Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church has received a $6,500 grant from the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church for “Caring for God’s Creation: Restoring Native Habitat.” The year-long project, which began Sept. 1, will transform areas of the church grounds into native habitat while providing opportunities for children and adults to learn more about creation care and the importance of native plants.
The project will replace invasive and non-native plants and portions of turfgrass with diverse communities of plants native to Arkansas. These new landscapes will provide food and habitat for birds, butterflies, moths, native bees, and other wildlife while demonstrating how churches, schools, and homeowners can use their own land to help restore increasingly fragmented habitat.
Education is an important part of the project. Church members will have opportunities to participate in planting and other hands-on activities and to learn how practices such as planting native species, reducing turfgrass, leaving leaves, and limiting pesticide use can support healthy ecosystems.
The project will also include a partnership with nearby Wakefield Elementary School. Through age-appropriate lessons and hands-on activities, students will learn about native plants and the insects, birds, and other wildlife that depend upon them. The goal is not only to teach children about the natural world but also to help them discover that they can play a role in caring for it.
The project grows out of the United Methodist commitment to creation care and the understanding that caring for the earth is an important expression of our stewardship. By restoring habitat on church property and sharing what we learn with our congregation, students, and the wider community, we hope this project will encourage others to consider what they, too, can do with the land entrusted to their care.
The grant project will continue through Aug. 31, 2027.