Grant Recipients
Spring 2007
$250 to $1,000 Category
State City
Organization
AR
Bentonville
Benton County Solid
Waste District
CA
Irvine
Back to Natives
Restoration
CA
Newport
Beach
Environmental
Nature Center
CO
Boulder
Horizons K-8 School
Cape Coral
Challenger Middle
School
FL
FL
Pensacola
Bay Area Resource
Council
Project Title and Description
School Garden as an Outdoor Classroom: At two different
schools, gardens will be planted to provide students an outdoor
context for exploring science, social studies, math, art, and language
arts. Students will learn about conserving natural resources, for
example, by using rain barrels, track the stages of butterfly growth,
and make use of nature's recycling (compost). Students will keep
journals to record the progress of the gardens and their
accomplishments in their outdoor school.
San Juan Elementary Habitat Garden: Back to Natives Restoration,
a non-profit organization in Orange County, California, is working with
a group of 25 students at San Juan Elementary in San Juan
Capistrano to create an “Adaptation Garden.” Students will plant
California native plants adapted to the climate and soil at their school.
Each species planted will have unique adaptations that the children
will learn about during their planting experience. Students will
discover the value of native plants and wildlife habitat.
Fire Ecology Restoration Service Learning Project: The students
of Fairmont Preparatory Academy will work with naturalists from the
Environmental Nature Center, a restoration ecologist from The Nature
Conservancy, and the rangers at Santiago Oaks Regional Park to
remove invading non-native species and plant native plants in an area
burned in Spring 2007. The students will learn about the importance
of biodiversity, habitat restoration, and fire ecology as they perform
community service to improve the park for both wildlife and humans.
Green Star Students: Green Star Students at Horizons K-8 School
will install new equipment to enhance the school’s current recycling
and composting program. Middle school students will teach the
elementary children how to better recycle, compost, and reduce
waste.
Junior Creek Explorers Make a Difference: One hundred and fifty
elementary students will take part in an effort to restore Powell Creek
Preserve, a conservation land parcel located two miles from the
school. Students will learn about native and non-native plants, remove
invasive plants, plant seedlings donated by the forestry department,
map gopher tortoise burrows, and remove debris. In a separate
project, students will supply a local food bank with homegrown
vegetables produced directly from the school’s gardens.
Native Ecosystems in the Schoolyard: The project includes the
planting of native vegetation and the establishment of a butterfly
garden and bird sanctuary as an educational learning environment for
students at Hobbs Middle School in Santa Rosa County, Florida.
Through GreenWorks!, Project Learning Tree (PLT) provides grants ranging from $250 to $5,000 for environmental projects that combine community action
with service-learning. The above schools were awarded funding in the $250 to $1,000 category for the Spring 2007 grant cycle. Projects must be completed
®
within 12 months. Project Learning Tree (www.plt.org) is the national environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation.
State City
Organization
IA
Boone
Camp Fire USA Heart of the Hawkeye
Council, Camp
Hantesa
KY
Lexington
Christ the King
School
Amherst
The Hitchcock Center
for the Environment
MI
Lake City
Missaukee
Conservation District
MN
East Grand
Forks
East Grand Forks
Senior High School
NH
Hillsboro
Hillsboro-Deering
Middle School
PA
Philadelphia
EducationWorks
PA
Philadelphia
Green Woods
Charter School
SC
Greenville
Greenbrier
Elementary School
UT
Midway
Soldier Hollow
Charter School
VA
Waynesboro
Berkeley Glenn
Elementary
MA
Project Title and Description
Hantesa Community Garden: Students and campers will enhance
different aspects of the camp community garden. They will learn the
importance of soil and watershed protection, the stages of plant
growth, the processes of decomposition, and the benefits of healthy
food choices.
Outdoor Learning Classroom: An innovative outdoor classroom will
consist of six modules: Organics, Wildlife Observation, Geology,
Energy, Weather, and Organics Expansion. It will be used across the
school’s curriculum, providing hands-on activities for 500 students to
teach them about the importance of environmental stewardship.
