Habitat restoration is anything but easy. Biology professor Robert Verb has accepted the challenge and initiated the start of a beautiful project, working to restore part of Ohio Northern’s campus to a colorful prairie.
The project began around two years ago with a donation and a push to do more to benefit the ecological health of Ohio Northern University’s campus by turning some of the turf grass areas into something else.
“There had been a movement to […] take areas of turf grass that we could do better with ecologically, rather than mowing constantly and wasting fuel and peoples’ time that could maybe be put better elsewhere,” Verb said.
Work began in 2025 to prepare the area for planting. Then, in spring of 2026, both seeds and plugs (small plants with already established roots) were planted. The photos speak for themselves, showing how the project is already thriving, despite some of the struggles that the Canadian geese posed to the project.
“As soon as the seeds went in, we had a huge problem with the Canada geese […] they were just destroying everything. We ended up caging [the plants] to keep [the geese] out,” Verb recalled. “That was probably the most frustrating part.”
The prairie is a large source of food for native pollinators in the area, but it also serves as a beautiful space that students and the local community can enjoy as well. There’s a variety of native wildflowers, from native milkweed and aster to sunflowers and grasses. There are also plans to add shrub islands this fall, which are woody-species that will also serve as a food source for birds and pollinators.
“It should be a cool floral display from July through October,” Verb stated. “It’ll take about three years to reach peak color and then it’ll have to be maintained through controlled burns.”
In addition to the native grasses and wildflowers that were planted, houses were also put in for purple martins, a type of swallow native to North America.
“They usually need a water habitat, so close to the pond there. We didn’t want to do a lot of trees close to them,” Verb discussed. “The past two summers have been really productive. In 2025 we only had two [houses] empty and this year we had a full complement of successfulness.”
Verb hopes that in years to come, as the prairie project progresses, work can also be done to improve the health of the pond it sits beside. The prairie also serves as a lesson, for students collaborating with Verb on the project, in the difficulties that arise from attempting to restore habitats to a native state.
“I think it’s good for students to see that we can restore habitats. It’s a lot of work, a lot of effort. It’s good to see that those who have helped out can see the challenges, the frustrations, that come into play when you’re trying to return something to a more native state,” he remarked. “You end up with something that’s more beneficial for wildlife, and it saves us time, it should help with the pond’s health. We’re hoping to kind of work on that in the next stage.”