Profiles of Environmental Education Grants Awarded to Organizations in New Mexico
- Indicates a Headquarters grant
- 2015
- 2014
- 2011
- 2010
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- 2008
- 2006
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2015 Grants
Asombro Institute for Science Education $90,000
Stephanie Bestelmeyer, PO Box 891, Las Cruces, NM 88004-0891
http://www.asombro.org/index.htm?mn=0Exit
New Mexico Climate Champion
The goal of the New Mexico Climate Champions project is to train 500 students to become climate "champions" by gaining knowledge and critical thinking skills related to the regional effects of climate change on water and agriculture and mitigating those effects through stewardship action plans implemented in their schools and communities. The program creates locally relevant climate change education modules for educators; increases students' and educators' knowledge about climate change effects on water and agriculture; enhances students' motivation and skills in creating voluntary action plans to improve the environment; increases students' consideration of environmental careers for themselves; and provides opportunities for the public to learn about regional climate change effects along with actions they can take to mitigate and adapt to those effects.
2014 Grants
Bosque School (BEMP) $83,332.00
Audrey Kruse, 4000 Learning Rd., Albuquerque, NM 87120
http://www.bosqueschool.org/bemp.aspxExit
Digging Deeper with BEMP Watershed Education
The Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program (BEMP) develops and delivers a model “whole watershed” curriculum that follows a drop of water as it falls in the New Mexico Mountains, travels through upland forests, sweeps over agricultural areas, runs through urban landscapes, then travels down through 300 miles of the Rio Grande. Targeting middle and high school students, BEMP employs both traditional in-class sessions as well as citizen science monitoring at selected research sites so that students can test how the riparian zone or “bosque” responds to ecological drivers such as drought, flood, fire, human alteration, and climate change. Students in five project areas along the river utilize new technology to perform ecological monitoring through a partnership with Intel Corporation, while at the same time work alongside environmental professional scientists and engineers who analyze environmental impacts and develop solutions based on the data.
2011 Grants
Asombro Institute for Science Education $25,000
Dr. Stephanie Bestelmeyer, POB 891, Las Cruces, NM 88004-0891
Stepping Out for Science Inquiry
The Asombro Institute for Science Education is a non-profit organization with the goal of improving scientific literacy and environmental understanding of the Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem. The goal of the Stepping Out for Science Inquiry project is to enhance EE Teaching Skills by increasing middle school teachers’ abilities to use the schoolyard to teach about local environmental issues, ultimately increasing their student’s understanding of and interest in environmental science. Asombro staff will provide two workshops and a year of classroom modeling of schoolyard studies to nine 7th grade science teachers at three Las Cruces, NM schools and six NMSU pre-service teachers. Approximately 1,200 students will work with their teachers and Asombro staff on a year-long, inquiry-based study of the ecosystem outside their classroom. During monthly programs by Asombro staff, students will collect and analyze data from their schoolyards that focus on the region’s two most pressing environmental issues air quality reduction through wind erosion and climate change impacts. Students will then take their new knowledge and critical thinking skills to design and implement their own stewardship action plan to help improve the environment. The project will contribute to career development by helping students remove common stereotypes about scientists and thereby empowering the students to consider environmental careers. The uniqueness of this project is that it addresses providing environmental science inquiry by bringing the scientist to the schoolyard versus attempting to compete for shrinking education funds to bring the students out to the Chihuahuan Desert Park. Key partners include scientists at the USDA’s Jornada Experimental Range and the New Mexico State University. Environmental Education priorities addressed are EE Teaching Skills and Career Development. Administrator’s Environmental Priorities addressed are Taking Action on Climate Change and Improving Air Quality. Asombro’s target audience includes teachers, pre-service teachers, and 1,200 middle school students in Las Cruces, NM which is an economically disadvantaged community according to national averages. Asombro’s target audience is located schools in the Las Cruces Public School District where 53% of the students are economically disadvantaged and 71% are Hispanic.
EE Association of New Mexico $150,000
Barbara Garrity, P.O. Box 36958, Albuquerque, NM 87176
Advancing EE in Region 6 through a Sub-Grants Program
The EE Association of New Mexico (EEANM) is partnering with Texas Association for EE, Oklahoma Association for EE, Louisiana EE Association, Arkansas EE Association and the Albert I Pierce Foundation to build a broad collaboration that provides funding through a competitive sub-grants program for EE projects. Rather than limiting projects to specific priorities, and potentially eliminating projects with unique qualities, applicants are encouraged to respond to local needs with their best plans that fall within the established EPA priorities. With this broad collaboration, the state EE associations are building organizational capacity while also engaging and involving local, state and regional environmental education partners. EEANM is issuing a minimum of 19 sub-grants to EE organizations within Region 6.
