Environmental Education Grants 2007

Alaska | Idaho | Oregon | Washington

ALASKA
Sitka Community Schools - $17,150
601B Halibut Point Road
Sitka, Alaska 99835
Curt Ledford – (907) 966-1443
Cutthroat Creek Environmental Trail and Preserve – This project enhances environmental education opportunities in the Sitka School District by refurbishing, expanding, and documenting the environmental trail and preserve to make it more usable for the students and staff near a local elementary school. The trail has been in place for ten years, but is not handicapped accessible and has fallen into disrepair and disuse. The students, parents, and teachers are involved in the design of the expansion, the actual refurbishing, and the ultimate re-use of the trail. Documentation and an updated curriculum that are based on the trail and preserve are presented to the teachers in workshop format and then used at each grade level in the school. Teachers receive in-service credit for attending the workshop. There are 21 teachers and 370 students attending the grade school near the trail.

IDAHO
Idaho Environmental Education Association - $14,556
110 E. Fife Street
P.O. Box 791
Lava Hot Springs, Idaho 83246
Amy Pike – (208) 232-5674
Idaho’s Next Steps in Building Statewide Capacity – This project is to continue to increase the environmental education capacity in the state by providing a year of leadership development and strategic planning. A trained facilitator works with the Association’s 11 person board to conduct a statewide needs assessment to find out the current needs of Idaho’s environmental educators; provides leadership development about the Association’s place in the larger environmental education establishment; implements a recommended community relations system to improve the Association’s communications and networking systems; and writes a strategic plan for 2007-2012. The state of Idaho does not have any statewide environmental education mandate within the state government, so the Association must be as effective and strategic as possible in their work.

OREGON
Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve - $14,996
2600 SW Hillsboro Highway
Hillsboro, Oregon 97123
Jan Curry – (503) 681-6283
Algae Barley and Science Inquiry Project - The purpose of the project is to provide a real world project model of science inquiry and environmental stewardship for 10 educators and 250 middle and high school and college students which can be transferred to their community. The first component of the project is to involve the students in interaction with scientists working on a wetlands-based research effort. This project studies the effects of barley straw treatment on the suppression of algae and will model science inquiry processes and stewardship for clean water. In the fall, a teacher workshop is held to learn, plan, and share ideas and materials. In the fall and in the spring, there are field trips to the wetlands to learn about science processes, water quality parameters, and algal data collection. During the winter, the second major component of the project involves students doing science inquiry projects or stewardship projects in their communities. In the late spring, the students present their findings at a public “Science at the Wetlands” celebration.

Tillamook School District #9 - $16,904
6825 Officer’s Row
Tillamook, Oregon 97141
Clair Thomas – (503) 842-2566
Development Wetland Monitoring Curriculum as a Tool to Promote Environmental Stewardship and Vocational Training – This grant establishes a wetland study area where students monitor conditions, design and carry out restoration projects, analyze trends in wetlands due to human and natural causes, and will provide an outdoor laboratory to design and carry out original research. Students from advanced science classes act as peer teachers for the younger grades on field trips. Science professionals from the community work with the students to help them understand the link between the natural resources and their community. Field trips, field trip presentations, guest speakers, student peer leaders, and varied classroom activities and labs are all used in this project. All 400 high school students are targeted. As the program develops and high school students are trained, the program will expand to all grade levels with grade appropriate level material.

WASHINGTON
River Center Foundation - $14,998
2151 Hendrickson Road
P.O. Box 3007
Sequim, Washington 98382
Bob Bockelheide – (360) 681-4076
Continuing Education Workshops for Teachers – This grant develops and provides two continuing education workshops that help 40 teachers develop classroom lessons about the water quality, habitat protection, fish, and wildlife of the Dungeness River watershed. These lessons help the teachers understand and use basic scientific methods, inquiry-based learning, problem solving, and hands-on techniques. The project instructs the teachers about how to apply state education testing goals and skills to watershed health on the North Olympic Peninsula. The River Center partners with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, the Sequim School District, and Audubon of Washington on this project.

Stilly-Snohomish Fisheries Enhancement Task Force - $15,396
P.O. Box 5006
Everett, Washington 98206
Cara Ianni (425) 252-6686
Restoration Education for Young Stewards (REYS): A Program Where Students Design and Implement an Experimental Stream Restoration Project Within Their School’s Watershed – This is a project-and inquiry-based curriculum that actively engages youth in an authentic salmon habitat restoration project and increases environmental stewardship within the communities where it is implemented. REYS works with Snohomish County Surface Water Management, local city governments, local school districts, and local tribal entities to offer students the opportunity to learn about ecosystems, enhance their skills in scientific inquiry and investigation, and design solutions to real-world problems faced by restoration professionals. The curriculum includes two field-based and seven in-class lessons. Student collect observational data, perform simple experiments, learn salmon life history, conduct investigations, implement stream restoration and communicate their learning. The project reaches six classrooms within grades 5th-8th for a total of 150 students and six teachers in the Arlington and Snohomish School Districts.

Environmental Education Grants 2007

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