Educate Yourself!

National Public Lands Day projects strive to benefit our nation’s most precious resource-our public lands. However, another component of NPLD concerns educating Americans about critical environmental and natural resources issues and the need for shared stewardship of these valued, irreplaceable lands.

Whether as teachers, students, or adults a vast array of knowledge about natural resources can be found. In this section you can educate yourself (or others!) about the natural treasures that can be found right outside-in our public lands.

The theme for NPLD this year is tree planting.

Why?-Because of all the benefits trees provide!

• A single mature tree can absorb as much as 48lbs of carbon dioxide each year. In its lifetime, the average tree sequesters at least 1 ton of carbon dioxide.
• New York City estimates that its tree canopy annually removes 2,202 tons of pollution from the air, sequesters nearly 1.35 million tons of CO2, captures over 890 million gallons of storm water, and saves residents upwards of $28 million in energy bills.
• Trees purify soil. In what scientists term phytoremediation, trees actually have the ability to absorb dangerous pollutants from the soil and transform these into less harmful compounds.
• Trees decrease the amount of storm water runoff.  Some trees absorb upwards of 1000 gallons of water each year.  Forests, both large and small, are excellent buffers against flooding.

Attention Teachers: Connect with Nature!

Curriculum Ideas

A wealth of information on trees and accompanying lesson plans.
http://www.foresthistory.org/Education/Curriculum/actlist.htm

Great outdoor exercises for your class.
http://www.thewildones.org/Curric/schoolyard.html

A game that permits students to make connections between plants and their surrounding environment.
http://www.units.muohio.edu/dragonfly/itd/learn.html

Environmental lesson plans assorted by grade level.
http://eeweek.org/resources/forestry_curricula.htm

NEW Project Learning Tree® (PLT) activities for NPLD

Tree planting and Care Information

• Want to plant a tree? Read Tree-Planting.com’s step by step guide.
  
  Natives Only! Don’t plant just yet—make sure you have the right tree for your area.
• The Arbor Day Foundation Tree Wizard will help you select the correct species.
• Is your tree damaged? ReTree WNY offers tree repair advice.