During the 2025/2026 school year, our community is coming together to create a new garden in the space formerly occupied by Bech Hall, used for teaching chemistry to generations of SRJC students. The Campus Biodiversity Initiative received funding from the SRJC Randolph Newman Cultural Enrichment Endowment to bring together students, staff, faculty and community members to create a learning space focusing on California native and culturally-significant plants. Our goal is to create a space resembling ecosystems similar to those that occur in our local area.
The Plant list
Plants are being grown by SRJC Horticulture students. You can see our complete plant list here.
How are we getting this done?
This garden demonstrates the power of partnerships. Many campus groups have come together to enable the creation of this space.
- Campus Biodiversity Coordinators - grant writing, overall logistics and planning
- Facilities - installation of irrigation and fencing
- Horticulture Faculty & Students - propagation of thousands of native plants
- Avanzando Initiative - funding of interns to assist with stewardship and propagation
- Student Clubs (Biology Club, Outdoor Club, Inter-Tribal Student Union), Faculty Groups (Native American Faculty & Staff Association) and Instructors- sharing workdays to encourage people to join in the stewardship work during our monthly workdays
