Through a partnership with the Audubon Center at Riverlands, Bellefontaine Cemetery has been working to provide and improve upon wildlife habitat within our 314-acre campus. Part of our work with the center involves a group of gifted students from Crossroads College Preparatory School in St. Louis. Each year, Crossroads students from grades 9-12 team up to volunteer their time for community improvement projects; each outing is referred to as a “Good Works Day.” Since last fall, these students have helped build a number of nesting boxes for various bird species, planted trees, installed native plantings, and helped the staff at Bellefontaine maintain many of our new planting beds. Most recently, the students helped to plant nearly 100 trees, extending the Cemetery’s only wild forested area.
This new planting will double the size of the existing forest, with the ultimate goal of having a completely natural forest that will advance the wildlife habitat at Bellefontaine. The trees were all Missouri natives, provided by Forest ReLeaf, and include a variety of oaks, cucumber magnolia, pawpaw, wild plum, and many others.
We look forward to a continued partnership with the Audubon Center at Riverlands and the “Good Works” program at Crossroads College Preparatory School!c
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