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Two Rhode Island Groups Receive Environmental Education Grants

Release Date: 10/01/2001
Contact Information: Amy Miller, Press Office, (617) 918-1042

BOSTON - BOSTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that Rhode Island has received $18,940 in environmental education grants.

Keep Providence Beautiful has been awarded $13,977 to support efforts at the Mashapaug Pond Nature Center, where efforts are underway to create an educational garden and trails. About 30 inner city youth are working throughout the city this summer to create an environmental education component for the boating center at the pond. Youth will also be trained in brownfield sites, water quality, native and non-native plant species and recreation and educational use of open green space.

Providence College received $4,963 to examine herring gulls and common terns around Narragansett Bay to determine PCB levels in the bay. The project will look at carcasses and eggs, count gulls and terns in contaminated areas, and establish a network of observers in the community to create a database on bird plumage as an indicator of PBC contamination in Narragansett Bay.

"These projects in Rhode Island will help educate residents about their own environment and how they can help to protect it," said Robert Varney, regional administrator at EPA's New England office. "Teaching residents about the air, land and water around them is an effective, cost-efficient way to protect the environment."

EPA announced a total of $185,000 in environmental education grants to 24 New England organizations this year. These grants benefit the environment while educating students, teachers, and the public. EPA New England is currently accepting proposals for smaller grant requests. For more information on grants, visit EPA's website at https://www.epa.gov/region01 and click on education or call Sarah White at the EPA at 1-888-372-7341. The application deadline is Nov. 15.