GULF SHORES, Ala. — Students at Gulf Shores High School got a first-hand lesson in caring for their coastal community on Thursday.

Teens from Jill Santa Rossa’s botany class, and a few extra volunteers, spent the day planting trees at Robinson Island in an effort to replenish the damaged ecosystem. The group planted 3,000 slash pine and 50 live oak seedlings.

Along with the Orange Beach Coastal Resource Department, the students got a glimpse of the need for conservation and proactive revitalization.

“Out on the island, hurricanes Ivan and Katrina just ravaged the island," Coastal Resources planner Nicole Woerner said.

She said 95 percent of the trees still standing are dead and will fall. But with a scan across the tree tops, it’s obvious the trees are in high demand. A handful of birds fill the tops of a live tree. Some sit perched amidst the shell of a once living tree, now dead and at risk of being swept away in the next storm.

“We’re here trying to plant and, therefore, build and grow more habitats for all the blue herons,” Woerner said.

Santa Rossa, who also teaches marine science at the high school, said it’s important for the students who are residents of a coastal city know about preservation.

“I want to teach them about habitat restoration and I want to instill in them a sense of environmental stewardship,” Santa Rossa said. “They live here, and I think if they are instrumental in that, certainly when they get out in to the world they are going to carry that with them.”

She said she always tries to bring environmental activism into the classroom. That activism is gravely needed at Robinson Island according to Coastal Resources manager Phillip West.

“This can be protected if we can get it restored,” West said.

Chronic erosion and damage from hurricane-force winds has demanded attention.

“Hurricane Ivan was a fairly dry storm and there’s a lot of wind burn that stripped the trees of moisture,” West said. “Then we have the (hurricanes) Arlene, Cindy, Dennis, Katrina show of 2005 and then we went into drought mode. So (the trees) never really had a chance to recover.”

West said the third phase in the work on the island is for the students to cultivate a breed of tree that can thrive in the sandy environment.

The city is working with the students for future projects. The botany class will be identifying plants along the Hugh S. Branyon Backcountry Trail for signage. They are also planning to build a greenhouse at the high school, and West said they are currently seeking monetary or material donations.