Profiles of Environmental Education Grants Awarded to Organizations in New Hampshire
- Indicates a Headquarters grant
2010 Grants
Northeast Resource Recovery Association $41,010
Michael Durfor, 2101 Dover Road, Epsom, NH 03234
Northeast School Recycling Education Capacity Building
The Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA) is partnering with the Association of Vermont Recyclers (AVR) to provide a year-long program to educate high school teachers and their students on solid waste issues. The intent of the project is to empower teachers and students to integrate recycling into classroom curricula, extracurricular activities, and school cultures while simultaneously encouraging school administrators and waste managers to support these projects as cost saving and programs that increase the diversion rate. At the end of the program, both a youth education summit and a gathering of teachers are held, which allows teenage youth and teachers from New England to discuss and tackle solid waste problems. Many New Hampshire municipalities have successful recycling programs, but do not have the resources to address the community within the community. By adopting a school recycling program, schools can establish and reinforce environmentally sound practices throughout the students' lives, giving them the opportunity to continue this behavior as adults.
2009 Grants
Kimball Union Academy $15,005
Jim Gray, 57 Main Street, Meriden, NH 03770
New Hampshire Natural Leaders Program
The New Hampshire Natural Leaders Program is a high school education and leadership development program designed to provide knowledge on the environment and conservation concepts in the community, to instill a greater understanding of the natural world and human impact on it, to expose participants to potential career opportunities in the environmental and conservation fields, and to develop a sense of environmental stewardship in students (grades 9 through 11). The program begins with a 2 -week-long experience in the summer, predominantly in an outdoor setting, followed by a series of events, each with a different environmental topic, throughout the remainder of the year.
2008 Grants
Clean Air - Cool Planet, Inc. $41,714
Amanda Muise, 100 Market Street, Suite 204, Portsmouth, NH 03801
Fostering Environmental Stewardship and Action in Southern New Hampshire
New Hampshire towns are creating Local Energy Committees (LECs) – community groups charged with assessing and improving their town’s actions on energy use and conservation. Clean Air-Cool Planet (CA-CP) works with existing LECs and fosters creation of new LECs with the goal of increasing environmental stewardship and encouraging towns to make sustainable decisions on energy, transportation, waste disposal, and land use. This project facilitates a series of community meetups featuring insight from local leaders to educate town residents about local environmental issues and solutions to climate change. In addition, CA-CP organizes face-to-face workshops for LEC members, writes and distributes case studies, and updates the LEC handbooks.
2006 Grants
Audubon Society of New Hampshire $39,000
Helen Dalbeck, 3 Silk Farm Road, Concord, NH 03301
The Merrimack River Stewardship Program
The Merrimack River Stewardship Program is a school-year-long, interdisciplinary place-based science education program, introducing elementary and middle school students to a wide variety of watershed topics. These topics include nonpoint source pollution, water quality, hydrology, habitats, wetlands, aquatic ecology, cultural use of rivers, and the study of migratory fish as models to a healthy watershed. The program develops and delivers three teaching workshops to new teachers who deliver the watershed curriculum to the students. The teachers use lessons from existing and enhanced curricula and teach in different classrooms with Fishways staff and volunteer facilitators.
2005 Grants
Appalachian Mountain Club $10,575
Gary Gresh, P.O. Box 298, Gorham, NH 03581
Mountain Watch Program
The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) is expanding its current Mountain Watch Program, an effort that involves volunteers who help monitor air quality on mountains and ridgelines from 16 fire towers and other key vista locations. Partnering with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services and the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development, AMC educates the public on fine particulate pollution (regional haze) and air quality and its causes, potential health effects, and steps the public can take to improve the situation.
2004 Grants
Keene State College $15,450
A. L. Rydant, 229 Main Street, Keene, NH 03435-2001
Worms Go To School
This project is introducing and establishing vermicomposting, which uses worms to break down organic material into compost, in secondary school settings by creating a core curriculum for grades 7 through 12 that combines vermicomposting with the National Geographic Standards. This curriculum is a natural extension of the elementary school curriculum that Keene State College developed under a previous EPA environmental education grant. Maintaining a worm bin provides students with hands-on experience in ecosystem management and helps them understand the physical and human dimensions of ecosystems.
