Church flips campus space into wild life 'haven'

I want to take you now to Marietta, where a church is turning part of its property into a haven for local wildlife. And let's bring in Maria Guzman now with all the details. Maria, I think this is such a great initiative. Hey yes, and it's part of a five-year project. So we are in year one, and I'm going to talk about the three main focuses here. We're talking about restoration, preservation, but also education is a really big part of this project because they want to be able to educate the public on the environment and also how to grow their own food. And I'm going to go ahead and put my camera to show you guys about the 8.5 acres of land that I'm in, and also introduce you to at least at least you are with keep up beautiful. We are in a county. Talk to me about the critical role of restoring land like this. Well, what we want to provide is an opportunity for people to be able to engage with nature, with the natural environment, whether that's walking through the forest or you know getting close to the different animals that live here. A lot of people don't realize this, but urban environments do have wildlife, especially things like pollinators that you might see flying around. So if we can provide food resources for pollinators as well as for people, while we're giving that opportunity for recreation, those are all really great reasons to have something like this. Also, and know you focus a lot on native pollinators, and a big part of this project is to plant native plants. So talk to me about what's the whole and just making sure bees are staying here. Yeah, so bees just like other animals need food, water, shelter, and space to live and thrive. So in addition to providing flowers that will bloom at different times of the year, so that we're representing that full growing season, we also want to provide nesting opportunities. So that things like leaf stems, that the end of the growing season for them to nest in, they also nest in leaf litter, they nest in bare soil, and they also nest in different cavities and things like that. So providing a clean environment for it has to say that's key too, because we don't want to be poisoning these wonderful environments. Is how we can help our native pollinators. And I know that there's several organizations that are being part of this five-year project. What is some of the keep up beautiful is playing here? So we are all about connecting people. So we have a lot of volunteers that work with us. We're very blessed to have them. We could not do what we do without them. We also are able to provide planting material and staff support for projects like this. And we're also very excited about the education component because that's a huge part of what we do is provide different types of environmental education. So we will definitely be sticking around for that part too. Also, and then just last question, what's your whole? I know we have a long ways to go five years, but one this is all done. What's your whole for? County? Well, I would just um you know we have a wonderful county. We have a lot of really beautiful resources here. I would just love to see community members have as many opportunities as they can to see those resources and engage with them, and hopefully take something back home with them and see how they can bring sustainability and um you know the natural world into their own lives. Also, thank you so much, Lee. And this is all happening right here at Unity Northland Church. This is their land, and they're using this land to again restore, preserve, and use it as a place for education when talking about the environment and also just how to plant your own food here. Maria, let me ask you a question here. Is the plan if this goes so well? I know it's a five-year project. If this thing goes super well, is there a chance this thing gets extended and they try to incorporate more areas? Yes, I think that is one possibility. Now, this part of is part of the church, so it's just going to depend on partners that they can work with. Now, here the church partner up with Keep Calm Beautiful and other agencies, so it all goes back to seeing if there is opportunities like that available for partnerships. Well, I'm Maria Guzman. I appreciate you showing us around and telling us about this program, and we'll be checking in with you throughout the afternoon as we learn more details about this initiative. Maria Guzman in Marietta, thanks so much.