The garden takes shape.

Silver City, NM (May 2, 2018)—Stout families and nearly two-dozen Freeport employees and their families joined together in a volunteer workday last Saturday to create a beautiful pollinator garden at the school. Adjacent to a veggie hoop house built by Julie Dunning-Farmer’s fourth graders last fall, the pollinator garden is part of a large school garden area that will have veggie gardens, an orchard, a small greenhouse and other growing mediums yet to be invented by Stout students.

Mark Cantrell of Lone Mountain Natives demonstrates planting proceduresFreeport-McMoRan, Healthy Kids Healthy Communities Grant County (HKHC), Lone Mountain Natives, The Volunteer Center (TVC) and the Wildlife Habitat Council are partnering to build pollinator habitat in Grant County and educate the public on why preserving and increasing pollinator habitat is so important. “There is no food growing without birds, bees and butterflies so it is imperative that we have abundant, preferably native habitat, to attract these critical pollinators, according to Alicia Edwards, Coordinator for HKHC. There are multiple programs happening in our community to increase local food growing, including school gardens, so building pollinator habitat at schools really boosts our capacity for education around healthy eating, nutrition, physical activity and the importance of local food, Edwards says.”

Ann George, Sr. Scientist for Biodiversity & Sustainability at Freeport-McMoRan Inc. teaches the importance of pollinatorsKevin Cook, Freeport-McMoRan’s Manager for Strategic Community Development, New Mexico Operations says, “We are very excited to be able to provide $10,000 in funding towards this important project. We are even more excited to be generating volunteers from our workforce to give their personal time towards building pollinator habitat at local schools.” On Saturday, May 5th, habitat will be built at San Lorenzo Elementary in Mimbres. For more information on workdays and other ways you can help, contact Alicia Edwards, Coordinator, HKHC at alicia@hkhcgrantcounty.org or 575-313-3371.