Grantees

Thanks to all who participated in the Healthy Habitats training on October 28-29 at Bishop Dunne Catholic School!  Photos of the event will be posted at a later date at  Healthy Habitats facebook page. 

For a refresher on media tips, please download Media Relations 101.

To request reimbursement for grant expenditures (due January 31 and July 30), please download the Healthy Habitats Expenditure Report Form.

A total of $141,329 in Texas Healthy Habitats Grants has been awarded to different schools and non-profits across the state.

Each organization will receive up to $10,000 to support students doing service-learning projects to benefit wildlife and the environment.

Service Learning Texas awarded an additional 9 new grants in October for this innovative program, which is a partnership with Encana Oil & Gas (USA), Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), and Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (Esri).  Congratulations to our new Healthy Habitats grantees! The new grant recipients are:

Ereckson Middle School, Allen ISD
Teacher/Coordinator-Laurie Merrick: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Students in the Environmental Club will take the lead in improving the riparian zone of Rowlett Creek by removing invasive plants and creating new habitats; by establishing a new wetland habitat at the Connemara Meadow Preserve for birds of concern including the Harris's Sparrow, the Painted Bunting, and the Dickcissel; and by sharing data on the project with state and local organizations.  Partners include the City of Allen, Connemara Conservancy, and the Foundation for Allen Schools.

Allen High School, Allen, TX
Teacher/Coordinator-Heidi Reese: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
The Environmental Advocacy Team will partner with the City of Allen, the Lewisville Aquatic Ecosystem Research Facility, ERMI Environmental Labs, Connemara Conservancy, and the Ecoliteracy Project @ Olson Elementary to improve the water quality of Cottonwood Creek.  They plan to accomplish this by engineering and constructing a natural bioretention area in Allen Station Park across from the High School and designing an interactive kiosk on the bioretention zone and its native plants.

Travis Middle School, Port Lavaca, TX
Teacher/Coordinator-Sherrie Krause: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Eighth grade students in the Water Watchers Club will continue their work to restore sensitive gulf coast habitat for the Fiddler Crab while also conducting testing and data collection on waterways that feed into the bay.  With support from the Texas State Game Warden and from local staff of the Agrilife Extension Office, the Department of State Health, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and the Lavaca Navidad River Authority, students will seek to educate citizens and private landowners on the importance of riparian zones and conservation.

Bishop Dunne Catholic School, Dallas, TX
Teacher/Coordinator-Katy Bove: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Seventh grade students in the campus environmental club will work with staff of the Trinity River Audubon Center and with the Dallas urban biologist from Texas Parks and Wildlife to restore prairielands in the park and gather data that can help with future restorations.

Central Elementary School, Pollok, TX
Teacher/Coordinator-Susan Sanders: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Working with regional staff of the Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Texas Forest Service, 5th grade students will reestablish native forest in an area that was cleared to build a new school.  In the process they will also remove invasive species such as the Chinese Tallow and the Chinese Privet.

Glen Rose High School, Glen Rose, TX
Teacher/Coordinator-Wendy Thompson: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Juniors and Seniors in Environmental Science classes and students from other organizations will work to restore forty-five more acres of their 125 acres of land at Squaw Creek Park with the dual goals of increasing the population of the Eastern Bluebird and repopulating the Bobwhite Quail.  In particular, they'll work to decrease undesirable woody plant cover, increase usable loafing and escape cover for Bobwhite Quail, and increase suitable cavity nesting for Eastern Bluebirds with support from staff of Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant, Luminant Power, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Natural Resources Conservation Services, and the Brazos Valley Soil and Water Conservation District.

Navarro High School, Seguin, TX
Teacher/Coordinator-Rissa Springs: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
In partnership with the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, Texas Lutheran University, and the Seguin Outdoor Learning Center, students will clean up the Plum Creek watershed from its headwaters to the confluence with the Guadalupe River and then restore natural grasses, forbs, and trees along the banks of the creek to help filter water flow during rain events to help prevent pollution.