2010 Grants
School Zone Institute $44,191
Manny Juarez, 9 Tumbleweed Northwest, Albuquerque, NM 87120
E* Stewards of Albuquerque
E* Stewards of Albuquerque is an Environmental Education project submitted by the School Zone Institute, a non-profit promoting sustainable community design. The School Zone Institute works with four public elementary schools from different regions in the Albuquerque metro area. This project provides a full cycle of creative teaching and learning process and includes professional development, practical class demonstrations, consultation, and final presentation and assessment. Working with environmental educators, elementary school students investigate their school neighborhoods and develop sustainable solutions that address environmental issues found in their research. Some schools have obvious environmental issues such as close proximity to industrial sites. Sustainable solutions developed by the students and environmental educators to address these issues are presented at an environmental fair at the end of the project to the community at large. The project targets students in schools with under-served populations. The importance of this project for these schools and their communities is to educate the participants of the value of environmental stewardship as well as to empower them to become non-formal educators within their families, schools, and communities.
2009 Grants
Keep New Mexico Beautiful (KNMB) $24,072
Marsha Jane Kellogg, P.O. Box 90924, Albuquerque, NM 87199-0924
Dusty Roadrunner's Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Program
The Keep New Mexico Beautiful (KNMB) Dusty Roadrunners Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Program helps elementary school teachers and students in rural New Mexico schools identify the types of waste they generate, investigate options for reducing and handling this waste, and plan and implement a realistic course of action to reduce, reuse, and recycle in their communities. A KNMB environmental education specialist works with students, teachers, and community partners throughout this process to facilitate learning, model environmental education teachings skills, support action plans, and communicate results.
2008 Grants
Asombro Institute for Science Education $20,000
Stephanie Bestelmeyer, P.O. Box 891, Las Cruces, NM 88004
Real-World, Real-Science Project
The Asombro Desert Nature Park is a non-profit organization established in 1990 to improve scientific literacy and environmental understanding of the Chihuahuan Desert Ecosystem. The organization created a “Real World - Real Science Project” that expands the field trip learning experience for middle school students. The Real World - Real Science Project hosts a workshop for middle school teachers from Dona Ana County, New Mexico, and El Paso County, Texas, to train them to use a full, enhanced program that relates the field trip experience with the rest of the curriculum. They host pre-field trip activities to help introduce students to vocabulary and concepts. The teachers also hold activities after the field trip that help students extend the information they learned to other areas of their lives.
Gila Conservation Education Center $25,648
Bob Wilson, 3005 E. Camino del Bosque, Silver City, NM 88061
San Vicente Creek-side Classroom
The San Vicente Creek riparian area is threatened by illegal dumping and neglect. The project, San Vicente Creek-side Classroom, educates students in grades kindergarten through 12 by conducting outdoor learning expeditions through an outdoor classroom for learning sponsored by the Gila Conservation Education Center. Kiosks, educational signs, and a bench theater seating area are available for visitors to the center. Local high school students and area experts conduct guided tours for elementary age students, and local citizens and visitors conduct self-guided tours with information provided by the kiosks. The ultimate goal is to provide education on preserving the San Vicente Creek riparian area.
Hawks Aloft, Inc. $15,902
Gail Garber, P.O. Box 10028, Albuquerque, NM 87184
Living with the Landscape
This project teaches students in grades 1 through 5 about the importance of environmental stewardship and encourages critical thinking and problem-solving through a hands-on, project-based curriculum. This project uses live non-releasable birds of prey (raptors) to illustrate important ecological concepts. First graders in the program receive a classroom visit with live raptors. Second and third graders receive a classroom visit with live raptors and a conservation education program delivered by their fourth and fifth grade peers. The fourth-grade program consists of three classroom visits and two field trips per classroom. The classroom visits include discussion sessions, presentation of two raptors, and other educational activities. Field trips focus on putting theory presented in the classroom into practice. Fifth graders select a school-wide conservation theme to study for the year and implement a conservation project in the local community.
2006 Grants
Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park $10,000
Stephanie Bestelmeyer, P.O. Box 891, Las Cruces, NM 88004-0891
Desert Teachers and Learners Project
The Desert Teachers and Learners Project enhances knowledge about complex environmental systems and issues in southern New Mexico and west Texas. Delivered to elementary through high school teachers and the public, the project is three parts, consisting of: (1) two 1-day teacher workshops (water conservation and desertification, erosion, and air pollution), (2) follow-up support for teachers through the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park’s successful Schoolyard Desert Discovery Project of 30 hands-on, inquiry-based activities for use by students in kindergarten through grade 12, and (3) two Saturday morning public education events coordinated by teacher workshop participants and scientists. The teachers use their teaching expertise and new knowledge about environmental science to design the public programs. Scientists provide content information and learn from the teachers about how to teach non-scientists. All participants serve as both a teacher and a learner in the Desert Teachers and Learners Project. The project produces trained teachers who present public education events on relevant community environmental issues. These teachers later help their students eliminate stereotypes about who can become a scientist and educate them about environmental issues to encourage environmental careers.
