Shaler Area students rally to protect Girty's Run farmland

A project to protect green space and fill it with clusters of endangered butterflies has taken flight at Shaler Area High School.

Students in the district’s Sustainability class have partnered with the Sewickley-based nonprofit Allegheny Land Trust on a fundraiser to preserve former farmland in Reserve and Shaler.

The parcel of land spans 62 acres in the Girty’s Run Watershed. It is upstream from Millvale, not far from Downtown Pittsburgh.

The property is for sale for $650,500, and the land trust is seeking to raise enough money to purchase it by the end of the year.

The goal is to thwart development and maintain it as an eco-friendly and healthy, green space.

“My favorite part of this project is the feeling that I am actually making a difference and making the world a better place,” student Riley Petrovich said.

Students are assisting with a fundraiser through which donors who give at least $15 will receive a special mix of flower seeds.

The packets have 25 species of native plants, including several types of milkweeds, which are attractive to pollinators such as Monarch butterflies — categorized as endangered because of habitat loss and climate change.

Seeds can be sent to donors’ homes or spread in their name by the students.

Students have raised $835 of their $5,000 goal.

“I am so excited for this land to be saved, and I hope that all the animals are excited, too,” student Emma Kelley said.

To be involved in the project is to help save endangered animals, rid the planet of waste and help the Earth go green, student Alexa Dankis said.

Fellow student Charlie Rudolph added that the plan is special because the land will remain wild and uncontaminated.

“It’s great because it means that the plants and wildlife can live and develop free of most human contact,” Rudolph said.

This is the second recent project by Shaler students with the Allegheny Land Trust, both coordinated by teacher Abbey Nilson.

Her class worked in 2020 to raise money to help purchase Girty’s Woods, a 155-acre parcel in Reserve, Millvale and Shaler that became permanent green space after it was secured by the land trust.

“I’m so excited to have my students involved in this,” Nilson said. “Students learn important career skills when they have a chance to solve real-world problems in their own community.”

According to the land trust, preserving the former farmland would safeguard the natural beauty of the hilltop and would help absorb about 51 million gallons of rain to mitigate flooding in Girty’s Run.

It would expand habitats to help increase native wildlife and plants and provide a potential future connection with nearby Girty’s Woods.

“Without green spaces, everyone is affected,” student Kylie Clark said. “They aren’t just for plants and animals. Communities can lose their homes without these lands to protect them from flooding.”

Student Aleice Milcic agreed, saying, “It’s our Earth, and there isn’t a second one that we can go to.”

If all of its grants are successful, the land trust needs $50,000 from local donations to close its funding grant.

“I think many do not even realize what is happening to our planet right now,” student Ella Nash said. “This is why I believe this project will bring people into reality and show them the harm we are causing to our environment. We can show them the effects humans are having and what they can do to prevent it. This project shows our community that, together, we are able to make small steps toward protecting our planet.”