Environmental Stewardship

Since Birches’ founding, we have been committed to cultivating the habits of environmental stewardship in our students and the greater Birches community. Environmental justice is a part of our curriculum, and we work to empower our students to make a positive impact in our immediate community and beyond. Birches students become environmentally literate and we encourage stewardship, exploration, and appreciation of our natural world at every age and stage.

The Birches Chestnut Mother Tree Project: Hope Grows Here!

Birches School has partnered with The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) with the goal of helping restore the iconic American Chestnut to its former range along the East Coast of North America. The American Chestnut tree, Castanea dentata, was once the most common and largest tree to be found in the Eastern forests of North America. It was wiped out by a fungal blight that arrived from Asia in the early 1900s. Mother trees are rare remnant chestnut trees that still provide viable nuts. Beginning in 2023, TACF began providing mother tree nuts to Birches School to propagate. Students in all grade bands help to plant seeds and tend the young trees in their classrooms. Young trees grown from these seeds were planted around Birches campus, at the local TACF germplasm orchard in Lincoln, and distributed to local community members. The goal of this project is: 1) to maintain the biodiversity of existing mother trees, 2) to grow trees large enough to flower and then pollinate with blight-resistant pollen, and to educate the public about the history and restoration of this once mighty tree. Learn more about students’ efforts to educate others about the American Chestnut and Birches partnership with TACF.

Protecting Vernal Pools

Place-based education at Birches means caring not just for Birches woodland campus but the acres of conservation land that surround our school. Birches students spend significant time on Lincoln Conservation trails, and their weekly observations, wonderings, and discoveries often lead them to big questions and actions to further protect these beautiful spaces. Birches students 6th graders worked with the Lincoln Conservation Department to assess the nearby vernal pool (a favorite nature hike destination) for designation as a Certified Vernal Pool. This site has been officially certified by the Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program (NHESP)! This pool will eventually be added to the state map for Certified Vernal Pools, thanks to our student conservationists!