Hawks Aloft, Inc. $15,212
Sarah Young, 6715 Eagle Rock Road, Albuquerque, NM 87113
Living with the Landscape
Living with the Landscape is an innovative environmental education program developed by Hawks Aloft. The goals of this program are to teach elementary school students about the importance of environmental stewardship and to encourage critical thinking and problem-solving through a hands-on, project-based curriculum. It aims to increase motivation for students to become environmentally responsible citizens and to encourage empowerment, enabling students to “make a difference” in their communities. The main strategy is to use live non-releasable birds of prey (raptors) to interest and excite students and to illustrate important ecological concepts. The target audience is eight classrooms in New Mexico that are on Tribal lands or that have a high percentage of Native American students. The project consists of three classroom visits, two field trips, and one conservation project per classroom. The student-led conservation project is implemented in the local community and is designed to provide a measurable environmental benefit. During all events, students are encouraged to think about environmental careers and discuss how to achieve this goal. This population has not traditionally received funding for non-traditional education programs. Teachers are provided with a hands-on interactive curriculum that can be used without the presence of the raptors. Teachers also gain an enhanced awareness of the importance of and tools to teach and promote environmental stewardship with their students. The indirect audience is other students and faculty members in participating schools and members of the local community.
New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science $16,665
Selena Connealy, 1801 Mountain Road NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104
Student Ecology Project
The Student Ecology Project (SEP) engages high school students in basic field research through 6-week-long, student-centered projects. Working with teachers as partners, the SEP guides students through the process of experiment design, data collection and analysis, and communicating the results of the work at a final congress that is based on the model of a scientific meeting. Four communities are targeted and teachers will be recruited to mentor the students. The New Mexico Math Engineering and Science Achievement (NM MESA) partners with the museum to provide summer enrichment courses for students that build skills in math and science while engaging them in ecology research. Three graduate interns from regional universities are recruited and trained to provide student training and technical assistance to teachers as they work with the students in carrying out their ecology research projects. Components of the project include: (1) training teachers to design and teach a successful 6-week field ecology course to high school students; (2) providing equipment, study design, and technical assistance to each of the four sites; (3) supporting teachers during the duration of their courses; and (4) convening a final congress to allow students to communicate the findings of their research through poster and PowerPoint presentations. This approach, while staff intensive, has proven to be a successful way to provide teachers with the tools to teach effective courses, while at the same time exciting students about environmental science and numerous environmental career choices they can pursue.
Santa Fe Children's Museum $9,960
Jason Scott, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Teen Teachers in Earthworks
The Teen Teachers in Earthworks project seeks to hire teens from the Santa Fe area who will participate in a mentorship program, attend biweekly training sessions, lead daily environmental programs, and facilitate a series of environmental service projects in the spring of 2007. The target audience is school-age children who are scheduled to visit the museum. The Teen Teachers in Earthworks presents — free to the public and without a registration requirement during regular museum hours — environmental programs for families and school groups. These environmental programs encourage critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making. In addition, each of these teens will lead public community service projects at the museum in the spring of 2007. The overall goal of this project is to increase the environmental literacy in the Santa Fe community by building environmental education into the overall museum experience. Short-term goals to be achieved are to enhance the quality of public environmental knowledge through an outstanding mentorship program for teen educators; and to increase the self-confidence of these teenagers, their teaching skills, and their work ethic, as well as their concern and passion for the environment. Long-term goals are to increase environmental stewardship among the participating teenagers, as well as the museum’s visitors, and to empower the teen teachers to become environmentally conscious citizens and future leaders in science, education, and the environment.
2005 Grants
Heritage Ranch Institute (NM HRI) $12,533
Jim Winder, 231 W Hall Street, Hatch, NM 87937
Young Environmental Stewards (YES), Corona, NM
Young Environmental Stewards (YES) teaches skills in forest management, forest ecology, and fire ecology, which are important environmental issues facing the Corona community, to kindergarten through grade 12 students in Corona, New Mexico,. Teachers provide instruction about forest management to the students using Project Learning Tree’s curriculum modules for Forest Ecology and Fire Ecology and Forest Issues. The teachers lead students on field studies to illustrate the concepts of the curriculum and evaluate the impact of the project on the students’ understanding of healthy forests. Teachers also integrate YES projects with related Forest Service actions, such as replanting trees, shrubs, and grasses in areas destroyed by catastrophic wildfires.
New Mexico - The Volunteer Center of Grant County (NM TVCGC) $10,000
Lisa Grinnell, 915 Santa Rita, Silver City, NM 88062
The Gila Volunteer Educator Project
The Volunteer Center of Grant County (TVGCC), New Mexico, recruits, mobilizes, and trains volunteer educators from area conservation agencies. These volunteers assist the Gila Conservation Education Center (GCEC) in Silver City, New Mexico, in implementing the Gila Volunteer Educator Project. The project, targeted at students in kindergarten through grade 12, includes 20 educational trunks that provide materials that help educators teach classes about community environmental issues. The GCEC establishes a retired educator volunteer program to supplement its education programs. The program also links two interns from colleges and universities with GCEC programs, which provides the students valuable pre-service teacher training in environmental education.