2003 Grants
Northeast Resource Recovery Association $12,000
Elizabeth A. Bedard, 9 Bailey Road, Chichester, NH 03234
Furthering School Recycling Through Student-to-Student Peer Matching
The Northeast Resource Recovery Association is partnering with New Hampshire the Beautiful, Inc., and is expanding its successful recycling efforts in New Hampshire schools to establish an active and varied peer mentoring program for school recycling. This program encourages students to learn about and advance recycling as a team, strengthens their commitment to recycling, and expands the amount of recyclables removed from schools.
University of New Hampshire - New Hampshire Public Television $4,998
Jahnay Pickett, 51 College Road, Durham, NH 03824
Teaching Skills for Multimedia Environmental Education
The University of New Hampshire and its partners train and support 250 teachers of grades 4 through 8 in the use of multimedia curriculum materials for environmental education. Five teacher workshops are offered in person and through an interactive videoconferencing system. Also under development are five engaging multimedia curriculum units with hands-on activities that are intended to improve students’ critical thinking skills and environmental awareness.
2002 Grants
Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) $4,983
Tim Breen, Route 16, P. O. Box 298, Gorham, NH 03581
Appalachian Mountain Club's North Country Schools Partnership
The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), partnering with the White Mountain Regional School District, focuses on using a community-based environmental education approach to curricula reform while meeting the teaching frameworks. The two groups work closely with the teachers in the district to promote the use of the local landscape as a resource for teaching and learning. Together, these organizations choose and develop several new curricula projects for the students in the district. In addition, this project helps AMC learn about the challenges and possibilities of playing a greater role in the education of students in the region.
School Administrative Unit #70 School District $11,870
John Aubin, 45 Lyme Road, Hanover, NH 03755
Way to GO! - A Transportation Initiative
This interstate school district, comprised of four schools in New Hampshire and Vermont, implements a program that heightens family and child awareness about the environmental implications of their transportation choices. The goals of the program are to create safe, walkable communities; maintain clean air with minimum pollution and CO2 emissions; and promote ways to keep children healthy. The audience is primarily 800 elementary school children and their families, but the results of the project are distributed to the 6,000 taxpayers in Hanover and Norwich.
2001 Grants
Audubon Society of New Hampshire $12,500
Ian McLeod, 3 Silk Farm Road, Concord, NH 03301
The Northern New England Science Center Collaborative: Docent Training Program
The collaborative was formed to examine the issue of global warming. The goal of the project is to further develop the collaborative’s model for science education, under which a specific environmental issue is studied by linking research institutions to science centers and the public. The project proposes a training program for docents and teachers that focuses on current concepts related to climate change and potential changes in the region’s ecosystem and exposes staff of the science center to a cutting-edge study of climate change being conducted in New England.
New Hampshire Project Learning Tree $5,000
Esther Cowles, 54 Portsmouth Street, Concord, NH 03301
Focus on New Hampshire Forests
The project increases awareness and understanding among teachers and students of important environmental issues related to forests in New Hampshire. Project Learning Tree develops fact sheets and lists of resources that examine those contemporary issues. The fact sheets and lists then are used in the project’s teaching modules.
2000 Grants
Great Bay Stewards, Inc. $5,000
Rebecca Buzzel, 89 Depot Road, Stratham, NH 03885
Great Bay Kids
Great Bay Stewards, Inc. sponsors the Great Bay Kids' Ecology Club, a program that combines estuary-based enrichment activities for at-risk youths in fourth and fifth grades with mentoring by college students. By using existing curricula, the children learn about their environment through hands-on activities, while meeting the goals of education reform.
1999 Grants
Antioch New England Graduate School $5,000
Bo Hoppin, 40 Avon Street, Keene, NH 03431
Building Community Investment Through Environmental Education
This project funds internship positions for graduate students in which the students design and implement community-based service-learning projects at the Rachel Marshall Outdoor Learning Laboratory. The projects help students in Keene take responsibility for the long-term management, care, and maintenance of Keene's Ashuelot River Park.
