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NEWS RELEASE |
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"Revitalize" the City of Baltimore
For over 10 years, the Northeastern Area, State and Private Forestry has worked with the Parks and People Foundation to "Revitalize" the City of Baltimore. This work has focused on helping to bring trees and green space back into the City and to improve the quality of local parks and open spaces. "Revitalizing Baltimore" has also been about connecting residents of the City with the natural world around them, to the watershed in which they live, and to the Chesapeake Bay downstream.
In recent years this work has turned its attention to the City schools – a key part of revitalization. Working with the City, Parks and People and other partners including Maryland Port Administration, an aggressive plan is being implemented to remove the asphalt and “green” schoolyards to improve water quality, reduce the urban heat island and energy consumption and improve air quality. But beyond these ecological improvements, trees and green spaces are also becoming living classrooms.
Recently, NA and the Parks and People Foundation received a grant from the inaugural “More Kids in the Woods” program. This grant program was inspired by Richard Louv’s book, “Last Child in the Woods”. The grant will initiate a Schoolyard Habitat & Education Program to build on the benefits of each new schoolyard through field trips, hands-on inquiry based activities, student directed restoration projects and teacher workshops on outdoor experiences for their students. The program will provide Baltimore City youth with opportunities to explore the local environment, teach an appreciation for the natural world and record and share their experiences in nature and promote environmental stewardship; experiences many of these disadvantaged students do not receive from traditional school curricula or other support systems.
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| Al Todd, Watershed Program Leader discusses the work of NA in the City of Baltimore and introduces the partners who will be working together in Baltimore on the "Schoolyard Habitat and Education" Project funded through More Kids in the Woods |
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| Rachel Doebber of the Parks and People Foundation describes efforts to create living classrooms by greening schoolyards in Baltimore. Parks and People will be leading "More Kids in the Woods" efforts in the City. |
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| More Kids in the Woods grant recipients join Richard Louv, author of "Last Child in the Woods", Undersecretary of USDA, Mark Rey, Dr. Anne Bartuska, Deputy Chief for Research, and the National Forest Foundation at the announcement of the "More Kids in the Woods" grants in Washington DC. |