The Indiana Department of Natural Resources as well as other departments of natural resources across the United States and Canada describe lythrum salicaria -- a.k.a. purple loosestrife -- as one of the most deadly and invasive plants in North America.

    “It’s is deadly because it slowly takes over wetland areas. It is like that green stuff in Stephen King’s movie Creepshow that totally takes over a town,” explains high school senior Sara Rehsling. “If we don’t do something to stop it, we will see it killing off frogs, turtles, ducks, and a lot of other wildlife. It totally wipes out the diversity of biosystems and alters the make-up of habitats.” [Key Idea 9: Motivation]

    Rehsling talks like an environmental expert because she is, albeit an eighteen year old one. She is just one of many students at rural West High School in Noble, Indiana that is part of a unique high school program known as America’s Most Unwanted.

    Students, teachers, and community members in this manufacturing and farming community have been working to rein in loosestrife populations since first discovering the existence of the plant in 2005. What started as a simple biology project has turned into community endeavor that is having a lasting impact on the environment and on the students at West High School. [Key Idea 10: Project-based and Social Action Learning]

 

Students spawn the investigation [Key Idea 6: Constructivism]

    “I had no idea when I picked the flower up off the ground and stuck it behind my ear, that it would lead to anything like this,” reflects Rehsling who is an original member of America’s Most Unwanted and recently accepted a full-ride environmental science scholarship to Purdue University. “I was never really excited about science until I learned that it is a lot more than just wearing embarrassing goggles and heating up beakers! Mr. Jones and Ms. Tucker have helped me discover that science is really important to my town and my future.”

    “It’s the students who have gotten behind this cause and made the difference,” shares biology teacher Brian Jones. “With the help of our media specialist Meg Tucker [Principle 3], we have been able to engage in a real world learning experience. These kids are putting scientific investigation to use in this community, and it is making a difference in so many ways.”[Key Idea 7: Inquiry]

    It all started as a walk through the school woods in August 2005. A group of freshman biology students were on a mission to photograph and identify plant life growing in and around a section of the woods near the school.[Key Idea 1: Assignment] “My team was supposed to take pictures of anything with a bloom,” recalls Rehsling. “The loosestrife flower has a really pretty purple color. We could see it when we stepped into a clearing overlooking the pond by the edge of the school. There was a lot of it.”

   

Media Specialist implicated

    The real adventure started the next day when the biology students worked with media specialist Meg Tucker to identify the plants they had photographed. [Principle 5] Tucker made available a collection of resources including webpages, books, local experts, sound files, and photocollections. Her media center is equipped with a host of resources that allow students to research information in a way that accommodates individual learning styles and dispositions. [Principle 7]

    Working with the team of experts, the two educators and their students researched purple loosestrife in depth and formed the America’s Most Unwanted club in the school. [Principle 8] They learned how loosestrife has been present in America since being carried over on the ballasts of shipping vessels in the early 1800’s. It has not been an environmental threat, however, until recent decades as it has become a popular landscaping flower and sold on the open market. Though now there are laws that prohibit its sale, it is a hardy and rapidly spreading plant that can produce millions of seeds each year.  It chokes out native species and eventually upsets the ecological balance in wetlands. “We freaked out when we discovered that the seeds have nearly a 100 percent germination rate,” recalls Rehsling. “We wanted to know what could be done to stop this plant.”[Principle 6]

    The commitment of the students and educators earned them an opportunity to participate in an experimental control effort that involved introducing leaf-eating Galerucella beetles.  “Our research showed that both Canada and Wisconsin had success with the beetles,” says Tucker. “When we discovered a research study on Purdue’s website looking for participants, we decided to apply. They accepted us, and we were able to release the beetles in May of 2006.”

Phase I : Uncover the Area of Concern Biology teacher and media specialist used resources from Wisconsin’s DNR to create instructional units on invasive plants. Working with local extension office, county surveyor,  and Merry Lea Environmental Center, students used topographical maps, Google Earth, and GPS units to locate and map loosestrife locations in wetlands throughout the school district. Students visited, measured, and photographed over one-hundred wetland sites. All findings were documented and shared on a Facebook account created and maintained by students.

Phase II : Communicate the Concern Working with adult advisers, students formed a speaker’s bureau and developed a presentation which was shared with a variety of community organizations including the Lion’s Club, the Boy Scouts, the Pastoral Association, the American Legion, the Rotary Club, and Red Hat Women’s Club. Public service announcements were created and broadcasted on the local radio station as well as posted on the school website in the form of podcasts.

Phase III :Eradicate the Concern  In cooperation with Indiana Department of Natural Resources and under the advisement of Wisconsin DNR, Galerucella beetles will be collected and propagated by students. Experimental release occurred in 2005 with noteworthy results. Wider distribution is currently under consideration by county commissioners.

Sources