in the cafeteria that explain the role of pollinators in food production. We believe Western Michigan University can take Southern Oregon University as an example and follow similar steps. These practices will insure protection of important pollinators, educate and create awareness on and off campus, and inspire others to take action.
VI. Discussion Below, Figures 1-7, show the results of our survey. The survey form may be found in Appendix E, Figure E1, and a table of complete survey results may be found in Table E1. In total, 17 attendees were surveyed. We determined that results from two of our surveys were outliers, as they responded to all questions with “Strongly Disagree”, and wrote on the form that they only attended the event for extra credit. Therefore, we chose to omit their results from our analysis, and analyzed the results with a sample size of 15.
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Figure 1: The above graph shows the breakdown of gender of surveyed attendees at our April 10th event. Figure 1 shows the gender of surveyed attendees at our event. We thought this would be important to include, as it shows that the idea of a garden is not of interest to solely one gender demographic. We also asked survey-takers to report their field of study. We were surprised to see the broad range of majors studied by our surveyed attendees. In fact, every surveyed attendee had a different field of study or was at a different point in their field of study (e.g. undergraduate vs. graduate study). This further supports our point that a garden does not appeal to solely one demographic at Western Michigan University, and may serve as a place of unity between students of different majors on campus, much like the Lee Honors College does.
Figure 2: The above graph shows the breakdown of how surveyed attendees heard of our April 10th event. We thought this information would be useful to know for hosting future events. Word of mouth and our poster campaign were the most successful at letting people know about our event. In the future, we may want to focus more of our advertising efforts on poster placement and verbal communication about an event. For a list of locations posters were placed, please see Appendix C, Lists C1 and C2.
Figure 3: The above graph shows the breakdown of responses of our surveyed event attendees to the first
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query on our survey, “This event was educational on native plants and monarch butterflies.”
Figure 4: The above graph shows the breakdown of responses of our surveyed event attendees to the second query on our survey, “The on campus pollinator waystation is a good idea.”
Figure 5: The above graph shows the breakdown of responses of our surveyed event attendees to the third query on our survey, “The waystation would educate students and community members.”
Figure 6: The above graph shows the breakdown of responses of our surveyed event attendees to the fourth query on our survey, “BEFORE this event, I cared about pollinator well-being.”
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Figure 7: The above graph shows the breakdown of responses of our surveyed event attendees to the fifth query on our survey, “AFTER this event, I cared about pollinator well-being.”
Figure 8: The above graph shows the breakdown of responses of our surveyed event attendees to the sixth query on our survey, “The proposed garden area behind the Lee Honors College is good.” Figures 3-8 above demonstrate the level of support for a pollinator garden at Western Michigan University, and specifically behind the Lee Honors College. Most notably, from Figures 6 and 7, before our educational event, only 33% of surveyed attendees strongly agreed that they cared about pollinator well-being. After our educational event, 65% of surveyed attendees strongly agreed. This near-doubling of strong agreeance shows both the effectiveness of our workshop event and the enthusiasm WMU students have right now to protect the well-being of pollinators. Reiterating results from Figure 1, this strong agreeance comes from people of different genders and an array of different fields of study. The results from our survey demonstrate well-rounded support for our proposed initiative.
VII. Limitations of our analysis and proposed future work
We have achieved many of our goals throughout this project, including hosting our fundraiser and workshop, contacting key people on campus to get the project rolling, and believe we have sparked awareness for a need for a monarch waystation on main campus. However, we have not yet created the pollinator waystation we have proposed. Our biggest setback was simply the season in which our project was proposed - it is currently still too early to plant milkweeds and nectar plants that will grow successfully. However, as temperatures begin to rise in southwest Michigan, we are poised to take action. Action still needs to be taken to remove current non-native plants at the site and plant milkweeds and native nectar plants. Action will take place at the start of May 2017 and continue on through June 2017 to create our vision and become a certified pollinator waystation. In order to do so, a solid allowance will be needed for plant selection, benches, soil, and any other tools needed. We believe $500.00 will cover the cost of everything proposed, and plan to present a proposal budget to Dr. Harold Glasser of the Office for
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Sustainability in hopes of securing necessary financial support.
VIII. Conclusions and recommendations While speaking with Darrell Junkins, WMU Landscape Services West Region supervisor and overseer of the parcel of land on which our garden will lay, we hope to eventually add more arboretum trees and/or native shrubs next to the fence area behind Lee Honors College and next to Rood Hall, (Appendix D, Figure D9). Acting as a living wall, these trees and shrubs will help buffer the sounds of the nearby buses and fans so students can more peacefully enjoy the area. In addition, the plants will add aesthetic and take in more carbon from the nearby buses. We believe spring/summer 2018 would be a good time to make this positive addition. Furthermore, we recommend Western Michigan University follow similar actions like Southern Oregon University, mentioned in Section V. We see our project as a first step to achieving a certified monarch waystation, but we would like to see actions being taken place to make us part of the Bee Campus USA. However, many more steps will need to be taken. Southern Oregon University took huge steps, campus-wide, in order to achieve certification from Bee Campus USA. Therefore, WMU will need to do the same. At that point in time, our group may not be at WMU anymore, so we hope they and others will continue maintaining and expanding our pollinator garden and provide education and awareness of the threat bees and monarchs are facing currently with habitat loss and climate change. Pollinators need our help more than ever.
