Projects
Discovery Center Native Plant Project
SBTH received a generous grant from the Barton J. Ingraham and Gail G. Ingraham Foundation which specified that funds were to be used to install a native garden at the Discovery Center. In October 2023 we installed over 700 native plants, with many more to come. Most of the plants were from Mike's own ongoing seed propagation efforts, others he grew from plugs. That gives us the greatest return on investment and jump started the overall SBTH grounds rehabilitation project. We planted 3100 native plants representing over 80 species in 2024.
Read more about the Discovery Center Native Plant Project
The California Project
For the first two years of this three-year $150,000 California grant, the focus was on "getting the message out" about the decline of of bird populations, especially songbirds and shorebirds, due to the loss of habitat providing shelter, food, and nesting requirements. Saving Birds Thru Habitat (SBTH) grant activities centered mostly on public education presentations, including at schools to reach a younger audience. The founder and Executive Director of SBTH, Kay Charter, lead the initial two years of the grant and made several trips to California. However, Kay retired in November 2023 necessitating a proposal to extend, through 2024, SBTH's conservation education efforts about the critical role of restoring habitat to help bird survival and reverse population decline. We decided that the last year of the grant's activities focus on creating demonstration native gardens and mini-habitats for the purpose of experiential "hands-on" education about how to create bird-friendly habitat. For 2024 our aim was to attract a wide-range of people to help get plants into the ground, provide necessary material and informational resources for the effort and, in the process, educate a diversity of people about the significance of habitat for bird survival. Also, we planned to assist in online dissemination of information, including video, to inspire others to follow suit by installing their own native gardens. Our proposal for the 2024 extension was accepted and approved for funding.
Read more about the the California Project