2004 Grants
Heritage Ranch Institute $13,900
Jim Winder, 18330 Highway 27 NE, Deming, NM 88030
Young Environmental Stewards
The goal of this project is to infuse environmental education into the core subjects at middle schools in the Truth or Consequences, New Mexico School District. Teachers are designing 24 field trips and related studies to be used as innovative tools in middle school classes. The students learn about the fundamentals of resource management and gain a thorough knowledge of biotic and abiotic environments, resource use by various cultural groups, and the rates at which resources may be renewed or depleted.
2003 Grants
Environmental Education Association of New Mexico $5,150
Mary Dwyer, P.O. Box 36958, Albuquerque, NM 87176
New Mexico Multi-Facilitator Training Program
Educators of kindergarten through 12th grade, non-government, and government agency personnel throughout the state are invited to workshops designed to develop their skills on sound educational practices. The New Mexico Multi-Facilitator training Program is the first in a series of facilitator workshops designed to build capacity for the delivery of environmental education programs in New Mexico. The program is designed to increase the number of teachers across the state that know about natural resources and how they can integrate that information into effective classroom teaching strategies that focus on education reform.
New Mexico Department of Health $16,374
Ron Vorhees, 1190 St. Francis Drive, Santa Fe, NM 87502
Lead Poisoning Prevention for Expectant Teens and their Children
Teachers, other school staff members, and health care providers across New Mexico are attending workshops to learn how to teach expectant teens about the adverse effects of lead exposure before, during, and after pregnancy as well as ways to prevent lead exposure. Key partners in the project are the New Mexico Department of Education, the New Mexico Department of Health, and high school teachers across the state.
New Mexico Environment Department $10,000
Sandra Ely, P.O. Box 26110, Santa Fe, NM 87502
Public Outreach about Effects of Ground-Level Ozone in San Juan County
To teach fourth-grade students about the effects of ozone in San Juan County, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) is providing ozone educational activities for 28 elementary schools. NMED contacts teachers after these activities to provide follow-up instruction about lesson plan development and about how to lead students through exercises that demonstrate how ozone impacts their daily lives.
New Mexico Office of the State Engineer $5,000
Cheri Vogel, P.O. Box 25102, Santa Fe, NM 87504
Water Conservation Teacher Mini-Workshop
The Water Conservation Teacher Mini-Workshop project is designed to educate teachers about water-related issues in New Mexico and to supply them with water conservation educational materials for themselves and their students. The Office of the State Engineer is partnering with local municipalities to host a series of 10 to 15 workshops throughout the state. The priority for having a workshop goes to areas that have been most affected by drought and that do not have a water education program in place. Less populated rural areas are given the opportunity to partner with neighboring school districts in order to fill a workshop. Workshops specifically designed for teachers in early elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools are available.
Santa Fe Children's Museum $5,000
Ellen O'Donnell, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87505
Teen Educators in Earthworks
The goal of the Teen Educators in Earthworks project is to increase environmental literacy among families in Santa Fe and northern New Mexico. Approximately 4,000 people participate in the programs of the Santa Fe Children’s Museum each year. The museum’s Earthworks projects serve as living demonstrations of how a community can solve its inherent problems with land restoration while creating a context for hands-on environmental education. The museum’s programs are free and have no registration requirements for community members.
2002 Grants
New Mexico Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement, Inc. $20,000
Michael Garcia, 2808 Central, S.E., #122, Albuquerque, NM 87106
Summer Ecology Research Project
This project provides a high quality environmental science education to interested New Mexico Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) teachers and students throughout the state. The goals and objectives of the project include providing prospective college students, especially rural and culturally diverse students, with exposure to environmentally related fieldwork and scientific research techniques; written and oral communications aspects of math, science and technology through the use of web pages; and written reports and oral presentations. The project also focuses on the importance of proper use and maintenance of natural resources by individuals and local economies, and provides enhanced teacher training to ensure the long-term sustainability of these classes. Training is conducted through workshops in a classroom setting and field trips. Key partners include the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, the Albuquerque Public School District, and other New Mexico school districts with MESA programs.
The Family YMCA Earth Service Corps $5,000
Diana Martinez, 1450 Iris Street, Los Alamos, NM 87544
Environmental and Service Learning Program
This project's primary goal is to establish an environmental education platform that gives area youth the opportunity to develop their skills while providing meaningful service to Los Alamos and nearby communities. The program is conducted through formal classroom and hands-on, service-learning activities that include trail restoration in fire-damaged areas, grass reseeding projects, erosion control measures, natural spring reseeding projects, riparian surveys, and documentation projects. Partners include the U.S. Forest Service's Espanola Ranger District, Los Alamos County, Los Alamos Trails and Pathways Association, and a multi-agency group known as the Volunteer Task Force.
