PRISM: The Origin Story—WHP and Joe’s Movement Emporium:

To increase the rate at which local space is converted to pollinator and wildlife habitat, the WHP management team, Suzanna Banwell, Barry Stahl and Kathy Shollenberger, decided to expand the Home Visit Program (link) to also include creation of community-based wildlife/pollinator gardens. In 2022, as a pilot program, WHP partnered with Joe’s Movement Emporium to revitalize their beds in Mount Rainier by removing invasive and non-native plants and installing all native plants in their place. Determined to make the beds attractive to pollinators and humans alike, WHP, in partnership with local artists, created beautiful, pioneering plant labels that highlight a powerful benefit each native plant species offers wildlife and three large, bi-lingual interpretive signs that include tips on how to garden for wildlife and insights into the science behind wildlife gardening.

The result is a vibrant native garden in the center of busy Mount Rainier, MD that embraces native plants and wildlife and also invites in the entire community. Further, the garden curtails rainwater runoff, serves as an outdoor classroom and as a host site for ongoing native gardening trainings.

From the outset, Suzanna was determined to turn the Joe’s experience into a replicable model for the development of future community wildlife gardens. The resulting model is PRISM. PRISM has already supported more than a dozen community wildlife gardens across Prince George’s County and beyond.