Creating Healthy Habitats at our future campus
Annual Shakespeare Festival on the River Road property on the Pedernales RIver
Healthy Habitats Grants Awarded to 15 Texas Schools, Nonprofits
Student Projects Will Help Implement Texas Wildlife Action Plan
AUSTIN, Texas — A total of $225,000 in Texas Healthy Habitats Grants has been awarded to 15 different schools and non-profit youth organizations across the state, including near Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, Bryan, Lubbock and other cities. Each organization will receive up to $15,000 to support students doing service-learning projects to benefit wildlife and the environment.
The future site of the private Ambleside School of Fredericksburg is a 55-acre tract just outside the city on the Pedernales River. Students will transplant trees, forbs, and grasses in the upland pastures; build structures and/or install plants that provide favorable habitat for birds, mammals, butterflies, and hummingbirds; and transplant grasses in the riparian zone along the river to help reduce runoff and improve water filtration in this ecologically sensitive area.
The students will address priorities in the Texas Wildlife Action Plan, a blueprint to "keep common species common" and avoid more species from becoming threatened and endangered. Texas is believed to be the first state offering grants for student service projects to support a state wildlife action plan.
The grants are being administered by the Texas Center for Service-Learning, made possible with a donation from EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department scientists met with student-teacher teams on Aug. 14 in Austin, and TPWD experts will continue to guide grant projects as they unfold over the next year.
Students will research and define a local environmental issue, investigate public and organizational policies related to the issue, design and implement a service-learning project in collaboration with at least two community partners (including TPWD staff), evaluate and publicize the results to public officials and community members, and develop Web profiles for each project that will be integrated into the TPWD and TxCSL Web sites. Students will likely plan projects this fall and do field work in spring.
Earlier this year, EnCana donated $486,000 to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation. The donations supports the Healthy Habitats grants program, plus two other projects-control of giant salvinia and other invasive plants choking Toledo Bend reservoir in East Texas, and facilities for the new Texas Game Warden Training Center in Hamilton County.
Since 1991, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation has been the official non-profit partner of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. By bringing together companies, corporations, communities and individuals, the foundation has raised more than $60 million benefiting a wide variety of projects.
EnCana is one of North America’s largest independent natural gas producers. The company has a long history of supporting conservation and education causes. For the past two years EnCana has been on both the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and the North American Index. Inclusion in these groups demonstrates high environmental, social, and business standards.
The Texas Center for Service-Learning is a statewide initiative of Region 14 Education Service Center and the Texas Education Agency thatseeks to improve student achievement through service-learning, the thoughtful integration of community service with academic learning. The center assists students, teachers, administrators, and communities in Texas with training, technical assistance, and resources to develop and strengthen service-learning. It is generously supported by the Learn and Serve America program of the Corporation for National and Community Service.
Our future home on Old River Road south of Fredericksburg off of Highway 87 will have acres of land and frontage on the Pedernales River.
Help Ambleside today build the campus with your tax deductible donation.
rendition courtesy of Diana Warren
|
