New Jersey students and teachers will soon be better caretakers of the environment through their participation in environmental education projects focused on the state’s watersheds. The projects, totaling almost $33,000, are funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The students and teachers will explore the streams and brooks of the Great Swamp Watershed and the New Jersey Pinelands to understand how those smaller waterways become the Passaic, Mullica, Maurice and Toms Rivers. They will also find out how humans can pollute those waterways as they pass through towns and cities and how to stop and reverse those impacts.
“It is so important for young people to experience and understand the ways in which our rural, suburban and urban communities are linked by the watersheds and rivers they share,” said EPA Regional Administrator Alan J. Steinberg. “These programs will give educators and students the knowledge and skills they need to become the present and future caretakers of their environment.”
EPA’s local and nationwide educational programs promote environmental stewardship and support excellence in environmental education. Since 1992, EPA has funded more than $44 million in environmental education grants to support more than three thousand projects across the country. Agency partnerships, including the National Environmental Education Foundation and the Environmental Education Training Partnership, have given thousands of formal and non-formal educators the skills and knowledge needed to teach students of all ages about safeguarding the environment.
Source: EPA
