Wetlands to the west

When people think of New Ulm High school and the word Wild they may picture halls and parking lots at the beginning and end of a typical school day, but there’s another wild world outside the building in the ecosystems surrounding it.

Some of the significant ecosystems that can be found around the high school include wetlands and some of the forests near it. These areas host a variety of animals and plants; cattails, ground squirrels, birds, and hundreds of insects and many more call these places home.

Some ecosystems play an important role in maintaining the building. “We have a few wetlands. There’s one behind that hump back there [near the football field], and there’s a few over here next to the parking lot, which is nice for those areas because we get a lot of runoff in the parking lots,” Biology Teacher Matthew Nelson said when asked about the wetlands.

Another ecological Area is near the outdoor classroom, with many plants available for birds and other animals to live in, which students planted, which has created more diversity. When asked how students interact with them, Nelson said, “Well, I hope not much. I hope they are just watching them; there was a Killdeer out there last year that had a nest that students were near or around, kinda bothering, but I think it ended okay with no one breaking any eggs.”