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UW-SP celebrates $6 million environmental grant

By BRIAN LEAHY
of The Gazette
A $5 million federal grant, plus $1 million of in-kind support from partner institutions, will make the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point the hub of environmental education efforts in the United States.

The three-year grant is the largest competitive grant the 106-year-old institution has ever been awarded. It will create the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's first-ever National Environmental Education Training Program at UW-SP's College of Natural Resources. Several university officials, plus the founder of Earth Day, former Wisconsin Sen. and Gov. Gaylord Nelson, were at a press conference Wednesday unveiling the program.

Nelson called "nurturing a society that is imbued in an environmental ethic" the most critical environmental issue.

"Unless they (persons from all walks of life) are imbued with a guiding ethic, we won't make the decisions we have to make," Nelson said.

Rick Wilke, distinguished professor of environmental education, will oversee the grant's implementation in the CNR and at 10 partner institutions in the U.S. The partners are the North American Association for Environmental Education, the Greater Washington Urban League, Project Learning Tree, Ohio State University, Northern Illinois University, World Wildlife Fund, National Project WET, Project WILD, the Groundwater Foundation and the Environment Roundtable.

"We've really assembled a Super Bowl-caliber team when you look at the partners we have … and UW-SP is the quarterback of that Super Bowl-caliber team," Wilke said.

The program will reach 50,000 students in 10,000 classrooms, Wilke said. The program has 30 initiatives, including greatly expanding environmental education training opportunities at teacher training institutions, providing leadership training at the local and national levels, implementing a national barter system facilitating the exchange of experts across the nation and providing guidelines for what environmental education materials educators should use.

"We're educating people to be better decision makers, to make decisions that have less impact on the environment," Wilke said. "Our approach is to train trainers. For the most part, we'll be reaching people who will be reaching others."

A recent survey found 96 percent of parents want environmental education taught to their students, Wilke said.

"The nation's children are not getting the environmental education desired by their parents," Wilke said.

Even in Wisconsin, a leader in environmental education, 37 percent of the school districts don't comply with the law requiring a K-12 environmental education curriculum, Wilke said.

CNR Dean Victor Phillips said it was appropriate that UW-SP, which had the first conservation education major and now has the largest undergraduate natural resources program, would serve as the hub and management entity for the National Environmental Education Training Program.

Nelson called the CNR the finest undergraduate program in the U.S. and said Wilke has been a leader promoting environmental education in the U.S.

"All the nations on the Earth, including us, are consuming our capital and putting it on the profit side of the ledger," Nelson said. "What's our capital? Air, water, soil, forests, lakes, rivers, oceans, scenic beauty. Take that away and all you have left is a wasteland."

Giving the example of road construction draining wetlands, Nelson said the heads of all institutions, including street and highway departments, must ask "when we intrude on the environment, what will be the consequences?"

In Nelson's hometown of Clear Lake, a marsh was drained for road construction years ago. A new school is on the site of the drained marsh, and even though teachers and students are working to restore a portion of the wetlands, it won't be as good as it was.

"We have compromised hundreds and hundreds of beautiful marshes just to straighten the highway so someone doesn't have to slow down (and) just to get to the other side faster," Nelson said.

The grant could be extended to five years and $10 million or maybe longer, Wilke said. The first two years have been appropriated by Congress.



	UW-SP celebrates $6 million environmental grant By BRIAN LEAHY of The Gazette A $5 million federal grant, plus $1 million of in-kind support from partner institutions, will make the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point the hub of environmental education efforts in the United States. The three-year grant is the largest competitive grant the 106-year-old institution has ever been awarded. It will create the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's first-ever National Environmental Education Training Program at UW-SP's College of Natural Resources. Several university officials, plus the founder of Earth Day, former Wisconsin Sen. and Gov. Gaylord Nelson, were at a press conference Wednesday unveiling the program. Nelson called "nurturing a society that is imbued in an environmental ethic" the most critical environmental issue. "Unless they (persons from all walks of life) are imbued with a guiding ethic, we won't make the decisions we have to make," Nelson said. Rick Wilke, distinguished professor of environmental education, will oversee the grant's implementation in the CNR and at 10 partner institutions in the U.S. The partners are the North American Association for Environmental Education, the Greater Washington Urban League, Project Learning Tree, Ohio State University, Northern Illinois University, World Wildlife Fund, National Project WET, Project WILD, the Groundwater Foundation and the Environment Roundtable. "We've really assembled a Super Bowl-caliber team when you look at the partners we have … and UW-SP is the quarterback of that Super Bowl-caliber team," Wilke said. The program will reach 50,000 students in 10,000 classrooms, Wilke said. The program has 30 initiatives, including greatly expanding environmental education training opportunities at teacher training institutions, providing leadership training at the local and national levels, implementing a national barter system facilitating the exchange of experts across the nation and providing guidelines for what environmental education materials educators should use. "We're educating people to be better decision makers, to make decisions that have less impact on the environment," Wilke said. "Our approach is to train trainers. For the most part, we'll be reaching people who will be reaching others." A recent survey found 96 percent of parents want environmental education taught to their students, Wilke said. "The nation's children are not getting the environmental education desired by their parents," Wilke said. Even in Wisconsin, a leader in environmental education, 37 percent of the school districts don't comply with the law requiring a K-12 environmental education curriculum, Wilke said. CNR Dean Victor Phillips said it was appropriate that UW-SP, which had the first conservation education major and now has the largest undergraduate natural resources program, would serve as the hub and management entity for the National Environmental Education Training Program. Nelson called the CNR the finest undergraduate program in the U.S. and said Wilke has been a leader promoting environmental education in the U.S. "All the nations on the Earth, including us, are consuming our capital and putting it on the profit side of the ledger," Nelson said. "What's our capital? Air, water, soil, forests, lakes, rivers, oceans, scenic beauty. Take that away and all you have left is a wasteland." Giving the example of road construction draining wetlands, Nelson said the heads of all institutions, including street and highway departments, must ask "when we intrude on the environment, what will be the consequences?" In Nelson's hometown of Clear Lake, a marsh was drained for road construction years ago. A new school is on the site of the drained marsh, and even though teachers and students are working to restore a portion of the wetlands, it won't be as good as it was. "We have compromised hundreds and hundreds of beautiful marshes just to straighten the highway so someone doesn't have to slow down (and) just to get to the other side faster," Nelson said. The grant could be extended to five years and $10 million or maybe longer, Wilke said. The first two years have been appropriated by Congress.