EPA awards three environmental education grants in Pacific Northwest

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently awarded non-profits in Idaho, Oregon and Washington with environmental education grants worth a combined $272,992.

Each organization will contribute matching funds or time.

In Washington, Olympia’s Pacific Education Institute will allow more students in grades three trough 10 to learn about sustaining watershed health by training watershed facilitators to be informal educators.

Moscow, Idaho’s Regents of the University of Idaho will use its award to manage the 2015 Confluence Project, which will allow 200 high schoolers to take their science education outdoors with field experiences on water quality, water quantity, service learning, restoration and agriculture.

The Children’s Forest of Central Oregon, in Bend, Oregon, will help restore three streams in the state’s central region in the Deschutes Watershed Student Stewardship Projects.

“The projects that will be carried out as a result of these environmental education grants help increase public awareness about environmental issues,” EPA Region 10 Office of Ecosystems Tribal and Public Affairs Director David Allnutt said. “Not only will participants get firsthand knowledge about the environment and how to protect it, they will reach out to share their learning with others.”