About 3 weeks after seeding we have germination at the Oak Grove Meadow!  What you see in the photo below is a small Nasella pulchra. Now we wait, and irrigate as necessary if rain doesn’t come.

As project manager Andrew Fulks says, “From little seeds grow big meadows.” What Andrew didn’t know when he began this meadow conversion project is that big meadows also provide the perfect nesting habitat for native turtles! This conversion project began as a way to decrease water usage and maintenance hours for a little-used lawn, now it will potentially become vital nesting ground the Western Pond Turtle — a serendipitous outcome!

Our team is now going to be working closely with researchers and the campus utilities department on ways to protect the turtles and coordinate maintenance in this area.