2001 Grants
Cerrillos Hills Park Coalition $4,800
E.J. Patterson, P. O. Box 191, Cerrillos, NM 87010
Spring Enhancement Education Initiative
The initiative establishes an environmental learning station in the Cerrillos Hills Historic Park that provides testing and measuring equipment and interactive tools for use by students in kindergarten through grade 12. The learning stations, 8 to 10 of which are developed, provide skill and content activities that progress from grade to grade, incorporating a wide range of content areas and providing opportunities for collaboration among county support staff, educational volunteers, teachers, and local businesses and organizations. The major trail in the park offers viewpoints, monitoring stations, and restoration work areas that visitors easily can observe without interfering with ongoing restoration work. Because a number of soil types are found in the park, students have the opportunity to apply various monitoring and testing techniques and explore a number of approaches to restoration.
Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park $4,531
Stephanie Bestelmeyer, P. O. Box 891, Las Cruces, NM 88004
Volunteer Educator Hands-On Science Program
Volunteers from local communities develop knowledge of and an appreciation for a desert environment through a hands-on science program. Those volunteers then go into classrooms to teach children 10 lessons on natural science and the environment. All lessons feature hands-on learning experiences that introduce students to the excitement of science, while they learn the critical-thinking skills inherent in the scientific process. The nature park works in partnership with USDA, New Mexico State University, and the Las Cruces Public Schools. More than 1,000 students are expected to benefit from the project, which focuses on deserts and water, animal adaptation, plant adaptation, insects and other arthropods, soil erosion, weather, reptiles and amphibians, seed banks, mammals, and herbivores.
Cuba Independent School District $4,558
Alan Carson, Cuba, NM 87013
Our Water, Our Life
Students learn about the relationships between land and waters in their community through hands-on projects provided by the Forest Service. The projects focus on such local issues as water quality, the health and sustainability of the Rio Puerco watershed, and future growth and use of resources. After participating in field trips provided by the Forest Service, students return to the classroom for more hands-on activities to reinforce what they have learned. Teachers participate in Project WET workshops; exploration kits educate teachers and increase their awareness of opportunities to incorporate environmental lessons in all aspects of their classroom curricula. The goal of the school district is to establish environmental education as a part of the district’s overall curriculum.
NM Mesa, Inc. $20,000
Michael Garcia, 2808 Central, Albuquerque, NM 87106
Summer Ecology Research Program
NM Mesa provides quality ecology education to teachers and students across the state by providing prospective college students with information about careers related to environmental science. The project provides hands-on experiences in ecology through field work and instruction in the techniques of scientific research; exposes students to aspects of mathematics, science, and technology through web pages; and emphasizes the proper use and maintenance of natural resources. Students are trained in the use of such field equipment as sweep nets, kick nets, D-nets, bottom dredges, plankton tows, and pitfall traps. In exploring the physical environment, students are trained in the use of instruments that monitor weather conditions and similar techniques. Students are required to maintain portfolios of their research and produce research papers when they have completed their projects.
2000 Grants
College of Santa Fe $9,997
Pamela Herman, 1600 St. Michaels Drive, Santa Fe, NM 87505
Alvord Environmental Exploration and Discovery Project
Three outdoor environmental science exploration areas, observation, measurement, and collection, are prepared to assist teachers in framing scientific inquiries and investigative techniques. Teachers' understanding of environmental science is enhanced through workshops and consultative field trips. The goal is to cross-train scientist parents and college faculty in the basic methods of developmentally appropriate teaching for elementary students.
Southwest Environmental Center $5,000
Kevin Bixby, 1494 A South Solano, Las Cruces, NM 88001
EE Training for After-School Program Instructors
Twenty-five adults receive training in environmental education for after-school programs. Students are exposed to age-appropriate environmental issues through questions, analysis, discussion of environmental systems and processes, and basic skills for addressing issues and increase their sense of civic responsibility, as well. An example of an age appropriate topic is the environmental problems associated with wasting food.
Border Environmental Health Coalition $6,360
Victoria Simons, P. O. Box 134, Mesilla Park, NM 88047
Community-Based Solutions to Illegal Dumping
This project involves middle school students in addressing the effects on environmental health of illegal dumping of trash. Students document the trash problem and present their findings to parents and community members who, in turn, present the findings to officials of the county government. The expected outcome of the educational process is the development of solutions to the trash problem and the creation by the community of a sustainable model to be used in addressing environmental problems in the future.
Earth Day Coalition of New Mexico $5,000
Jill Von Osten, P. O. Box 30583, Albuquerque, NM 87190
Student Education and Rural Outreach Program
The Student Education and Rural Outreach Program is expanding its student educational and outreach efforts to rural communities throughout New Mexico through an in-classroom speakers bureau, informational fairs, field trips, local environmental projects, public events, educational forums, and a statewide environmental conference. Numerous partnerships statewide, including all rural school districts, support the program. The specific target of the effort is 1,000 students in 9th through 12th grades.
