The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently awarded grants to environmental education programs on the Big Island and Kauai: EPA awards grants to
Big Isle, Kauai programs
Star-Bulletin staff
>> The Tropical Reforestation Ecosystems Education Center on the Big Island will receive $12,310 for its adult education program about critical native Hawaiian habitat issues.
The grant funds classroom lectures, workshops on growing native Hawaiian plants and restoring habitats with native plants. Restoration work is designed to assist in the completion of the interpretive site at the Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park.
Project partners include the state Department of Education and the U.S. National Park Service. For more information, contact Pamela Davis-Lee at (808) 937-8183.
>> The Waipa Foundation on Kauai is to get $4,450 to support its work to educate people about the values of composting green waste to enrich the soil.
The foundation's work includes a curriculum for fourth- and fifth-graders called "The Earth Machines." It works with high school and college students, residents and farmers on techniques for composting and using compost in gardening.
The Kilauea Lighthouse Foundation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, County of Kauai, and four native Hawaiian-based organizations are working with the Waipa Foundation on the project. For more information, contact Melinda Sandler at (808) 826-9969.
The awards were among 17 given to educational programs in California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii, and totaled $190,000. The agency has been awarding environmental education grants since 1992.
