Growing the Jaguar Garden
NJP protects the local jaguar population from surrounding threats by maintaining and improving habitat essential for all wildlife.
In 2011, Growing the Jaguar Garden will establish a nursery/greenhouse at a school in Sahuaripa to grow plants and improve the quality of life on the Northern Jaguar Reserve. The student gardeners will raise native plant species and act as caretakers of sycamores, willows, agaves, fig trees, prickly pear cactus, and others. They will then help with plantings at and near the reserve – an enriching, hands-on opportunity to better understand habitat restoration while actively rebuilding local ecosystems.
Workshops at the school where the nursery is built will train not only students but their teachers and parents as well. Through this experience, they will learn how a healthy ecosystem functions, the relationships between plants and animals, and which plants are needed to enhance the prey base. They will be able to identify quality biotic communities, to distinguish native vs. invasive species, and they will learn how they can personally engage with the local ecosystem in a positive manner.
Our jaguar guardians will interact with participants with site visits to the school, a blog containing news from the reserve, and as an available resource on conservation topics. The guardians will be a part of the plantings and welcome students to the reserve with a presentation illustrating the highlights of their work.
Growing the Jaguar Garden will ultimately provide lessons in how the restoration of natural ecosystems helps wildlife that is in danger of extinction – and the importance of protecting species like the jaguar.
Support this project with Disney’s Friends for Change: Project Green.
