MARQUETTE — Third grade students at Cherry Creek Elementary spent part of their school day getting a little dirty and helping out the environment at the same time.

The Superior Watershed Partnership contacted Tracy Feliz and asked if she could bring some of her students out to the Welcome Center near Harvey to plant native species along the Lake Superior shoreline.

Students spent about an hour playing in the dirt and planting seeds of native wildflowers, which will improve the habitat for other native plants and animals that frequent the area.

“What we want more than anything is the idea of stewardship, that they learn that we have a beautiful resource and what we need to do to take care of it,” said Feliz. “There was areas that were prepared for the students and they were able to get their hands literally in the dirt, mix up, clean out the beds and do the planting.”

In addition to today’s project, the school and the Superior Watershed Partnership are working together on a gardening project at Cherry Creek as part of the student’s science curriculum.