St. John Episcopal School, Dallas, TX
Teacher/Coordinator-Toni Herrin: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Teacher/Co-coordinator-LeAnne Wyatt: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Teacher/Co-coordinator-Liz Christensen: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Eighth grade students in the required Environmental Science Class will work with a local Master Naturalist, the Dallas urban biologist from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and with staff of the Dallas Parks and Recreation Department, the Nature Conservancy, and For the Love of the Lake, to remove Johnson Grass and Queen Anne’s Lace in targeted remnants of the Blackland Prairie near White Rock Lake and to produce information brochures and surveys to be distributed at the Bath House Cultural Center Museum.

GRANTS AWARDED IN AUGUST 2011:

Olson Elementary—Allen, TX
Teacher/Coordinator—Kirk Evans: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
We will continue our work in the Connemara Meadow Preserve along the riparian zone of Rowlett Creek. Using the Conservation Action Plan as our guide, we will create new habitats and directly manage natural resources by removing invasive plants in new areas so that we can restore and establish larger native prairie grass communities to encourage wildlife productivity. These selected areas of the meadow preserve will also enhance the watershed stability of Rowlett Creek.

Rio Bravo Wildlife Institute/LivingWay Leadership Academy—Brownsville, TX
Teacher/Coordinator—Carol Sebastian: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
The Science Club will design and construct a hoop house at RBWI’s Urban Ecology Center located at Lincoln Park to establish a native wetland plants nursery. The students will introduce native plants cultivated in the nursery to a section of the Resaca located at the Park to allow visitors to observe and learn more about restoring Resaca wetland habitat. The students will coordinate several community restoration workdays and engage other interest groups in this effort through work at the Center and by presenting to various interest groups.

Friona ISD, Friona, TX
Teacher/Coordinator—Patsy Allen: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
We will work with TPWD and other partners to analyze and develop the Reeves Lake area as a permanent playa lake educational area with trails and interpretive data to educate students and all visitors about the playa lakes and their role in the water cycle, and as a habitat for plants and animals. This will involve research, using GIS software, conducting comparative field investigations, removal of invasive species while introducing native ones and developing publications, videos and presentations for the community.

Coppell High School, Coppell, TX
Teacher/Coordinator—Holly Anderson: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Teacher/Coordinator—Sally Urquhart: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Students will evaluate soil composition data and determine whether the site is truly of the Blackland Prairie or actually Cross-Timbers Prairie eco-region in order to make revisions to restoration and maintenance plans. Students will be working closely with GIS software to collect and organize data from the prairie and its surrounding areas through continued soil analysis, analyzing flora and fauna species and determining densities of invasive versus native populations. Students will use hand-held GPS units and probe-ware to organize data to upload to GIS software. By entering data into a GIS map, students will be able to analyze and identify changes. To evaluate our impact on the natural environment, students will look at pollutants in the surrounding industrial parking lots and conduct labs on the impact the found pollutants have on our soil type and on the water quality of the creek.

Fort Worth Country Day School, Fort Worth, TX
Teacher/Coordinator—Perri Carr: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Project Prairie is multi-faceted, focusing on: 1) removing invasive species which overpopulate the area and take the nutrients and space needed for native plants to grow. We will host workdays to remove invasive plant species from our prairie; 2) species restoration by planting additional native species to increase biodiversity. During our workdays we will also plant rescued and propagated native species to increase their population. Additionally, we will promote and plant “pocket prairies” (both on- and off-campus) to improve monarch, native bird, and turkey habitat in our community; 3) continuing our community based research about prairies and green roofs and add looking at soil moisture on the prairie versus the green roof.

Coder Elementary, Aledo, TX
Teacher/Coordinator—Michelle Yates: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Students will work with community partners to restore native vegetation to the creek located on school property behind our school. The restoration will include signage informing the public about the benefits of native vegetation, and the wildlife habitats created by the native plantings. The need to educate citizens will be met by students creating interpretative signage, public service announcements, website updates, and presentations. As one of their public service events, students will host a gallery night, with original pieces of art, created by the students.
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Healthy Habitats Grantees will address priorities in the Texas Conservation Action Plan. 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 Service Learning Texas Websites and the Healthy Habitats Facebook Page.

This Healthy Habitat grant opportunity will help students meet TEKS objectives through planned, deliberate investigations of the natural world as they learn about changes occurring in nature, communicate valid conclusions to others, and use scientific data to provide thoughtful input into ethical decisions faced by communities. The grant is designed to involve youth in grades 5-12, teachers, and community members in service-learning initiatives to improve and/or restore the natural environment.