Friends of the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge $10,340
P. O. Box 340, San Antonio, NM 87832
Conservation Through the Arts
Conservation Through the Arts introduces an interactive, interdisciplinary study unit into the classroom. The unit augments existing curricula, programs, and educational resources, while integrating experiences in wetlands conservation science and the fine arts. Presentations include an interactive photograph and slide show, cooperative learning think-tank discussion forums, a hands-on art workshop, field trips, and tours of the refuge during which students take part in hands-on activities related to wetlands science.
Friends of the Rio Grande Nature Center $5,600
Karen Brown, 2901 Candelaria N.W., Albuquerque, NM 87107
Rio Grande Ecology Institute for Teens
The Rio Grande Ecology Institute is an extensive summer program for teenagers. The institute focuses on water studies, field trips, interactive presentations by experts, benefit work projects along the Rio Grande River, interaction between native plants and animals on the bosque ecosystem, the effects of exotic species on native plants and animals, hydrogeological features, aquatic organism dynamics, and more.
Border Environmental Health Coalition $5,000
Kitty Richards, P. O. Box 134, Mesilla Park, NM 88047
Children's Photographic Study of Environmental Health Concerns
This project challenges 100 middle school students to photograph environmental conditions in their neighborhoods and write essays about the photographs that include comments on the environmental concerns, their implied causes, their potential health effects, and the potential solutions to those problems. The best of the photos and essays are published in local newspapers and displayed in public areas. The project is intended to enhance students' environmental awareness and ability to identify and analyze visual material.
Salt Missions Trails Main Street $4,250
Susan Simons, P. O. Box 48, Estancia, NM 87016
Thoreau Landfill Reclamation Project
This project educates middle school students about the environmental hazards posed by an old dump site and gives them the information they need to make decisions about actions they should take to resolve such problems. The project includes field trips, meetings with experts, access to computer resources, and correspondence with other communities that have experienced similar problems.
Santa Fe Botanical Garden $5,000
Beth Anderson, P. O. Box 23343, Santa Fe, NM 87502
Santa Fe Botanical Garden Docent Training Program
Under this project, 20 docents attend 40-hour workshops to learn how to lead tours through the Leonora Curtin Natural History Area in the Ortiz Mountains, a native environment adjacent to Santa Fe Community College, and promote environmental education through presentations for local schools and community organizations.
Santa Fe Children's Museum $5,000
Ellen Biderman, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Earthworks Comprehensive Family Education Programming
Land adjacent to the museum has become an outdoor classroom to serve 60,000 museum visitors annually, targeting the 11,000 children among them. Free workshops give visitors the opportunity to view a 900-square-foot projection greenhouse, a children's vegetable garden, fruit trees, butterfly and hummingbird gardens, homing pigeons, various live animals, wetlands, a pond, a miniature adobe village, a weather station, and a southwestern gardening amphitheater. Handouts are provided in both English and Spanish.
Friends of the Rio Grande Nature Center $5,000
Karen Brown, 2901 Candelaria Northwest, Albuquerque, NM 87107
Aquatic Education Workshops
Friends of the Rio Grande Nature Center is a cooperative, long-term, citizen project dedicated to gathering and sharing information about the ecological conditions of the Rio Grande and its riverside forest ecosystem. The project examines the plants and animals of the bosque and explores the ways in which their evolution has been changed by human activity. Environmental educators participate in aquatic ecology workshops that expand existing curricula to focus on aquatic resources and the need to protect, maintain, and study those resources.
La Plata Middle School $5,000
Tom Sweitzer, 2810 N. Swan Street, Silver City, NM 88061
La Plata's Plot to Improve Urban Arroyo Healthy Riparian System
Drawing on data from an inventory survey of sites, this project creates maps that depict the information collected through that survey. It is replacing nonnative species of plants and installing a nature trail and an in-stream structure to catch sediment and pond water. The project also provides a video that documents the process of restoration at the site.
New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science $4,860
Kristin Gunckel, 1801 Mountain Road Northwest, Albuquerque, NM 87104
Econnections Environmental Education Project in Rural New Mexico
This comprehensive project helps to build state and local capacity to deliver quality environmental education by providing school districts with a continuum of environmental education programs. It improves instructional strategies in environmental education by providing teachers with curriculum and workshops that reflect efforts in the state to achieve education reform. The project also provides students and teachers a means of examining and developing an understanding of environmental issues in their own communities.
Recursos de Santa Fe $4,901
Kessa Shipley, 826 Camino De Monte Rey, A-3, Santa Fe, NM 87505
Gonzales Elementary G-SCAPE II - Model Water Conservation Education Project
This project addresses critical environmental issues in high desert areas where water is in very short supply and the levels of human population are skyrocketing. The project is designed to increase awareness of such issues and develop a heightened sense of responsibility for conserving water. To measure the effectiveness of the program, the use of educational materials related to water issues and the comments of students and parents are tracked.
