Eco Island features new sign and gardens

Story and Photo by Alice Gerard

Senior Contributing Writer

A sign hand-painted by Tom Proctor, an Island sign maker, is now a prominent sight at the entrance to Eco Island Nature Center, a 49-acre nature education facility at 3265 Staley Road owned by the Grand Island Central School District.

At Monday’s Board of Education meeting, held at the Eco Island Nature Center, Cyndi Booker, coordinator of the center, said, “For the past couple of years, I’ve been working with an Island resident who was a student in the school system. His children went to Grand Island, and one of his children was a student in my classroom. I found out that he is a professional sign maker. He donated his time and talent to make this beautiful Eco Island sign. It’s such a nice, welcoming area. We’re hoping that it also can provide for photo opportunities for the kids.”

Other changes at Eco Island include the completion of several gardens, full of native plant species that attract pollinators.

“I renovated the pollinator garden. It was the butterfly garden,” Booker said. “I started planting swamp milkweeds about two years ago. This year, we had monarch caterpillars on them and a lot of aphids, too.”

Booker said she is excited about the “opportunities for the kids to learn about the plants and the animals and how they interact with their environment.

“There is more of an opportunity for kids, even in the late spring, early summer, to see certain things they might not ordinarily see,” Booker said. “I really want to create a very biodiverse environment, where we have native plants.”

Another opportunity to see the gardens at Eco Island was during the Grand Island Garden Walk, held July 13.

“I had so much fun with that. It was quite the adventure,” Booker said.

Booker also talked about “really giving the children at Eco Island more of an outdoor experience. I think that this building is absolutely stunning and amazing. There are so many opportunities for the kids, but I also know that I need to get them outside more. By creating a biodiverse environment, it also means having some safe trails for the kids to walk on. I don’t want them to be brushing up against the bushes, not only because there are thorns, but also because there’s more of a likelihood that they can catch some ticks along the way.

“We’re never going to be fully away from or free from having ticks. I think it’s important to teach children about how to handle things, about certain precautions to reduce the occurrence, and also to teach the kids what to look for and how to handle themselves. I think that will help them, not only in the classroom, but when they go home, when they go outside.”

Boxes that house mason and leafcutter bees are another new addition to Eco Island. Booker said she obtained those boxes from a Washington State organization called “Rent Mason Bees.”

“You rent a mason bee block or a leaf cutter bee block,” Booker said. “They can be put up in your garden or your farm. There are cocoons. There are little egg cases from which mason bees will emerge. It’s very different from honeybees, so I do a lesson, especially with third grade, about the difference between mason bees and honeybees and how they’re solitary bees. They’re native to the United States. They won’t sting you unless they’re provoked. So, they’re very different. In fact, different from the little guys who were bugging Mr. (Phil) Marino (the school district’s director of facilities) today. Those were actually wasps. Even though they’re yellow and black, they’re wasps. Wasps have yellow legs. Bees tend to have black legs.”