Virginia teen dug pond for school project; 9 years later, wildlife thrives

The transformation demonstrates how even relatively small habitat projects can make a difference when they provide food, water, shelter and appropriate native vegetation What began as a school assignment with a shovel and a patch of ordinary lawn has, nine years later, become a miniature wildlife sanctuary in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. In 2017, 14-year-old Maggie decided to build a backyard pond as part of her high school agriculture class project. Today, Maggie’s Pond is filled with aquatic life, surrounded by native plants and regularly visited by frogs, toads and other wildlife, a powerful testament to how a small change to a backyard can transform an entire ecosystem. According to the National Wildlife Federation, before the pond was built, the rural backyard was mostly a field of patchy grass, with crickets providing much of the natural soundtrack. In the fall of 2017, before she dug out the feature, Maggie researched pond designs. The pond was filled with water by spring 2018. Soon the rest of the family joined the project, landscaping the edges with soil, rocks and plants. It didn't take long for wildlife to find the new habitat. And soon after the pond was filled, Americ...