Established in 1975 as the Bush Mountain Outdoor Activity Center (OAC), the mission of the OAC is to involve children and adults in environmental issues through education about conservation, ecology and the natural environment. This 26-acre urban nature preserve includes about 3.5 miles of trails, as well as a team-building ropes course and a children’s nature themed playground.
The site of the proposed butterfly garden is an existing space, where a garden had been many years ago. Over the past fifteen years, the original garden had fallen into a state of neglect. The small 18 foot by 35 foot space was full of invasive plants, shrubs, and common weeds. Over the past eighteen months, volunteers from both the OAC and EcoAddendum, have finally cleared the garden site of invasives. This spring additional volunteers installed about 20 cubic yards of free compost from the Atlanta Botanical Garden to the butterfly garden site. The garden site directly in front of the OAC is now a beautiful butterfly garden, with diverse native plant species that will provide habitat, food and nectar.
Planting species native to the Georgia piedmont region recreates the foundation of the local food web and ecosystem that have been lost over the past two hundred years due to poor land management practices. Reintroducing these environmental building blocks create a sustaining base that supports missing insects, butterflies, pollinators, birds and other animals. This, in turn, creates an outdoor classroom for experiential education.
The Outdoor Activity Center and EcoAddendum have developed an environmental experiential after school program for the youth of Southwest Atlanta that debuted March 2009. The activities of our Junior Naturalist program include orienteering, hiking, journaling and environmentally based art projects that develop a sense of environmental stewardship.
