North Carolina Native Plant Society’s
B. W. Wells Stewardship Fund Grant Application, 2022
The Unitarian Universalists of Transylvania County (UUTC) is a 501(c)(3) non profit religious organization associated with the Unitarian Universalist Association. Our Mission is to support individual spiritual journeys and to promote social, economic and environmental justice. UUTC was chartered on June 6, 1999.
In Unitarian Universalism, affiliated congregations uphold 7 Principles. The Seventh of these reads: Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. As habitat loss and climate change are decimating populations of other creatures around the world, we have been taking material steps to reduce our impact as a congregation and to foster safe environments to preserve biodiversity.
One of these steps was to purchase a building we could “recycle.” Another was to pay for carbon offsets for our power usage. Yet another was updating our indoor lighting to LED fixtures, and our outdoor fixtures to be LED, Dark Sky compliant and 4000K or less–on a timer to go out after 10pm. Then our Facilities Team, a Ministry Team, adopted this as their Function Statement: The Facilities Team provides a welcoming building and grounds environment where church members and visitors may experience beauty, serenity, and worship or quiet contemplation in surroundings created with respect for the integrity of our earth and its local ecosystems. Following this, our Property Committee recommended, and our Board approved, the following policy: When considering the stewardship of the UUTC property, those delegated the authority and responsibility by the Board to make decisions about the management and maintenance of buildings and grounds shall, whenever possible, minimize negative impacts on the environment through the use of natural and native materials, plants and products.
In 2019, staff from Conserving Carolina helped the Facilities Team use live stakes of sambucus nigra and cornus amomum to stabilize the banks of a small creek at the back of our property while we began removing the invasives in that same area: privet, oriental bittersweet, Japanese knotweed, liriope, burning bush (and more). UUTC receives storm water from roughly 25 acres of downtown Brevard, NC, so “new gifts” roll in with every rain event. While Covid disrupted most of our activities for a good year, within the second year a new group formed under the name “Grow Getters,” whose sole purpose was to manage the grounds to eventually achieve NC Native Plant Society Certified Habitat Status.
Three fund-raising projects have taken place so far to raise funds for the work: a native plant sale (raised $200 in May) and a Pie Auction (March 14th), which raised $1066. An additional Pie Auction will be held in 2023. We used a portion of these funds for our “Healing the Hellstrip” campaign, which coincided with the native plant sale and a Faithify Campaign (crowdfunding for UUs) that raised $1379.46. The targets of that late spring activity were on the western side of our property, which is on one of the main roads through town. We have plenty of foot traffic past our grounds, and this is an area in which we had liriope in droves, and a whole hedge of mahonia. Grow Getters members replaced the mahonia with penstemon digitalis plugs for later use around the property, removed all liriope on the western boundary, replacing it with assorted native Western North Carolina plants that have reputations for being tough. Soil was amended, plants were mulched, small signs were installed (handmade by our Facilities Team). Which brings us to UUTC’s goal.
UUTC will leverage its campus visibility to create local homeowner support for conserving WNC biodiversity through demonstration gardens, educational programming and partnerships with other conservation initiatives.
UUTC’s campus is walking distance from Brevard High School. It is 4 blocks from the center of town, and its parking lot provides space for the hundreds of kids every year that participate in trick or treating on Maple Street here in Transylvania County. Our campus is directly across from South Broad Park, a county park that encourages thoughtful strolls or a quiet “sit” in the heart of town, but is woefully full of non-indigenous species. We are in an excellent position to encourage strolls through and around the campus, especially if we make it attractive.
Our proposed project is to complete the next leg of the perimeter around our entrance with an attractive bog surrounded by additional native species and to add professional signage for all portions of the “hellstrip” and the new work. By doing so, we will be replacing hundreds of square feet of invasive liriope with cultivations of all the bog plants included in our illustration, and other natives that will flourish in this mostly sunny spot on our campus. While we have done some removal of non-native species, we will need to remove two trees and 5 nandina as part of the sitework, in addition to excavation to create the lined bog depression. You will see this itemized in the budget as “tree and shrub removal.” A video illustrating the work of the project will be produced and shared with our partner churches in the Transylvania Creation Care Fellowship, and on our YouTube channel and our other social media platforms. We will also submit an article to our local newspaper to encourage others to make the transition from invasive to native plants.
Attached to this application you will find our team’s drawing of the proposed bog, along with the budget.
We believe that this project aligns perfectly with the North Carolina Native Plant Society’s mission to promote the enjoyment and conservation of North Carolina’s native plants and their habitats through education, protection, cultivation and advocacy.
Finally, we believe that "knowing" leads to enjoyment and appreciation. By making information about the plants in our landscape easily accessible to all, we hope to encourage others to take more interest in our native species and, especially, to desire to add these plants to their own property.