Larch Hill Butterfly Garden Trail: Ten to twelve-year-old students at
The Common School will produce and post educational sign markers
on the Larch Hill Butterfly Garden and Trail at the Hitchcock Center
for the Environment. The self-guided trail highlights 12 different
habitats in which butterflies live, and the educational markers will
allow students to showcase the diverse butterfly habitat to all who
utilize the trail.
The N.E.W. Missaukee Fitness Trail: Thirty high schoolers will
expand the native plantings at a local and widely-used Fitness Trail.
The students will also enhance the versatility of the trail by adding an
outdoor classroom to the site. The students will erect benches and a
sun cover so they may enjoy classroom lessons in an outdoor setting.
Sherlock Habitat Restoration: High school students will revegetate
riparian zones along the Red River. These native plant areas will
provide food and shelter for the birds that migrate along the river.
High schoolers will plant and maintain these wildlife thickets and
survey the animals that use them.
Environmental School Kickoff: Students will collect seeds and
cuttings from local native plants to develop a natural area that can be
utilized as an outdoor classroom setting for the middle and
elementary schools.
Building Healthy Communities: Inner city Philadelphia after-school
students will research, plan, design, grow, and sustain their own
community garden. Some produce will be given to a food bank; some
will become a healthy alternative to their normal snacks. Students will
learn important life skills and make a contribution to their community.
Native Songbirds Habitat Restoration: A class of third grade
students will survey bird habitat on a 350-acre plot that surrounds
their school and then design and plant a habitat for native songbirds
in hopes to increase their number and diversity.
Gardening at Greenbrier: Students will help plan the layout, plant,
and maintain a butterfly garden to be used by the entire school and
local community. Students will plant bulbs and seeds and learn about
gardening. They will make stepping stones and gourd bird and
butterfly houses in their art classes.
Habitat Restoration: Led by fifth graders, students will use the
principles of permaculture to restore a hillside habitat near the
schoolyard that lies within Wasatch Mountain State Park. They will
rear native plants, learn about the lifecycle of monarch butterflies, and
educate the public about preserving and restoring native species.
EcoWalk: A half-mile trail that winds through seven acres on the
school’s property will be enhanced with a pond, signage to describe
areas of interest, and outdoor classroom furniture. It will be used as
Through GreenWorks!, Project Learning Tree (PLT) provides grants ranging from $250 to $5,000 for environmental projects that combine community action
with service-learning. The above schools were awarded funding in the $250 to $1,000 category for the Spring 2007 grant cycle. Projects must be completed
®
within 12 months. Project Learning Tree (www.plt.org) is the national environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation.
State City
Organization
VA
Buckingham
Buckingham 4-H
VA
Vienna
Wolftrap Elementary
PTA
Project Title and Description
an outdoor learning area where students will design their own
investigations, conduct experiments, watch wildlife, and study fungi
and amphibians.
ALIVE by the James Stream Bank Stabilization Project: Youth will
stabilize 675 feet of streambank along the James River. Using
coconut fiber logs and erosion control fiber matting, and planting
native grasses, legumes and forbes, they will contain three main
areas of gully erosion as well as other eroded sections along the
streambank.
Bird-by-Bird Gardens: A series of species-specific plantings along
the school's woodland path will create different garden areas to
appeal to different bird species and will complement the 100 native
saplings recently planted by local Cub and Girl Scouts. Students will
plan, research, and install various native plant species including
shrubs for shelter and food sources, and ferns, flowers, and grasses
to increase the diversity of insect populations.
Through GreenWorks!, Project Learning Tree (PLT) provides grants ranging from $250 to $5,000 for environmental projects that combine community action
with service-learning. The above schools were awarded funding in the $250 to $1,000 category for the Spring 2007 grant cycle. Projects must be completed
®
within 12 months. Project Learning Tree (www.plt.org) is the national environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation.