CONTACT: Kaitlyn Kelleher, NH Fish and Game Department: Kaitlyn.Kelleher@wildlife.nh.gov Ted Kendziora, US Fish and Wildlife Service: Ted_Kendziora@fws.gov April 8, 2020

Concord, NH – The Schoolyard Action Grant Team (Team) has awarded over $11,000 in small grants to schools throughout the Granite State. The selected institutions are working on outdoor classrooms, habitat areas, and pollinator gardens.

This year’s grant awards support a mix of projects including: the Montessori Schoolhouse of Cheshire County in Keene, which will use funding to create a pollinator garden; Gale River Cooperative Preschool in Bethlehem, which plans to develop a four-season trail with learning stations about native birds, habitat, and ecology; and Lincoln Street School in Exeter, which will utilize funds to create gardens designed for the monarch butterfly and other pollinators.

“This year remains unique for New Hampshire schools,” said Lindsay Webb, Wildlife Educator for NH Fish and Game. “We anticipated a robust response for grant applications this year because many schools are trying to develop ways to have their students learning outside in the fresh air and physically distanced from one another.”

“Over the next couple of years, we look forward to working with the awardees on their projects to improve their outdoor learning spaces and improve the value of local wildlife habitat,” said Ted Kendziora of the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Schoolyard Action Grant Partnership Team is made up of members from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, the US Fish and Wildlife Service New England Field Office, New Hampshire Project Learning Tree, and New Hampshire Audubon. The partnership combines individual funding, which comes from different sources with common focuses including encouraging native plantings, establishing wildlife habitat areas, and encouraging outdoor learning at schools. The team has also placed an emphasis on pollinators, especially the monarch butterfly. Schools are encouraged to develop milkweed and other wildflower habitat plantings, register their habitats as monarch waystations, and use the habitats for school citizen- science projects. Funding for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department’s participation came from a grant awarded by the Wildlife Heritage Foundation of New Hampshire. Other funding for grants is provided by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and New Hampshire Project Learning Tree.

Schools will have two years to complete their projects. The schools awarded small grants this year include:

FitKids Childcare, Lebanon Piermont Village School, Piermont Gale River Cooperative Preschool, Bethlehem Grantham Village School, Grantham Pace Career Academy, Pembroke Cornucopia, Peterborough Windy Hill at Colby-Sawyer College, New London Jennie D. Blake Elementary School, Hill Montessori Schoolhouse of Cheshire County, Keene Second Start Alternative High School, Concord Rise for Baby and Family, Keene Lincoln Street School, Exeter

To learn more about Schoolyard Action Grants visit https://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/education/grants.html.