IX. References
“About Us.” Monarch Watch, http://www.monarchwatch.org/about/index.htm. Accessed April 19, 2017. Agrawal, A.A., and S.B. Malcolm. 2002. Once upon a milkweed. Natural History 9: 48-53. “Lillian Anderson Arboretum.” Kalamazoo College, https://reason.kzoo.edu/arboretum/visit_the_arb/.
Accessed April 20, 2017. Malcolm, S.B. 1989. Disruption of the web structure and predatory behavior of a spider by the plant-derived
chemical defence of an aphid. Journal of Chemical Ecology 15(6): 1699- 1716. Malcolm, S.B. 1991. Cardenolide-mediated interactions between plants and herbivores. Pages 251-296 in
G.A. Rosenthal and M.R. Berenbaum, editors. Herbivores: Their interaction with secondary plant metabolites. Academic Press Inc.
Malcolm, S.B., B.J. Cockrell and L.P. Brower. 1993. Spring recolonization of eastern North America by the monarch butterfly: successive brood or single sweep migration? Pages 253-267 In, S.B. Malcolm and M.P. Zalucki (editors), Biology and Conservation of the Monarch Butterfly. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Science Series 38, 425 pp.
“SOU Named Nation’s First ‘Bee Campus USA.’” Southern Oregon University, 2 April, 2015, https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/2/
X. Appendix A: Current contact list
Name Phone number Email
Bassett, Jonathan 616-916-6929 [email protected]
Bicknell, Sydney 269-589-8677 [email protected]
Davis, Alex 269-832-7498 [email protected]
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Freeland, Claire 269-599-8989 [email protected]
Syrotchen, Jill 269-365-5972 [email protected]
Table A1: The current contact list of project members, including name, phone number, and email addresses.
XI. Appendix B: Contact logs
Name Position Email
Baas, Jane Lee Honors College Associate Dean [email protected]
Bischof, Gary Lee Honors College Dean [email protected]
Fraser, Ann Kalamazoo College entomology professor, bee expert
Frever, Mark WMU Director of Landscape Services [email protected]
Gebhard, Ilse Monarch Watch conservation specialist, Kalamazoo Wild Ones
Glasser, Harold WMU Office for Sustainability Executive Director
Gooch, Nicholas WMU Landscape Services horticulturalist [email protected]
Junkins, Darrell WMU Landscape Services West Region supervisor
Keto, Steve WMU Landscape Services Natural Areas and Preserve Manager
Klug, Carol Native plant expert, Kalamazoo Wild Ones [email protected]
Kohler, Steve WMU Director of the Institute for the Environment
Malcolm, Steve WMU Biological Sciences professor, milkweed and monarch butterfly expert
McCartney, Pamela Wood Hall building coordinator [email protected]
Root, Steve WMU Landscape Services South Region supervisor
Snyder, Sherri Gull Lake Landscaping Co. Garden Center Manager
Spoelstra, Jeff WMU Office for Sustainability Program Manager
Townsend, Jennifer Lee Honors College building coordinator [email protected]
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Table B1: The complete list of individual people we have contacted or who have contacted us throughout the duration of our project, their positions, and email addresses. Contact log February 27, 2017: Emailed Steve Keto regarding waystation plans. Steve Keto’s reply was sparse, as we had no funds at the time. February 27, 2017: Emailed Ilse Gebhard regarding speaking at a native plant and pollinator event. She agreed to speak, and connected us with our second speaker, Carol Klug. February 27, 2017: Emailed Pamela McCartney regarding fundraising in Wood Hall. She approved the date of 3/16. March 16, 2017: Contacted Pamela McCartney personally to approve extra fundraising date of 3/17. March 16, 2017: Emailed Steve Keto again regarding waystation plans. Stated we had raised funds for the project. He connected us with other Landscape Services personnel. March 17, 2017: Steve Root emailed us regarding waystation plans. With his help we coordinated a meeting time with many supervisors of Landscape Services. March 19, 2017: Emailed Jennifer Townsend regarding reserving the Lee Honors College lounge for our April 10th event. Reservation forms were filled out by our group and approved by Jennifer. March 29, 2017: Meeting with Landscape Services personnel occurred. Attending the meeting were Steve Root, Darrell Junkins, Nicholas Gooch, and others. Our group presented our waystation ideas - Landscape Services was on board. Proposal locations were later emailed to us (See Appendix F, Figure F1). March 31, 2017: Emailed many local organizations to inform them of our April 10th event. Full list of contacted organizations can be seen in Appendix C, List C3. April 4, 2017: Emailed Jeff Spoelstra regarding parking passes for our speakers on April 10th. He kindly provided two, free of charge. April 5, 2017: Met with Jane Baas and briefly discussed implementation of waystation behind the Lee Honors College. April 11, 2017: Emailed Darrell Junkins regarding a second meeting to go over site details. Unfortunately, Darrell was very busy and we could not get ahold of him. April 12, 2017: Ilse Gebhard emailed us, offering to register our future waystation with Monarch Watch and provide signage for free. April 14, 2017: Attempted to contact Darrell Junkins again via phone, but our call went unanswered. We left a voicemail with Jonathan’s phone number so he could contact us quicker. April 14, 2017: Emailed Steve Root regarding contact with Darrell Junkins, in hopes Steve could serve as a catalyst for connecting us with Darrell. April 18, 2017: Emailed Gary Bischof regarding implementation of waystation behind the Lee Honors
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College. He approved of our plans. April 19, 2017: Darrell Junkins called and was able to meet with us to discuss site details behind the Lee Honors College. Gary Bischof also attended the meeting.