Salt Missions Trails Mainstreet $3,825
Susan Simons, P. O. Box 48, Estancia, NM 87016
Estancia Landfill Reclamation Project
This project familiarizes low-income culturally distinct community groups with the environmental hazards posed by an old dump site and equips them with the tools and information they need to make decisions about actions they should take to resolve the problem. Students and science teachers use new curriculum material and meet with experts in waste management from local public agencies and private industry. The curriculum materials developed under the project are easily adaptable for use in other school districts.
Las Cruces Public Schools $4,500
Marcy Oxford, 505 South Main Street, Las Cruces, NM 88001
Outdoor Classroom
This project involves Hillside Elementary students in kindergarten through fifth grade who are predominantly Hispanic in pilot testing hands-on environmental curriculum at an outdoor classroom located on 10 acres of trust lands donated by the New Mexico Land Office. The students will focus on plant and animal study, archaeology, and geology.
Pueblo of Pojoaque $24,920
Ron Martinez, Route 11, Box 208, Santa Fe, NM 87501
DOER (Developing Ownership of Environmental Resources) Program
The DOER (Developing Ownership of Environmental Resources) Program involves 150 students in sixth through eighth grades in hands-on activities, a participatory lecture series, and on-site field trips relating to water issues.
Regents of New Mexico State University, Waste Management Education & Research Consortium $144,981
Dr. Larryl K. Matthews, Engineering Research Center, Office of Sponsored Programs, Box 30001, Dept. 3699, Las Cruces, NM 88003-8001
New Mexico/Mexico Needs Assessment and Environmental Teacher Training Program
The Waste-Management Education & Research Consortium at New Mexico State University project will conduct workshops to expand the environmental teaching capabilities of high school science and math teachers in New Mexico and the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. The New Mexico/Mexico Needs Assessment and Environmental Teacher Training Program ensures that high school environmental curricula reflect state-of-the art environmental education by training border area teachers to use existing environmental education resources such as New Mexico State Department of Education Benchmarks/Standards and National Consortium for Environmental Education and Training guidelines. A needs assessment is being conducted prior to the workshops to ensure their effectiveness. The more than 150 teachers who are being trained ultimately hope to reach an audience of more than 100,000 Mexican students and 82,000 high school students from New Mexico, including Native American and Hispanic students.
Young Women's Christian Association $25,000
Diane Mourning Brown, 7201 Paseo del Norte NE, Albuquerque, NM 87113
YWCA Kids and the Environment
More than 5,000 children and 600 adults participate in the YWCA Kids and the Environment program located in three economically and culturally diverse communities in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Activities relate to pollution and source reduction, wildlife statutes, geology, and natural resource management and erosion control.
Navajo Community College $4,500
Mark C. Bauer, P. O. Box 580, Shiprock, NM 87420-0580
Incorporating Environmental Education into Children's Science Summer Program
This project will add an environmental education component to the "Summer Science Enrichment Program for Navajo Youth." The six-week program will enroll 80 Navajo students in grades 4 through 8 from the Four Corners area. Problems relating to solid waste management, drinking water quality, river water quality, air pollution, and hazardous waste management are issues to be included in the science curriculum.
Northern New Mexico Community College $5,000
Karen S. Young, 1002 N. Onate Street, Espanola, NM 87532
The Environment: A Summer Workshop for Teachers
The purpose of this project is to improve the environmental teaching skills of teachers. The target audience is the teachers of the five day schools and the Head Start programs of eight Northern Pueblos. The result of the project will be teachers who are well-informed about the environmental problems and issues faced on reservations. The project will deliver the education through a five-day workshop and instructional materials. The instruction will address issues relative to water pollution, habitat, waste disposal, and hazardous materials on reservations.
Talking Talons Youth Leadership $16,000
Wendy C. Aeschliman, P. O. Box 2020, Tijeras, NM 87059-2020
School-Based Peer to Peer Environmental Leadership
The purpose of this project is to educate an elementary school population in environmental education year round through ongoing environmental leadership classroom presentations by peers. The project calls for training approximately 25 elementary students bi-weekly to give presentations in assemblies and in classrooms. The emphasis will be on health, habitat preservation, and environmental science.
Carlsbad Caverns-Guadalupe Mountains Association $5,000
Teresa M. Jaskiewicz, P. O. Box 1417, Carlsbad, NM 88221
Partnerships with Carlsbad Caverns Teacher Workshops
The "Partnerships with Carlsbad Caverns Teacher Workshops" will train teachers to prepare students for visits to the national park and to lead tours through the park.
Gadsden Independent School District $5,000
Pamela Donaldson, 2500 W. Washington Ave., Anthony, NM 88021
Water Quality Curriculum
Under this grant, materials and curricula will be developed and equipment purchased for this school district. Teachers will be trained to guide high school students as they teach 5th graders about water quality issues in the Gadsden area.
