Hi!
I work at Natural Area Preservation (NAP), with the city of Ann Arbor. We specialize in restoration of the city’s natural ecosystems and a big part of our mission is to reach out to the community to get people together to learn, interact, and, of course, take care of the environment! I am writing to invite you to consider partnering with us as a resource for your students during the upcoming 2015-2016 school year. Getting involved with NAP is a great way to engage in service for the environment and the community, but also allows for hands-on learning outside of the classroom which can be an invaluable experience for students of all ages!
We would love to organize a private stewardship workday for your students where we can focus our work on: removing invasive plants, improving trails, collecting native seeds, planting native plants, etc. Your students could be directly involved in helping clear a prairie full of invasive plant species to allow native flowers to flourish, or become an important part of maintaining a park trail so hikers, bikers, and nature-lovers can continue to enjoy the area! These activities allow students to get a sense of ecological awareness, team-cohesion, and overall satisfaction of doing their part for the local environment. Additionally, our events are great learning tools—each workday has native and invasive plant species education, potential soil and water conservation education, and many other opportunities for natural sciences education!
We would be happy to work with you in order to develop a private workday that aligns with the curriculum you are teaching in the classroom. If you want your school group to have your own outdoor service learning event we can do that too! We are able to do private events during the school week, which may be helpful as a field trip or place based learning activity, so please keep that in mind in your school-year planning!
We also have public fall workdays that your students are welcome join in on! Those dates, times, and locations can be found at this website: www.a2gov.org/NAPvolunteering If anything looks appealing to you please let me know a week prior to the event so we can let our team know to accommodate your group at the public event. After those dates, we resume our workdays in spring (April) and would be happy to keep you informed with those dates if you are interested. I hope our invitation has enticed you to consider Natural Area Preservation as a potential school year activity.
If you have further questions, comments, or want to get involved with NAP feel free to email or call at any time!
City of Ann Arbor Natural Area Preservation
3875 E. Huron River Dr. | Ann Arbor | Michigan | 48104 | 734.794.6627 x43474
