DNR Awards Environmental Literacy Grants for Student Stream Studies

The Department of Natural Resources awarded a total of $400,000 to six nonprofits to engage Maryland K-12 students in studying, monitoring and improving the health of their local streams over the next year. Selected by a review panel of state, federal and nonprofit environmental groups, these projects will educate 15,000 students on their local environment, and help them gain real-world science and conservation skills.

“We are thrilled by the response to this funding program and grateful to have so many groups vested in connecting our youth, the next generation of stewards, with the natural world around them,” said DNR Secretary Mark Belton. “The Environmental Literacy Grant program provides our schools the resources to improve stream health, and to help our state meet the natural resources, environmental education, and citizen involvement goals of the new Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement.”

Through teacher training and student outreach, the six grant recipients below will reach 120 teachers at 77 schools in nine districts, and ultimately 15,000 students.

• BioEYES at the Carnegie Institution for Science working with Baltimore City schools
• Fair Hill Nature Center working with Cecil County schools
• Howard County Conservancy working with Howard County schools
• Izaak Walton League of America working with Montgomery and Frederick County schools
• Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy working with Dorchester and Queen Anne’s County schools
• The National Audubon Society’s Pickering Creek Audubon Center with Wicomico and Caroline County schools

The funding was made available in partnership with EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program. The grant program emphasizes providing students with rigorous, outdoor science investigations in local streams, and then using their studies to create stewardship action projects to improve water quality. It also aims to connect students to STEM career ideas and provide teacher professional development – all supporting both the new watershed agreement and Maryland Environmental Literacy requirements.

“Maryland schools are fortunate to have access to an array of excellent environmental education opportunities and partners, many of which connect students to meaningful outdoor experiences in their local communities,” said Britt Slattery, with DNR’s Chesapeake and Coastal Service. “We received funding requests for nearly $1.2 million to support schools in more than 70 percent of Maryland’s school districts, a testament to the environmental literacy commitment among schools and partners.”

For more information, visit http://dnr2.maryland.gov/Education/Pages/streamed.aspx.