Pollinative Prairie

The Pecan Creek Pollinative Prairie is a native North Central Texas tallgrass prairie reconstruction project located on four acres of the east field at the University of North Texas Discovery Park Campus. In May 2016, UNT Ecology staff and students initiated the project to provide a space for students, faculty, and staff on the UNT Campus to promote conservation and sustainable urban landscaping of native habitats for declining pollinator populations, such as the American Bumblebee and Monarch Butterfly. During 2016 – 2018, over 300 undergraduate students volunteered approximately 900 hours to turn a field dominated by invasive Bermuda grass with little life into a vibrant prairie with native flowers, grasses, and pollinating insects. In October of 2019, hundreds more students helped plant over 1,000 native prairie plants to help further establish the prairie into a healthy living habitat. As of 2020, over 450 different species have been documented in the prairie which was once a field of invasive Bermuda grass which offered little to no habitat value for the many species we see now. We even have a breeding pair of American Kestrel falcons that call the prairie home! Now, we are working to build the rest of the prairie and create a space to walk, rest, and discover peace with nature.

We still need your help!  If interested, please join the volunteer mailing list. For questions, contact Dr. Jaime Baxter-Slye at slye@unt.edu. 

Join the Volunteer Mailing List

Pollinative Prairie Slide Show (PDF Version)

To learn more about the amazing work going on at the Pollinative Prairie, check out the following:

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• UNT Pollinative Prairie in full bloom and celebrating increased biodiversity thanks to conservation efforts
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• Biodiversity Growth at the UNT Pollinative Prairie
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• Birds documented through iNaturalist at the Pollinative Prairie 
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• UNT Ecology Pollinative Prairie iNaturalist Stats
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  StoryMap: Explore the prairie restoration project at the University of North Texas
      
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  Society for Ecological Restoration Members in Action
      
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  Texan By Nature Certification
      
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  Team of UNT faculty, staff and students work to restore our prairies
      
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  Creating the Pecan Creek Pollinative Prairie: An Interactive Guide
      
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  UNT's Pollinative Prairie has become a reality
      
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  UNT Researchers Work to Preserve Texas Prairies
      
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  UNT students and professors break ground on the ‘Pollinative’ Prairie
      

This project was proposed in 2016, with the combined support of the undergraduate chapter of the National Ecological Society of America as well as UNT Ecology. It was originally implemented during the 2016 – 2017 fiscal year. Additional funding for this project was approved in two additional phases for the 2018 – 2019 and 2019 – 2020 fiscal years.