On November 5 and 6, more than 50 students from Tacoma Public Schools’ Science and Math Institute (SAMI) will join volunteers and Metro Parks’ staff to convert ¾ acre of steeply-sloped hillside near the exit of Point Defiance Park from resource-consuming grass to an oxygen-generating landscape.
Metro Parks began converting the hillside last winter, supporting Acres for the Atmosephere, a key component in Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium’s global climate change initiative. The effort has already garnered measurable results.
In just one year’s time, the adjacent acre of the steep grassy slope, which the park district converted to a landscape of resource-friendly plants and trees, has reduced carbon-emitting mowing and trimming by 52 hours and saved a staggering 1.12 million gallons of water.
“The unique partnership between Tacoma Public Schools and Metro Parks enables SAMI students to work directly alongside professionals with backgrounds in a broad range of sciences on a regular basis,” said SAMI Co-Director, Kristin Tinder. “In this case, they’ll participate in a community service project working with a zoo biologist and a park botanist, learning valuable lessons about the environment and natural resource management.”
On Friday, students will learn how this habitat project supports a national effort founded by a group of zoo keepers who trekked to the sub-arctic tundra last year. They will work alongside Derek Woodie, the zoo’s lead polar bear biologist , who was among the 21 zookeepers invited to participate in the educational expedition. Hosted by Polar Bears International, the trip was designed to drive home the urgent need to reduce the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Scientists believe 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide will be the tipping point where polar ice caps are no longer recoverable. The current level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is measured at 390 parts per million (ppm) and is increasing at a rate of 2 to 3 ppm each year.
Witnessing the current conditions of the tundra first-hand prompted the group of zookeepers to increase their effort to raise public awareness about the effects of global climate change .
The scientists formed Acres for the Atmosphere, a collaborative initiative dedicated to polar bear conservation through local projects that promote education and immediate action in reforestation, energy conservation, utilization of recycled goods, and stewardship. The zoo keepers hope their communities will take the polar bears’ cause to heart by helping them plant an acre for the atmosphere, with the goal of planting 500,000 acres of trees during the next 10 years to help diminish high levels of carbon dioxide.
According to Woodie, each tree that is planted and matures will absorb roughly 48 pounds of carbon dioxide annually, and an acre of mature trees would offset the carbon dioxide produced by driving a car 26,000 miles.
Metro Parks Tacoma is supporting the effort through the conversion of the hillside at Point Defiance Park, as well as other sites in the district. Native and northwest climate-adapted plants and trees have already been planted and will be expanded at Metro Parks Headquarters. The landscape conversions from resource needy grass to native plantsresult in decreased emissions of carbon dioxide, the main contributing factor to the greenhouse effect and global warming.
Through Acres for the Atmosphere, zookeepers hope to increase public awareness that small choices of individuals on a day-to-day basis will ultimately determine the fate of the icecaps, the arctic tundra, and polar bear populations.
The conversion of an acre of grass to natural vegetation at Point Defiance Park will not only conserve resources and lower carbon dioxide emissions, but also provides an opportunity to educate volunteers like the SAMI students about their ability to positively impact the environment on a day-to-day basis, inspiring a generation of conservationists.
The second phase of Metro Parks’ Acre for the Atmosphere project will take place on November 5 and 6 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.