The Blackland Prairie, the city’s ecosystem, has been continually restored over the years to how it used to be, and now with help from local high school students, it’s closer than ever.

The Connemara Conservancy, located at the corner of Bethany and Alma, is one of the state’s leaders in environmental conservation and education. It aims to help farmers, landowners and local governments.

The Advanced Plants and Soils class, led by Heidi Reese, is helping the conservancy to restore undeveloped land by propagating seeds and reintroducing native grasses to the ecosystem.

“[The] main goal of the Connemara Meadow Preserve is to return the meadow to its original tall grass Blackland Prairie ecosystem and preserve it as an example of the biodiversity native to this area,” Reese said . “It is used as an educational tool to teach the importance of nature and the preservation of our natural ecosystems.”

Reese said that the conservation effort can be crucial to the local ecosystem’s survival.

“There is less than one percent left [of the Blackland Prairie] and the tall grass prairie is considered the most endangered large ecosystem in the United States,” she said. “If conservation efforts are not put forth, we will lose our original native ecosystem forever.”

Senior Randi Barham, one of Reese’s students taking part in the project, agrees with her teacher, saying that people need to take care of our resources.

“We live on a planet with limited resources that we will run out of,” Barham said. “We need to take care of what we have.”

Barham said she hopes that the reintroduction of these tall grasses will be good for the local ecosystem.

“I would hope that some of the native species of animals would go back to it [the land],” she said.

Barham also says that although she isn’t sure what she’ll do after this project to help the local environment, she is definitely interested in continuing to help the environment.

“After this project is complete I’m not sure what I’m doing yet, but there are so many projects out there or people who just need volunteers to create a difference, and I’ll definitely find one to help out in,” she says.

Reese said she believes that this project will help her students learn better than sitting in a classroom.

“There are not too many things you can do in high school that will have that kind of long term, positive impact on their community,” she says. “These students will forever be tied to this area and will more than likely care about how the environment is treated here because they have a vested interest in how their grass is being treated.”