"This is what we call a hack and whack."
Students wearing grubby Converse shoes and well-worn hiking boots gathered at the edge of the Eckerd College butterfly garden.
Green weeds with tiny white flowers sprawled over sprinkler heads, and tall bamboo-like stalks hid benches and old bird feeders. The garden, which blends into a palm tree hammock, was damaged during hurricanes Helene and Milton and never completely restored.
“This is what we call a hack and whack,” said Tyler Cribbs, pointing to the overgrowth. “If you’re not sure, please ask somebody in the blue if it’s a good, bad or ugly weed.”
Cribbs is the faculty director of the college’s Conservation Corps, which officially formed this spring with a $25,000 grant from Duke Energy Florida. Around 50 students are part of the group, which addresses environmental issues in the community and on campus.
University leadership is pushing to “rewild” the campus, Cribbs said. Among other things, they want to restore the tree canopy and convert unnecessary turf grass fields into tiny forests.
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