Keene State College, Department of Geography $10,000
Al Rydant, 229 Main Street, Keene, NH 03435-2001
The Wild World of Worms: A Vermicomposting Geographic Curriculum Guide
This project introduces and establishes vermicomposting in elementary school settings by creating a core curriculum for grades one through six by combining vermicomposting with the national geography standards. Maintaining a worm bin provides hands-on experience in management of an ecosystem, integrating disciplines that bring together the physical and human dimensions of the world.
1998 Grants
Great Bay Stewards $14,990
Karen Acerno, 89 Depot Road, Stratham, NH 03885
Great Bay Ecology Club Mentor
The Great Bay Kid's Ecology Club combines enrichment and stewardship activities related to the estuarine habitat for at-risk youth. The young people take part in fun, hands-on activities led by college students. Guidance professionals choose from 36 to 40 at-risk youth from grades 4 and 5 to participate in the project, which offers them one Saturday activity every two weeks from September through May.
New Hampshire Project Learning Tree $5,000
Esther Cowles, 54 Portsmouth Street, Concord, NH 03301
Project Learning Tree in the Androscoggin River Valley
For this project New Hampshire Project Learning Tree (NHPLT) and its partners will design teacher workshops. NHPLT hosts as many as three teacher workshops to train elementary and high school teachers and other educators in the PLT curriculum. At least 35 educators from the Androscoggin River Valley attend the workshops. Some of the issues the workshop addresses are sustainable forestry, biological diversity, economic viability of the forest-products industry, and management of public lands.
University of New Hampshire $149,968
Mary Ellen Boelhower, Office of Sponsored Research, 111 Service Building 51 College Road, Durham, NH 03824
Project SERVE - High School Environmental Education
Project SERVE (Students for Environmental Resource Volunteerism and Education) offers high school students an opportunity to earn academic credit for working with conservation groups in their communities on local resource protection projects. The students have the support of professionals who assist them in volunteering for environmental conservation projects that provide the opportunity to develop a greater understanding of local natural resources. The project focuses on protection of the ecosystem, including such activities as monitoring of water quality, identification of sources of pollution, and evaluation of wetlands. Approximately 700 high school students, 100 community conservation organizations and mentors, and teachers from 35 schools participate in the program. Almost half the communities served have significant numbers of low-income residents. Partners in Project Serve include numerous high schools and municipal conservation commissions.
1997 Grants
New Hampshire Association of Conservation Districts $5,000
R.J. Dick Obyc, 3 Coombs Road, Somersworth, NH 03878-2001
New Hampshire ENVIROTHON
ENVIROTHON is a statewide, high school environmental education program in its fifth year. It builds upon the strengths of previous years with 28 registered teams totaling 13,000 students and directly involves 195 students and 28 teacher-advisors. More than 100 volunteers help conduct the program, which is open to all high school students in the state. Under the project, students study, analyze, and evaluate real-life land use problems. They then participate in a statewide competition, with winners going on to compete in the national ENVIROTHON.
New Hampshire Project Learning Tree $5,000
Esther Cowles, 54 Portsmouth Street, Concord, NH 03301
Project Learning Tree
The Project Learning Tree pilot project develops innovative methods of delivering the project's curriculum in forest management to 11 rural public schools in the Upper Connecticut River Valley. The project is conducted in partnership with two forest product companies, Champion International Corporation and International Paper Company. It provides two workshops, including forest field trips, for 18 elementary school teachers and one for 10 secondary school teachers.
University of New Hampshire $5,000
Frank Mitchell or Nancy Lambert, New Hampshire Cooperative Extension Service, 111 Pettee Hall, Durham, NH 03824
Project SERVE: Students for Environmental Resource Volunteerism and Education
Project SERVE is an environmental outreach program for high school students, who earn credit for working with conservation groups in their communities on local resource protection projects. It involves 10 to 16 students, six town conservation commissions, and two teachers in exploring such topics as functional evaluation of wetlands, monitoring of water quality, identification of sources of pollution, delineation and description of watersheds, and mapping of vernal pools. Partners in the project include Kearsarge Regional High School, the New London Conservation Commission, the Springfield Conservation Commission, and the Newbury Conservation Commission.
