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EPA Announces Western Environmental Education Grants

Release Date: 9/19/2002
Contact Information: Wendy Chavez, Press Office, 415/947-4248

     SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently awarded $190,000 in grants to 17 organizations throughout California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii to support environmental education projects for schoolchildren.

     The grants, which range from $4,000 to $25,000, support efforts that include "adopt-a- watershed" programs, pesticide reduction projects and tree planting drives.

     "This funding will help teach children valuable lessons on everything from watershed protection to household recycling," said Wayne Nastri, administrator of the EPA's Pacific Southwest Office in San Francisco.  "It is vital that we continue to support efforts to educate children on what they -- and their parents -- can do to protect human health and the environment."

     Following is complete list of the grants announced today:

Arizona: 

International Sonoran Desert Alliance - $20,000 
This grant funds activities at the Arizona/Mexican border in the U.S. communities of Ajo and Gila Bend, the Tohono O'odham community of Gu Vo, and the Mexican communities of San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonoyta and Puerto Penasco.  The grant provides teacher training in a bilingual curriculum about the Sonoran desert.  It also provides for the construction of schoolyard and community habitat projects, allowing students and community members to track birds, insects and animals.  Partners for the project include Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, and the Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve.

California:
           
Foundation of California State University Monterey Bay - $24,725 
California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) and the Return of the Natives Restoration Education Program (RON) combine their two teaching methodologies of environmental education and service learning to teach local schoolchildren about environmental community service. CSUMB/RON plan to conduct teacher training for five local K-12 teachers and five CSUMB students interested in teaching.  Following training at five nationally-recognized environmental education curriculum training sites, the team of  ten can work as a group to share various curricula and incorporate ideas into a learning sequence. The team then facilitates staff development training using the learning sequence for a broad number of local K-12 teachers.  

Ecological Farming Association - $7,745 
The Ecological Farming Association conducts a Strawberry Growers' Conference and Farm Tour for Central Coast growers, teaching them about successful post-methyl bromide production methods.  Methyl bromide currently in extensive use in strawberry farming is directed to be phased out under the 1990 Clean Air Act.  Outreach is directed towards underserved Latino and small-scale farmers in the strawberry production regions around Watsonville and Salinas.  The project educates farmers about the environmental and health risks of different production methodologies and how to reduce these risks, thereby addressing local concerns posed by phase out of methyl bromide. Project partners include the nonprofit Agricultural Land Based Association of Salinas.

Los Angeles Educational Partnership - $25,000 
Los Angeles Educational Partnership and its project partners, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Baldwin Hills Conservancy, and LA Unified, join together to educate K-12 teachers in inner city South Central schools in Los Angeles on a science curriculum called "Bring Back the Butterflies".  The project introduces students to the Museum's Insect Zoo and Butterfly Pavilion, and into the Baldwin Hills Conservancy property for field research.  The project  fosters awareness of habitats in the city as dynamic ecosystems, and increases knowledge about human impact on ecosystems.  The project partners adapt existing standards-based science activities around urban parks that include classroom and field lessons and resources.

CalPIRG Charitable Trust - $25,000
CalPIRG (California Public Interest Research Group) Trust's Water Watch Program partners with Water Education Foundation to conduct teacher facilitator workshops for project participants and college student volunteers on the Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) Program.  Project WET facilitates and promotes awareness, appreciation, knowledge, and stewardship of water resources through the development and dissemination of teaching aids and programs.   Participants and college student volunteers teach the Project WET curriculum in elementary schools (K-6) throughout the southern California counties of San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara.

TreePeople - $5,000 
TreePeople's Campus Forestry Program trains teachers to use a curriculum that turns a simple tree-planting project into a three-month learning experience.   The Schoolyard Explorers curriculum is a month-long unit plan consisting of five interconnected lessons which address academic content in math, science, language, and social studies.  The Forestry Program's first objective is to help students and teachers to work with the curriculum to gain awareness of environmental issues facing Los Angeles:  air pollution, storm water runoff, water quality, energy consumption, and the role that trees play in the urban forest.  The Program's second objective is restoration of the urban forest itself.  The grant allows TreePeople to work with teachers and students in ten schools within the Los Angeles Unified School District.  The end result is a student design recommendation for each school outlining where trees should be planted and what kinds of trees they should be.

Klamath Trinity Joint Unified School District - $5,000 
Klamath Trinity school district working with the Yurok Tribe plans to establish the GLOBE curriculum (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) at Jack Norton and Weitchpec Elementary Schools. Both schools are located in a remote area with very limited public services.  Using GLOBE, students in the K-12 grades can make scientific observations concerning climate and weather near their schools, interpret the data, and report findings via the Internet.  The GLOBE curriculum is geared to improve academic achievement through environmental science activities.

Sonoma State University - $4,989
Sonoma State University and partner Waste Management, Sonoma County's largest garbage collector, coordinate a peer/team teaching approach linking seven Piner High School students with Biella Elementary School faculty to deliver waste management and recycling lessons to the lower grade classes. A workshop taught by Waste Management provides background for the high school mentors and prepares them to work with the elementary school teachers to develop a set of grade school lessons.  University staff and site administrators monitor and support the project over the eight week period of presentations.  