Santa Fe Community College $5,000
Mary Ann Walz, P. O. Box 4187, Santa Fe, NM 87502
Teacher and Counselor Environmental Workshop
The "Teacher and Counselor Environmental Workshop" will focus on how to incorporate 50-minute environmental lessons into existing curricula. Workshop content also includes environmental career counseling and promoting awareness of environmental concerns in the Santa Fe, New Mexico area.
Youth Development, Inc. $18,000
Augustine C. Baca, 6301 Central NW, Albuquerque, NM 87105
Children Develop Educational Tools
For this project, children will develop multi-cultural, bilingual educational tools, including a coloring book, to raise awareness of groundwater contamination and other environmental issues.
Bernalillo, New Mexico $5,000
Belinda Casto-Landolt, P. O. Box 640, Bernalillo, NM 87004
Ecology of the Bosque del Apache
The purpose of this project is to develop an environmental education curriculum which will focus on the unique local ecology of the Bosque del Apache, a major flyway for sandhill cranes, snow geese, Canadian geese, and raptors. Students will use an outdoor laboratory to gain understanding of the problem of disappearing bosques.
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science $4,960
Letitia Morris, 1801 Mountain Road NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104-1375
Compost Bins Exhibit
An exhibit of replicable compost bins, including a worm bin, will be designed and installed under this project at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, which is visited annually by 350,000 tourists. The simple graphics and text will encourage home composting by explaining its benefits and the need to reduce landfill use.
Northern New Mexico Community College $5,000
Connie Valdez, 1002 N. Ornate Street, Espanola, NM 87532
The Environment: A Summer Workshop for Teachers
"The Environment: A Summer Workshop for Teachers" project will provide five days of intensive training for 30 teachers who work directly with students and parents in the eight Northern Indian Pueblos tribes. Instruction will include hands-on training in the use of monitoring equipment.
Pojoaque Pueblo $5,000
Rey Ann Nastacio, Route 11, Box 71, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Making Connections
The "Making Connections" project will educate area residents to make decisions and take action to prevent further groundwater contamination in the valleys. Nine workshops are planned for 500 attendees who will organize grassroots committees to plan further environmental education activities.
Rio Grande Community Development $5,000
Julia A. Stephens, P. O. Box 12791, Albuquerque, NM 87195-2791
Constructed Wetlands/Wildlife Sanctuary Education
The "Constructed Wetlands/Wildlife Sanctuary Education" project will educate the public about using constructed wetlands as an alternative to conventional sewage treatment. Thirty households will participate in a pilot workshop which will be developed as a model for replication in other communities.
Sol Y Sombra Foundation $23,600
Cheryl Charles, 4018 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87505
Watershed Rehabilitation Leadership and Volunteer Education Program
The "Watershed Rehabilitation Leadership and Volunteer Education Program" will promote ecological restoration projects in watersheds by developing educational materials, promoting informed volunteerism for environmental quality, conducting workshops, and conducting and evaluating actual site projects.
Western Network $5,000
Rosemary Romero Morris, 616 Don Gasper, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Open-Air Classroom Environmental Project
The "Open-Air Classroom Environmental Project" will develop a model environmental education program for rural northern New Mexico schools. Resources from a variety of state and federal land and resource management agencies will be used. Three parcels of land will be acquired through the Environmental Education Easement program to use in teaching about such topics as soil, vegetation, and wildlife.
Moriarity Municipal Schools $5,000
Moriarity, NM 87035
Operation Desert Grow
The "Operation Desert Grow" project will allow students to explore water conservation issues through activities that emphasize exploration, scientific process skills, and discovery learning. The activities of this project will be conducted in the following settings: classroom laboratory, garden plots, a greenhouse, a nature trail, and a composting area.
New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources $24,750
Santa Fe, NM 87505
Statewide Source Reduction Public Information Campaign
This grant funds the "Statewide Source Reduction Public Information Campaign" project which will focus on expanding the state's present programs by creating task force audit teams to promote commercial source-reduction audits and to recommend effective source-reduction methods.
New Mexico State University $127,500
Las Cruces, NM 88003
Project del Rio
This grant funds "Project del Rio" which seeks to expand participation by high schools in monitoring the water quality of the Rio Grande on both sides of the border. This project will: (1) provide greater coverage of water-quality monitoring; (2) enhance educational curriculum by incorporating newly available resources; (3) address specific water-quality concerns within the Rio Grande watershed; (4) establish partnerships with citizen-monitoring groups; and (5) draw upon the resources of Mexican educators.
Road Runners Recyclers, Inc. $5,000
El Prado, NM 87529
A Recycled Playground
This grant funds a project to construct a playground out of discarded materials in a low-income housing area. The project will demonstrate methods of teaching recycling, reuse, and reduction techniques that can be implemented throughout communities nationwide.