WARRENTON, Va.—On October 19, 2024, the Clifton Institute will host a grand opening and bioblitz for an exciting new project, Lawn Lab. In partnership with Fauquier County Public Schools and the Bee City USA committee, the Clifton Institute is expanding its grassland research program by setting up a land management experiment on the campus of Grace Miller Elementary School and Liberty High School. Through Lawn Lab, students at these schools will get hands-on experience doing environmental research in their own schoolyard. During the bioblitz, participants will record the species of plants and animals present in the study plots, collecting the first year of data for what will hopefully be a multi-year project. The event will begin at 2 p.m. and close at 4 p.m., with a brief ceremony, remarks, and refreshments scheduled for 3:30. This event is free and open to the public. Please park at Grace Miller Elementary School.
The Clifton Institute hosts field trips throughout the year where students learn how our land management choices affect native plants and animals. Some land management methods being researched are not applicable to every property (for example, prescribed burns,) However, lawns are ubiquitous and something that many landowners can choose how to manage. Some research has found that reducing mowing can have a positive impact on native plant and insect populations, but the students participating in Lawn Lab will help collect much-needed data.
“We love having students out to our property for field trips,” says Co-Director Eleanor Harris,“but they usually only get to come here once a year. With Lawn Lab, they’ll be able to go out and explore a wildflower meadow all year long and they’ll be doing real research on how their own schoolyard gets managed.”
The campus shared by Liberty High School and Grace Miller Elementary School in Bealeton includes a disused three-acre playing field. Two acres have been set aside to be mowed only once a year. The third acre will get mowed weekly as usual. Students will study these experimental plots throughout the year. This project is a rare example of a win-win-win-win: students will spend time outside doing field work just like staff scientists at Clifton, the school campus will become better habitat for pollinators, the county will spend less money and cut down on pollution by mowing less often, and the experiment will serve as a demonstration plot for the community and future projects. This initiative also supports Fauquier County’s mandate as a Bee City USA to create pollinator habitat.
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The Clifton Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in Warrenton, VA. Our mission is to inspire a deeper understanding and appreciation of nature, to study the ecology of our region, to restore habitat, and to conserve native biodiversity. We provide environmental education, conduct ecological research, and restore habitat for native plants and animals. The institute’s 900-acre field station, which includes forests, grasslands, shrub fields, and wetlands, provides a beautiful and easily accessible location for education programs and is permanently protected under a conservation easement.