XII. Appendix C: Poster locations and outreach emails
List C1: Locations posters were posted on campus prior to April 10th for our event • Wood Hall • Chemistry Building • Lee Honors College • Sangren Hall • Bernhard Center • Rood Hall • Kohrman Hall
List C2: Locations posters were posted off-campus prior to April 10th for our event
• Fourth Coast Cafe on Westnedge Ave. in Kalamazoo, MI • Earth Fare on Westnedge Ave. in Portage, MI • Starbucks on West Main Ave. in Kalamazoo, MI • Starbucks on Stadium Dr. in Kalamazoo, MI • Macy’s break room on Westnedge Ave. in Portage, MI
List C3: Organizations contacted via email prior to April 10th regarding our event
• Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy • Portage Senior Center • Kalamazoo College Biology Department • Kalamazoo Nature Center • Stewards of Kleinstuck • Kalamazoo Wild Ones • Kazoo School
XIII. Appendix D: Image archives
Figure D1: These images show our bake sale setup on March 16th. LEFT: Jon, Claire, and Sydney (from left to right) standing behind our bake sale table in Wood Hall on the morning of March 16th. MIDDLE: The poster in front says “Save The Bees + Butterflies / Help fund the Pollinator Waystation Project!” and lists prices of foods and potted plants. RIGHT: Our potted plant station.
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Figure D2: This image is the poster we created to advertise our workshop event.
Figure D3: This photo displays the way we arranged the Lee Honors College lounge space, as well as the snack and volunteer sign-up table we set up for our April 10th event.
Figure D4: This photo shows Ilse Gebhard presenting her powerpoint about monarch butterflies and
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milkweed plants at our April 10th event.
Figure D5: This photo shows attendees at our April 10th event, listening to our speakers.
Figure D6: This photo shows all of our group members after our successful April 10th event! Front: Sydney; back, from left to right: Jill, Claire, Alex, and Jon.
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Figure D7: Main location for the pollinator waystation behind Lee Honors College.
Figure D8: Additional area behind Lee Honors College for the pollinator waystation to possibly add if we have enough resources.
Figure D9: Later stage of our project will be to create a sound barrier out of trees and/or bushes from the buses and fans.
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XIV. Appendix E: Event survey
Figure E1: This image is a copy of the survey we handed out at our April 10th event. Results of this survey are discussed in section VI, Figures X-X.
Gender Field of study Heard about the event Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6
F Alumni Facebook A SA SA SA SA SA
F K. College professor Personal email A SA SA SA SA SA
F Biology (graduate) Poster A SA SA A SA SA
M Aerospace engineering Poster A SA A N SA SA
M Faculty Poster SA SA A SA SA SA
M Biology Poster, facebook, word of mouth A A A SA SA SA
M Business Professor A A A N A A
F Accounting Professor SD SD SD SD SD SD
F Dance Professor SD SD SD SD SD SD
F Advertising Word of mouth SA SA A A SA SA
F ENVS Word of mouth A A A A A A
M Economics Word of mouth A SA A A SA SA
M Engineering Word of mouth A A D A N N
F Anthropology Word of mouth SA SA SA A SA SA
M Marketing Word of mouth SA SA SA N SA SA
M Statistics Word of mouth SA SA SA N N SA
M Political Science Word of mouth SA SA SA SA SA SA
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Table E1: The complete results of our survey from our April 10th event. SA = Strongly Agree, A = Agree, N = Neutral, D = Disagree, SD = Strongly Disagree.
XV. Appendix F: Other documents
Figure F1: This image is a representation of our budget-keeping practices. This log is kept up to date in the form of a shared Google Sheets file and reflects our current fund balance. Funds are currently being kept in cash form in a cash box in Jill’s possession.
Figure F2: The above image features a poster which our group created and presented to Landscape Services at our initial meeting. The poster shows images of proposed locations, on and off of main campus, for our waystation. Also pictured are images of plants we hope to host in our garden, and the official MonarchWatch.org certified waystation signage.
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Figure F3: The above images are locations proposed to us by Landscape Services after our March 29th meeting that they decided would be suitable for placement of our pollinator waystation.
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