Land Partners Through Stewardship (LandPaths) - $4,991 
Land Partners Through Stewardship (LandPaths) and its partners, Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, California Fish and Game, City of Santa Rosa, Sonoma County Water Agency, Sierra Club, and Committee to Restore Santa Rosa Creek, propose a three-day field trip training for 22 third grade through high school educators.  The training is designed to build knowledge of creek ecosystems, develop skills for teaching in the outdoors, and integrate acquired skills and knowledge for classroom learning.   Day one features the larger picture of watersheds and their interplay with land choices.  The second day focuses on physical and chemical characteristics: channel cross-section, bank load, pH, dissolved oxygen.  The third day highlights biological features: invertebrate, fish, riparian vegetation.  LandPaths provides follow-up support throughout the school year to assist teachers to implement "In Our Own Backyard" curriculum.  Teachers come from 16 school in Sonoma County reaching approximately 475 students and 200 parent volunteers.

Contra Costa Earth Day - $5,000 
The Earth Team Restoration Initiative offers environmental community service and environmental education opportunities to high school students.  The project  identifies four sites near participating high schools where restoration work will be performed over a 9-month period.  Sites are located in Contra Costa, Alameda, and San Francisco counties.  A monthly restoration project, conducted at each site, fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility among participating students.  Appropriate science curricula and service learning concepts  add structure to monthly projects.  Specific tasks include non-native plant removal, shoreline cleanup, water and bird monitoring, and native plant propagation.  Project results and highlights are posted to an EarthTeam website.  Participating organizations include Youth for Environmental Service (YES) and eight leading San Francisco Bay Area environmental, educational and restoration programs.

Calaveras Co Water District - $4,069 
Calaveras County Water District plans to develop an Adopt-A-Watershed program based on the Streamside Community Primary Unit to involve teachers, elementary school age children, and their family members from each of the ten elementary schools located throughout Calaveras County.  The project familiarizes participants with the Calaveras River and its tributaries.  On field trips conducted along the river system, students can examine evidence of plants, trees, animals, and other natural phenomena, and note results in field journals.  Students collect tiny insects and micro invertebrates from the river, examine them to evaluate health of the river, then discuss their observations as a group, and complete follow-up essays after the field trip.

San Joaquin Adopt-a-Watershed Sea Scout Ship #209 - $5,000 
The grant provides training for twenty kindergarten through high school teachers to identify environmental issues that impact the San Joaquin River delta.  The sponsoring organization, working with the San Joaquin Office of  Education, Lodi School district, Storm water offices of San Joaquin County and City of Stockton, Boys Scouts of America, Stockton Sailing Club, and the national Adopt-a-Watershed organization, proposes to conduct a three-day training workshop to allow teachers to develop with their students a plan to implement service learning projects which address the identified issues.  Over 900 students are expected to participate in the program to effect positive changes for the local watershed, sharing results with the community at local 2003 Earth Day observances.

Yolo Basin Foundation - $5,000 
The Yolo Basin Foundation, with support from California Department of Fish and Game and Yolo County Office of Education, utilizes four full-day workshops throughout the school year to train 80-100 schoolteachers and non-formal educators on techniques to maintain, preserve, and restore wetland ecosystems.  The program introduces educators to the importance of wetlands and provides wetland-related activities, training, and staff support to encourage teachers to lead their students in outdoor learning experiences in the Yolo Wildlife Area.  The "Wild About Wetlands" classroom kit is available for replication in localities with similar environmental characteristics.

Foundation for Global Community - $5,000 
The Foundation for Global Community is engaging in a collaborative partnership with five local gardening and youth service organizations to create six sustainable school gardens in East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, Atherton, and Menlo Park.  School gardens provide laboratories for project- based interdisciplinary learning experiences.  The garden project offers real-world learning from counting leaves on a stem to extrapolating yield-per-acre based on statistical sampling.  A plan based on needs assessment guides each site in workshop staff development, curriculum selection, and technical support for teachers, students, and parent volunteers.  Monthly on-site garden visits and community forums address assessment and support, information sharing, and problem resolution.  

Hawaii:

Tropical Reforestation Ecosystems Education Center - $12,310 
The Tropical Reforestation and Ecosystems Education (TREE) Center on the island of Hawaii plans to conduct an adult education program on environmental issues affecting critical native Hawaiian habitat.  The grant funds classroom lectures, hands-on projects on how to propagate endemic Hawaiian plants, field study, and a case study project which will restore habitat with native plants.  Restoration work is designed to assist in the completion of the interpretive site at the Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park.  Project partners include Hawaii Department of Education and the U.S. National Park Service.
 
Waipa Foundation - $4,450 
The Waipa Foundation, with support from the Kilauea Lighthouse Foundation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, County of Kauai, and four local organizations focusing on persons of Hawaiian ancestry, proposes to educate the community on the needs and procedures for composting.  The project has a multiple audience focus: elementary school youth, high school and college summer interns, and local residents and farmers.  A composting curriculum, "The Earth Machines", is available for distribution to fourth and fifth grade classes.  Follow-up field trips to the compost site offer students demonstrations and hands-on activities and experiments in soil drainage and decomposition.  The summer program provides training for high school and college interns to participate in projects for making, screening, and utilizing compost for erosion control.  The project also promotes compost cooperatives for residents, farmers, and landscapers on techniques of composting and using compost resources in gardening.

Nevada:

University of Nevada Reno - $21,721
The College of Engineering at the University of Nevada Reno seeks to create an Energy Conservation and Energy Education Program for Hispanic Families.  Sixty upper-elementary level students in two designated classes are slated to participate in activities to explore energy and power and the application of those physical science concepts in real life, particularly as they relate to environmental issues and natural resources.  By evaluating energy use in their homes, energy sources and their environmental impacts, and opportunities for saving energy, students can develop and present an educational program to parent groups on saving energy.  Student mentors from University of Nevada Reno assist at the school as outside experts to provide technical assistance and foster interest among participants in engineering and physical science careers.  Additional professional expertise comes from Sierra Pacific Power Company and the Desert Research Institute's Million Solar Roofs Program.