Student with knack for plants recognized

She’s a senior with a green thumb. For two years, Micinze Christopherson has volunteered in the native plant greenhouse at Columbia Falls High School, tending to the more than 9,000 plants the nursery grows every year. She also volunteered for 12 weeks of plant restoration in Glacier National Park, working side-by-side with Park staff.

“I like the aspect of helping something grow,” Christopherson said of the work. “I also got a chance to see more of Glacier than I had before.”

Last week, the Glacier Park Volunteer Associates presented Christopherson a $450 check for the work she’s done.

“The stipend doesn’t come close to the number of hours she’s put in,” Associates treasurer Cheryl Wright said .

The greenhouse is run cooperatively with high school and Park staff. The plants are reared in the greenhouse and then planted in the Park as part of restoration projects. The Park also has a greenhouse. All told, the facilities raise 36,000 plants a year — everything from bushes to grasses to flowers.

Later this month, a $22,000 grant from the Glacier National Park Conservancy will go toward replacing the greenhouse at the school. The wood-framed greenhouse was built in 1993 and is beginning to show its age.

Christopherson said she enjoys science and plans to follow that track when she attends the University of Montana this fall. Sophomore Breanna Friar will take over Christopherson’s duties at the greenhouse.