Plant with a Purpose Garden Station

Plant with a Purpose Garden Station Phase 2

We want to recognize some of the folks who have made amazingly generous contributions to one of our signature Friends of Red River NWR projects, the Plant With a Purpose Garden Station!  The site will be used to maintain the habitat restoration efforts that are ongoing at the Red River NWR and most importantly to teach the public and targeted groups about the value of developing sustainable native plant focused landscapes. Such landscapes better support native wildlife that live in our area year round as well as those moving through at different times as migrating bird species or pollinators.   Bossier Students Alive painting the garden stations. The station has been envisioned by Janet Creech and Gloria McClure and implemented with their guidance.  The vision has always been a dogtrot vernacular design with materials and styling to match the existing headquarters facility. Friends volunteers may have thought of the project, but it would not have been possible without scores of Bossier community volunteers and their generous leaders and sponsors.  

We extend special thanks to Kris Chenier and his many Bossier Parish Schools for Technology and Innovative Learning (BPSTIL) Carpentry and Construction students and to their principal Amy Washington for supporting the collaborative effort between Friends of Red River NWR, Red River NWR, and BPSTIL.  BPSTIL students have not only built the two buildings and the shed structure for this community project, but they have done so at multiple sites and settings and over a period of time.   Their work and contributions have spanned the 2022-23 school year, starting in Fall 2022 with discussions and planning with Friends Volunteers and then into Spring 2023 with more planning and the construction of the first shed at BPSTIL and at Red River NWR.  In the Fall 2023 school year, they developed and built the second building both at the technical school and at Red River, and in the Spring 2024 term, Kris and his BPSTIL team have taken the final steps to get the profile of the station complete by helping with the construction of the final shed connecting the buildings.  If that wasn't enough, they have worked with Bossier Parish Schools Bossier Alive program volunteers from Elm Grove, Haughton, and Rusheon Middle Schools to cut the wood for Aldo Leopold Benches that we will use around the station. Bossier Alive students led by Lane Raley have spent many hours assembling the Aldo Leopold Benches at their home schools and we appreciate those efforts. Along with that generous contribution, the Elm Grove Bossier Alive students spent two afternoons painting the garden station to match the refuge headquarters building.  Many thanks to them and their school sponsors:  Jessica Beals of HMS, Ashley Anderson of RMS, and Marie Blanco, Sara Wells, and Lisa Ballew of EGMS.