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A patch of land on the Alvin Community College campus has been growing on its own for five years and now it’s growing support with a recent grant.

The college Pollinator Project was awarded a $6,000 grant from the Native Prairies Association of Texas Pocket Prairie program to help build on the project.

“This is a completely natural area,” said Heather Lewis, ACC Biology instructor. “The idea is to just let it go and it kind of takes care of itself.”

The grant funds will be used for site clearing, native plants and seeds for the 1-acre prairie located just outside the college Science/Health Science Building. The Pollinator Project was launched in 2020 to create a space for research of native plants such as prairie grass, wildflowers, milkweed plants and more. The project was created with assistance from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It was also supported by a grant from the ACC Foundation.

The project was designed to help students and the community understand the importance of allowing native species to grow on their own without excessive landscaping. Pocket prairies not only help provide a habitat for native plants but for local wildlife as well, Lewis said.

“It all supports the whole system and we are a part of that system,” she said. “If we can change minds, I think we can do really great things.”

Since its creation, students have used the space to learn more about local plants and wildlife for their classes. The grant from the NPAT will build on the project’s success to further benefit students and the community.

“We initially intended to grow some milkweed in the beginning,” Lewis said. “But then it sort of blossomed from that.”

With so much native prairie habitat diminished through urbanization, the ACC Pollinator Project will hopefully raise awareness about the importance of sustaining local plants and wildlife while also providing flood maintenance and erosion control, she said.

“It will hopefully bring some attention to conservation,” Lewis said. “These prairies serve a lot of purposes. There’s so many possibilities.”

To learn more about the Pollinator Project and the Pocket Prairie initiative, please listen to the ACC Podcast at www.alvincollege.edu/news/podcast.html or wherever podcasts are found.