1996 Grants
Granite State Association of the Future Farmers of America $4,313
Richard L. Barker, c/o NH Dept. of Education, 101 Pleasant Street, Concord, NH 03301
Teacher Education in Integrated Pest Management and Pesticides Application
The Teacher Education in Integrated Pest Management and Pesticides Application project is educating environmental, agricultural, and natural resources high school teachers about integrated pest management (IPM) and pesticides in their environment. The program features an initial workshop for 30 teachers, demonstrates how to integrate instructional materials distributed during the workshop into their school curriculum, and provides on-site, follow-up visits to provide further information and instruction and to gauge additional teacher and student needs.
New Hampshire Association of Conservation Districts $5,000
Dick Obyc, P. O. Box 2042, Concord, NH 03302-2042
New Hampshire Envirothon
The New Hampshire Envirothon is a growing national environmental education program aimed at public and private high school students and their teachers. The program for our future decision makers is designed to improve environmental awareness and appreciation for wise management and protection of natural resources. A training workshop conducted in the spring provides students and teachers an opportunity for hands-on learning through research and discussion and evaluation of natural resource issues. Students then participate in a statewide competition in a national Envirothon.
1995 Grants
Hillsborough County Conservation District $2,864
Jo-Ann Turner, 468 Route 13 South, Milford, NH 03055-3442
Soils Training for Educators
This project involves training about soil with a soil educational toolkit for Hillsborough County's 50 elementary and middle school teachers. The purpose of the project is to fill a gap in knowledge of basic soil science. The knowledge gained through a variety of soil-related activities will cause students to become more aware of the importance of soil, and help prevent erosion and other actions which create land and water pollution and food shortages.
New Hampshire Association of Conservation Districts $5,000
R. J. (Dick) Obyc, 10 Ferry Street, P. O. Box 2042, Concord, NH 03302-2042
School Environmental Education Program
The Envirothon program helps New Hampshire high school students learn the process of group dynamics concerning real life issues affecting the ecology and how to make sound environmental decisions. The project is a unique partnership formed among the students, educators, volunteers, and resource persons from the state, private, and federal organizations. This year's subject is groundwater.
New Hampshire Fish and Game Department $4,900
Judith K. Silverberg, 2 Hazen Drive, Concord, NH 03301
Teacher Workshops Using Facilitator Model
This project is based upon a widely-distributed document, Homes for Wildlife - A Planning Guide for Habitat Enhancement on School Grounds. The project organizers will develop the necessary support materials and conduct a three-day workshop for 10 facilitators who are in the process of establishing schoolyard habitat sites for wildlife. Facilitators, in turn, conduct 20 workshops in diverse community settings, resulting in the training of 200 teachers of kindergarten through 12th grade.
University of New Hampshire, Durham $4,999
Ihab Farag, Office of Sponsored Research, 107 Service Bldg., Durham, NH 03824-32585
Pollution Prevention in Hawaii's Construction Industry: A Workshop for Faculties and Students in Architecture, Engineering, and Urban Planning
This project will offer a workshop in Honolulu to increase awareness of pollution prevention concepts among university students and faculties of disciplines with the largest impact on the construction industry. Co-sponsored by the Hawaii Department of Health, organizers of the workshop anticipate attracting 100 students and 50 professors from architecture, engineering, and urban planning departments of the University of Hawaii, community colleges, and private colleges in the state.
1994 Grants
Connecticut River Joint Commission $12,350
Sharon Francis, P. O. Box 1182, Charlestown, NH 03603
Guide to the Connecticut River Watershed
Working as a joint commission, the Connecticut River Watershed Council and the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation will promote environmental literacy by developing, publishing, and distributing an illustrated guide which will serve as an educational tool for teachers, students, and citizens of the Connecticut River watershed. The guide will focus on combating non-point source pollution by suggesting actions that can be taken to prevent and control pollution and serving as a reference guide for best management practices. In addition to the guide, workshops such as "The River that Connects Us," and publications such as Environmental Management will provide the teaching tools necessary for numerous interest groups, especially teachers and students in the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
Harris Center for Conservation Education $5,000
Marian K. Baker, 341 Kings Highway, Rte. 1, Hancock, NH 03449
AIRNET
AIRNET, an air quality monitoring project, will create partnerships between the Harris Center, town and state officials, and ten local, private, and public high schools in New Hampshire. This grant will be used to expand the existing AIRNET monitoring project, which promotes environmental education through interdisciplinary learning. Activities include workshops, team teaching, computer networking, multidisciplinary research, and analysis of data. The goal of this unique program is to increase the interest and knowledge of air quality issues throughout the community.
