On May 5th, 2007, Ambassadors Alberto, Gabriela, Alejandro, Taher, Jose and Neng from Merced High School completed a Spring Season of stewardship with the Merced WildLife
Refuge. These ambassadors will continue to help teacher Laurie McLaughlin led students through this ongoing and inspiring project.

Merced High School Biology and Chemistry English Learners students are restoring a portion of the Merced Wildlife Refuge to native habitat. The first portion of the project, which occurred in 2006-2007, involved cleaning out non-native species and human impact from area around
the entrance Kiosk and observation deck, then replanting this area with native plants including wild roses, mugwort, yarrow, California poppies, coyote bush and quail bush. The second portion of the project involved clearing the entrance to the Kestral trail head and again replanting with native species, this time adding blackberry and native grasses to our list of species planted. Students went to the refuge on the weekends in school supplied transportation and spent an entire day working. Subsequent trips also included watering the new plants which often had to happen with a bucket brigade as no running water is available at the site. Grant money to purchase tools, gloves, journal materials, documentary supplies and the plants was supplied through the US Department of Forest Services. Community partners in the Merced Watershed Conservation district and many others have supported our project with their time and expertise.