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Hinsdale FFA Students Study Sciences While Serving Community

The Hinsdale FFA Chapter is restoring the Milk River bank near the community of Hinsdale.They are funded by the "Living to Serve: Environmental Grant," a grant that helps FFA chapters implement service-learning projects in their community. The south side of the Milk River bank toward the east side of the town is experiencing soil bank erosion due to the high water flooding events that have been taking place since 2010. The erosion is threatening several homes, and is most extreme in areas that do not have cottonwood trees or other natives trees along the bank. The trees' root system is much larger than its canopy. Some of the larger trees have thousands of miles of root systems (according to students' research). Other landowners may be experiencing the same type of erosion and the Hinsdale FFA serve-learning team recommends that native trees and plants with rhizomes and deep fibrous roots are planted to help stop the erosion.

The FFA students will be using the scientific theory and method during this hands-on learning experience. The project plans to teach agronomy, plant identification, soils, cover crops, soil erosion control, and microbiology. The chapter will hold workshops to educate the community about stopping the river bank soil erosion. The project goal is to stop soil erosion that threatens several structures in the community and to educate others about the subject.

The FFA chapter formed a committee of Hinsdale 7th and 8th grade students to work on the project. They will do site inspections and research the trees, plants and seeds that will grow on the site, then proceed with planting, monitoring and recording the plants' growth. The goal is to diversify the assortment of native plants of the area in order to get the roots of the plants to stabilize the soil. The various types of trees the group hopes to plant are cottonwoods, willows, dogwoods, maples, and even elderberry and cranberry bushes. The seed mix consists of western wheatgrass, switchgrass, green needle, creeping fox, among others discovered during the research project. The seed mix will also contain plants that enrich the soil as well as pollinators: alfalfa, hair vetch, and yellow clover, buckwheat, blue flax and sunflowers.

The Living to Serve: Environmental Grants are sponsored by CSX and Bayer as a special project of the National FFA Foundation. Assisting with the project are: First Creek Seeds (provider of seeds and knowledge), NRCS (soil workshop), and Valley County Conservation District (tree purchase). To get involved in the project you can call the Hinsdale school at 364-2314. You can also follow the project on the Hinsdale FFA Facebook page.

 

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