Raymond Parks and Recreation Department $5,000
Richard C. Bates, Raymond, NH 03077
Environmental Education Programs for Citizens of Raymond
The Raymond Parks and Recreation Department, in conjunction with the Raymond School District, will manage environmental education programs which enlighten and empower the citizens of Raymond to actively monitor environmental health. Specific projects include evaluating wetlands, monitoring water quality, and finding alternatives to landfills. Students from high schools in Raymond will be trained as environmental docents -- providing environmental lectures, demonstrations, and tours to elementary and middles school classrooms and community organizations. Also, in the summer, environmental education will be incorporated into the summer youth program as the docents or other students work as Junior Conservation Counselors. A part-time environmental education coordinator will be hired to schedule workshops and other relevant community events to complement the students' efforts.
University of New Hampshire $4,999
Ihab Faraq/Linda Kahan Meier, Office of Sponsored Research, 107 Service Bldg., Durham, NH 03824-3585
P2 Consortium
In conjunction with the Pollution Prevention Consortium of New England Universities, the University of New Hampshire plans to sponsor a regional conference facilitating the transfer of pollution prevention technology to undergraduate and graduate students and faculty. The "P2 Consortium," the first of its type, will encourage demonstrations, discussions, and dissemination of pollution prevention activities and information. Students will get an opportunity to present pollution prevention projects and foster greater awareness and understanding of pollution prevention.
1993 Grants
New Hampshire Association of Conservation Districts $5,000
Dick Obyc, Concord Center, P. O. Box 2042, Concord, NH 03302-2042
New Hampshire ENVIROTHON
The "New Hampshire ENVIROTHON" is a high school educational and competition program designed to increase responsible approaches to environmental issues through a hands-on approach. Twelve teams from ten schools will compete in this, the second, year of the program. State winners will compete in the National ENVIROTHON.
New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services $5,000
Jody Connor, P. O. Box 95 - 6 Hazen Drive, Concord, NH 03301
Interactive Lake Ecology Program
The "Interactive Lake Ecology Program" is designed for students in grades 5 through 8 to promote environmental consciousness through an understanding of the impacts humans can have on lake ecosystems. The program provides students with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions, especially regarding their activities in and around lakes. The program reaches out to teachers and students in less advantaged school districts that demonstrate the most financial need. Teacher workshops are conducted with the active participation of biologists from the state's environmental division.
University of New Hampshire $24,995
Barrett Rock, Office of Sponsored Research, 107 Service Building, Durham, NH 03824
A Space Age Approach to Environmental Education
"A Space Age Approach to Environmental Education" is a video-based environmental monitoring curriculum targeted to middle, junior high, and high school teachers across New England. The project will support production of two, thirty-minute broadcast-quality television programs designed to show teachers how to incorporate environmental monitoring research activities into their science curricula.
1992 Grants
Harris Center for Conservation Education $17,620
Hancock, NH 03449
Monitoring Ambient Air Quality
This project involves educating high school students and teachers in the research methods of monitoring ambient air-quality in the Monandnock Region through interdisciplinary learning and analysis of data.
Lake Sunapee Protective Association $4,993
Georges Mills, NH 03751
Sunapee Lakes Regional Environmental Laboratory
The "Sunapee Lakes Regional Environmental Laboratory" project educates junior and senior high school students on the skills necessary to conduct reliable analyses of water-quality samples from the region's lakes. The project involves training students in the laboratory techniques used by water-quality professionals.
Proctor Academy Environmental Program $3,000
Andover, NH 03216
Environmental Outreach Program
This grant funds a project that focuses on the development of an environmental outreach program that promotes environmental issues and awareness throughout high school campuses in northern New England.