Before construction begins on Leander ISD’s new Early Childhood Center (ECC), the district is partnering with the Native Plant Rescue Project (NPRP) to save plants at the site and give them a second chance to thrive.
The site of the future ECC, at San Gabriel Parkway and Halsey Drive, may look like an empty field but, on April 17, NPRP volunteers rescued 275 plants of 38 different native species – including the Arkansas Yucca.
This is not the first time the NPRP has worked with Leander ISD. In 2024, volunteers rescued about 650 plants at the site of the Denise Geiger Compass Center and Linda Lippe Instructional Materials Center. Some of those plants are now part of the community garden at the Cedar Park Rec Center, while rarer species were sent to conservation centers such as the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center or the San Antonio Botanical Gardens.
There are lots of important reasons to save native plants, according to the NPRP.
“These are native plants, and so they are good for our local pollinators. They also require less water than a lot of the plants that you could plant from, say, a local garden center,” said Ashley Landry, founder of the NPRP. “They have special genetics that are adapted right to the land in our area.”
The group is hoping to save some plants from the site to give back to the ECC once construction is complete.
The ECC groundbreaking ceremony will be May 1 at 10 a.m. The school is scheduled to open in Fall 2026.
To learn more about Leander ISD bond projects and track their progress, visit the Bond & Construction Projects webpage.
