Back in January, VCRCD held its first field day for our Student and Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship (SLEWS) Program. The SLEWS Program— developed by the Center for Land Based Learning— provides high school students with the opportunity to gain hands-on restoration experience and mentorship from professionals in the environmental field through a series of field days. We had 16 Oak Park High School students plant over 60 native plants on their school campus
On March 5th, we held our second and final field day for our SLEWS program. 13 of the 16 OPHS students return to the restoration site to check plant progress, weed, and monitor monarch eggs and caterpillars. Before we began our restoration task, VCRCD’s Education & Outreach Coordinator, Mary Reyes, led the students through an exercise pertaining to population dynamics, limiting factors, and competition of pollinators in nature. This interactive activity emphasized the importance of restoring habitat for pollinators—such as butterflies, bees, and birds— so there are enough resources to sustain healthy populations.
During the weeding, students utilized hand-made books developed by VCRCD’s Resource Conservation Technician Rachel Ray and Mary Reyes. The books came in handy as we deciphered between baby native plants and baby weeds!
Students using booklets developed by Rachel Ray and Mary Reyes
After weeding, students were divided among 3 mentors to complete monarch monitoring. We utilized the Integrated Monarch Monitoring Program by Monarch Joint Venture to count eggs and instars on milkweed in our restoration site. Students saw eggs, caterpillars, and adult butterflies— nearly the full life cycle of a monarch. If you are interested in monitoring monarchs this spring, check out this online training by Monarch Joint Venture.
A big thank you to the VCRCD Restoration Team, Oak Park High School National Honor Society, the Center for Land Based Learning, and all of our fabulous mentors for a fantastic 2025-2026 VCRCD SLEWS Program!
