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Downingtown Schools Receives $4,945 Environmental Education Grant For Butterfly Exhibit

Release Date: 7/29/1999
Contact Information: Roy Seneca (215) 814-5567

DOWNINGTOWN, Pa. -- The Downingtown Area School District Ecology Club has received a $4,945 environmental education grant for an interactive butterfly exhibit at the Springton Manor Farm in Glenmore.

The exhibit, which will be located on property owned by Chester County Department of Parks and Recreation, will include a butterfly house and garden where students and park visitors can learn about butterflies and how to create their own backyard butterfly garden. The grant money will be used to develop printed materials and displays, and to buy plants and live butterfly specimens.

Members of high school ecology club will serve as exhibit guides and present information on the life cycles of different species of butterflies indigenous to the region. Students will assist visitors as they explore the butterfly house, aiding them in locating and identifying eggs, larvae and adults from each butterfly species.

"Students participating in this project and visitors to the butterfly exhibit will begin to develop an understanding of the importance of biodiversity and the role of pollinators in the ecosystem," said W. Michael McCabe, regional administrator for the mid-Atlantic region.

EPA’s education grant program is designed to stimulate grass-roots environmental education. In the mid-Atlantic region, 25 grant recipients include schools, civic groups and non-profit organizations. Nationally, $3 million was awarded in 1999.

For more information on this grant contact Nan Ides at (215) 814-5546. EPA’s regional Internet home page also has general information on the grants: https://www.epa.gov/region03.