EPA awards $370,000 in grants to boost environmental education programs in Iowa, Nebraska

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 7 office and the EPA Office of External Affairs and Environmental Education recently awarded environmental education grants totaling more than $370,000 to three organizations in Iowa and Nebraska.

The University of Nebraska Board of Regents will use its funding for a project titled “Introducing Environmental Sustainability Principles for Food Production into High School Science.” With $122,000 in funding, the board of regents will create curriculum that demonstrates our food system for students and helps them make personal decisions on environmental sustainability.

The Rowe Sanctuary’s Iain Nicolson Audubon Center, in Gibbon, Nebraska, will use its grant of $135,000 to create a wetland habitat at a new local high school. In partnership with Kearney Public Schools, the “Wetlands for Schools and Communities” project will benefit wetland species, including migratory birds, and filter runoff water, as well as a learning resource for the school’s students and the community at large, who will be able to learn about environmental stewardship.

In Davenport, Iowa, the Easter Iowa Community College District (EICC) will use a $144,000 grant for a project titled, “YES! Youth and Environmental Sustainability.” EICC will create workshops for science teachers to encourage middle and high school students to apply critical thinking and problem solving skills to environmental issues.