Project Learning Tree Awards 58 Grants for Service-Learning Projects

Washington, D.C. -- Environmental education is increasingly taking the form of community service projects that connect kids to nature. A 29-state grant announced today by Project Learning Tree® (PLT) will extend that trend to 58 schools and organizations. The grants will enable students from kindergarten through high school to carry out outdoor projects, while also developing leadership and critical-thinking skills.

“We get more applications for the program every year,” said Al Stenstrup, Director of Education Programs for the American Forest Foundation, the parent group of Project Learning Tree. “We expect this interest to grow exponentially with the Obama administration’s energetic focus on community service.” As an example, Stenstrup noted 200 people participated in a PLT tree-planting day of service at a Washington, D.C. elementary school on Martin Luther King Day.

PLT’s Greenworks!® program provides merit-based grants to schools and youth groups to create gardens, plant trees, restore streams and wildlife habitat, improve energy efficiency, and other projects. One ambitious high school group in Salt Lake City, Utah fueled their school bus with used French fry oil. Since 1992, more than six hundred thousand dollars has funded 873 Greenworks! projects in communities across America. “When kids focus on improving the environment around them, they are creative, they are engaged in learning, and they do great things,” said Stenstrup.

Among this year’s recipients:

• In South Lake Tahoe, California, high school students are helping younger children learn about and plant trees to restore National Forest land burnt in the 2007 Angora Fire that devastated a total 3,100 acres. The teens formed their own Generation Green Club. “These students are committed, enthusiastic, and perfect role models for our diverse community,” noted project coordinator Joy Barney.

• At Benjamin Franklin Science Academy in Muskagee, Oklahoma, middle-school students identified an opportunity—a local pond not yet accessible for public use—and will build an observation pier as an environmentally friendly solution. “Our students have already called on community partners for help,” said 5th grade teacher Julie Robinson, including engineers, a bridge company, neighborhood associations, and city agencies.

• The New Jersey School-Age Care Coalition is partnering with other groups to help 60 elementary-age kids, mostly of Mexican and Colombian heritage, to create a traditional South American garden and a butterfly garden. The harvested food will go to a local restaurant that will, in turn, make meals to donate to a soup kitchen. “Gardening to Give Back meets three goals—to build connections to the outdoors, make students more nutritionally aware, and show them how they can improve life for others,” said Coalition Coordinator Diane Genco.

• Seventeen special GreenWorks! grants were awarded to teachers and students participating in MonarchLIVE – A Distance Learning Adventure to create butterfly gardens in their neighborhoods. Through MonarchLIVE, students can follow the migration of monarch butterflies through a series of free live, interactive field trips broadcast from Mexico, the U.S., and Canada. MonarchLIVE is a partnership between Project Learning Tree, the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Prince William Network.

GreenWorks! grants in amounts from $250 to $5,000 are available for service-learning projects for educators who have participated in PLT workshops. The next grant deadline is April 30, 2009. For more information and a full list of grants awarded, go to www.plt.org.

About Project Learning Tree®
Project Learning Tree® (PLT) is the environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation. PLT provides educators with comprehensive environmental education curriculum resources that can be integrated into lesson plans for all grades and subject areas. PLT teaches students about complex environmental issues, and helps students learn the skills they need to make sound choices about the environment. Developed in 1976, PLT has an international network of more than 500,000 trained educators using PLT materials that cover 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. For more information, go to www.forestfoundation.org.

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