Butterfield students participate in Tule River Parkway project
Students and staff from Butterfield Charter School spent part of Saturday morning at the Tule River Parkway performing community service.
The students and staff planted and watered buckwheat plants on the side of a hill at the entrance to the parkway, laid bark and weeded and cut limbs from nearby trees to create a fence for the milkweed restoration garden.
According to Cathy Capone, president of the Tule River Parkway Association, milkweed is the only plant Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on because it’s the only plant the caterpillars can eat.
“If you don’t have milkweed, you can’t have caterpillars and if you can’t have caterpillars, you can’t have butterflies,” Capone said. “And Monarch butterflies lay multiple generations of eggs a year. The restoration area is one of the very few areas of milkweed in the river corridor below the dam.”
Khaled Al Mualiki, 18, a senior at Butterfield, said he enjoys getting outside and helping because it makes him feel good.
Klaire Pettitt, 17, a junior at Butterfield, also said she enjoys being outside and serving.
“It is good to serve within the community,” Pettitt said.
According to Dr. Perla Soria, assistant director of Butterfield Charter School, events like this tie back to the school’s Expected Graduate Outcomes and this project fulfills four out of the eight EGOS.
Soria also referenced the mission statement of Porterville Unified School District.
“The mission of PUSD is to provide students a dynamic, engaging and effective educational experience that prepares them with the skills to be productive citizens in a global society,” Soria said.
Butterfield Charter School Director Dawn Crater said she appreciates that Butterfield students have the chance to participate in this event.
“Being outdoors, putting in some physical work, being amongst friends, and giving back to our community is the best medicine after this past year,” Crater said.
The Tule River Parkway runs from Main Street west to Highway 65 along the southern bank of the Tule River.
“The next phase will be Main Street east to Plano,” Donnie Moore, Parks and Leisure Services Director for the City of Porterville said. “The following phase will head west from Highway 65 to eventually out to Westwood.
“The Tule River Parkway is important to the community as it serves as a viable alternative transportation resource. It provides connectivity to many of the main arterials in the city. Not only will people using the trail reduce air pollution, but they also will improve their mental and physical health.”
According to Capone, 19 gardens have been adopted and 17 have been started.
“The project as a whole is a restoration and native plant demonstration garden project,” Capone said. “Tule River Parkway Association is the local environmental nonprofit. TRPA is the lead on the project management. The City of Porterville is the landowner and the Parkway is a city park.”
According to Capone, the project is funded with a 50 percent matching reimbursement Wildlife Partners Grant through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and was written by TRPA. The City applied for the grant and it was awarded in June 2018.
“TRPA is dedicated to the restoration, preservation and development for public use of the Tule River riparian corridor,” Capone said. “The project has welcomed community groups and individuals to partner with us in adopting a grade
or helping in a number of ways. TRPA hopes to demonstrate to the public that native plant gardens are beautiful, use up to 80 percent less water than traditional landscapes, and supports pollinators including birds and butterflies.”
There are a variety of the types of service community members can participate in if they decide to help along the Tule River Parkway. They include planting plants, general maintenance of the parkway, adding irrigation, the cover-up of graffiti, garden design (with support), sheet mulching, weeding, pruning, installing hardscape features, rocks, cement
chunks (urbanite) and educating the public who use the path.
“The dream of TRPA is to have a public access path in the river corridor which stretches from Lake Success to the Friant Kern Canal or farther,” Capone said. “I envision a riparian habitat returned to its full function as a biological system which supports native wildlife while providing humans with a personal hands-on connection to nature and a safe, beautiful pedestrian and bike path.
There are a variety of additional community service projects that can be completed at the Tule River Parkway. They include a GPS documentation
of native plants and invasive non-natives within the project area, fencing construction, signage, benches, clearing the garden areas, moving rocks, building and installation of birdhouses, planting new trees along the path to replace those that have been lost, restoration plantings in open areas and protection of an important and sensitive butterfly habitat.
For more information on how you can help with the Tule River Parkway Native Plant Gardens, please call, or text Cathy Capone at 559-361-9164, or you can email her at tulerivergarden@gmail. com