Washington, D.C. - Project Learning Tree ^® (PLT), the environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation, has recently awarded 41 community grants for its GreenWorks! service learning projects across the country. For the past 11 years, Project Learning Tree has complemented its service learning initiative, GreenWorks!, with this substantial grant award program. The grants are awarded in the preceding year, 2003, and are set for completion during 2004.

GreenWorks! projects partner PLT educators, students, and communities with responsible environmental action to make a lasting impact. Both service learning and community service projects provide opportunities for students to recognize and address important environmental community issues. Such opportunities help students expand their academic and personal growth while developing an understanding of civic responsibility. The projects help make a difference in how students think, in changing their sense of responsibility toward their communities, and in strengthening their understanding of their relationship with the environment.

Caroline Alston, PLT Director of Community Programs, states, "Every year I am just amazed at the quality of grant proposals we receive. It is so rewarding to know that with a GreenWorks! grant so many students and PLT educators can positively impact their communities now and in the future."

The GreenWorks! grant program has received financial support from the Conoco Phillips Corporation, U.S. National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management, USDA Forest Service, USDA Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, Environmental Protection Agency and the Georgia-Pacific Corporation. Since 1992, PLT has distributed more than $260,000 to 576 grant projects in communities across the country.

The following are some of the projects that will take place in communities across the country during 2004:

• In Montgomery, Ala., Auburn University School of Forestry students will survey and enhance a local Easter Seals camp while developing skills in and knowledge of urban forestry practices.
• In Lyons, Colo., an outdoor Xeriscaped garden will be designed to attract butterflies and humming birds to provide a backdrop for a local elementary school's "Peace Place."
• In Clayton, N.C., an elementary school's nature trail will be improved with two bridges and an amphitheater to increase outdoor education.
• In LaGrange, Ga., a pond will be built in the habitat garden to attract butterflies so students can study a butterfly's life cycle and pond life.
• In Grand Forks, N. Dak., three partners are coming together to establish an outdoor classroom that will be used by local day care facilities, schools, and churches.
• In Moore, Okla., students and teachers will build a memorial garden, including a flower box, using neighborhood bricks from homes destroyed in the May 2003 tornado. The garden will also include Forget Me Nots and a memorial tree.
• In Cumberland, Wis., students will investigate water issues in their community, test for contamination, use technology to organize and interpret the data and create an action plan to encourage environmentally sound practices in their community.
• In Chillicothe, Mo., middle school students will work to improve the natural habitat of the quail population in the county.
• In Fairbanks, Alaska, the grant will supplement a school yard project to produce bird feeders and seed that will enable students to study Black-capped Chickadees.

All grantees receive the 64-page guide, GreenWorks! Connecting Community Action and Service Learning, that provides critical service learning information from assessment to evaluation.

For more information about GreenWorks! and Project Learning Tree visit www.plt.org or contact Brigitte Johnson, APR, Director of Communications, 202.463.5163, bjohnson@forestfoundation.org.

Project Learning Tree^® (PLT) is the environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation. PLT uses the forest as a "window on the world" to increase student's understanding of our complex environment and to help students learn the skills they need to make sound choices about the environment. Developed in 1976, PLT has an international network of more than 300,000 trained educators using six curricula covering the total environment. The American Forest Foundation, a nonprofit organization, works for healthy forests, quality environmental education, and informed decision-making about our communities and our world.