MNR provides outdoor environmental education grants for watershed studies
Funding supports projects promoting science and stewardship
Maryland DNR picture
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced $128,000 in awards for student and youth outdoor science and watershed education in the state. The following schools and nonprofits will receive funding in fiscal year 2023.
- Adkins Arboretum, ShoreRivers, and Caroline County Public Schools will engage second-grade students in the “Healthy Bees, Seeds, and Streams” field experience at the Arboretum. Through an outdoor problem investigation, students will discover how native plants, pollinators, and people can interact to create thriving terrestrial and aquatic habitats.
- The Accokeek Foundation and Prince George’s County Public Schools will help students learn about the perspective of Indigenous communities and the interdependence of the environment, cultural preservation, land and water rights, tribal sovereignty, stewardship of ancestral lands and the ethics of aboriginal stewardship.
- Living Classrooms Foundation will engage 500 students from five Baltimore City Public Schools in the School Leadership Project in Reducing Urban Runoff. This project-based learning experience focuses on stormwater pollution prevention through six hands-on environmental education experiences during the school year.
Outdoor education funding is made possible through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Implementation Grant.
An additional grant of $9,995 was awarded to the University of Maryland Environmental Science Center (UMCES) to train educators in the “Wave of Plastic” program in the eight public colleges of Charles County. This program engages students in plastic pollution issues and culminates in informed, student-led action projects. This grant is funded by the National Coastal Zone Management Program and was an Area of Special Interest for Marine Debris offered in this year’s grant application.
These grants were requested and administered by the DNR Grant Gateway offer a single point of entry for beneficiaries and ensure access to financing for innovative and local projects. Through improved linkages between similar grant programs, the ministry seeks to support more comprehensive and integrated projects that achieve at least one of the following outcomes: foster healthy ecosystems, build resilience, or provide learning experiences. outdoor learning.