Wild and Blue School Youth Projects

Through the Wild and Blue School Youth Project program, CWF is inspiring and supporting creative and critical hands-on learning through wildlife habitat projects, like plantings focusing on native species. Educators can apply to certify a wide range of projects, like developing butterfly gardens, shelterbelts or duck nesting boxes. Many students learn by doing, and by supplementing teacher training with project resources CWF is engaging youth in important activities to protect ecosystems across this country. In 2009, 66 schools conducted 86 habitat education projects involving 11,582 students and youth who were supervised by 110 educators.

While there are many great examples of this experiential education in action, the Scott Young Public School in Omemee, Ontario, is outstanding in the field. Teacher Kevin Adams has been engaging students in tree plantings for the past 15 years, with ongoing support from CWF. Over the years, students have planted about 16,000 seedlings, creating a forested area featuring large fruit and red maple trees, as well as shrubs, pathways and benches. The outdoor classroom benefits students, but also the environment in general. Tree plantings mitigate the effects of climate change, because trees remove carbon dioxide from the air as they grow, and some of the Scott Young Public School plantings have grown seven metres over the years.

In 2009, there were 66 Wild School and Youth Projects across Canada. While CWF celebrates all of these initiatives, a few projects are selected annually to receive National Wildlife Week Awards. For example, in 2009, CWF recognized Anne Lindsay, a teacher at Riverside Public School in Huntsville, Ontario, for helping to coordinate the Redeem the Stream Project. With the help of students from Grades one through eight, Lindsay transformed the eroded, polluted stream on the school property into a healthy watershed. By planting a variety of native plants, many pollutants were filtered out, erosion was mitigated and shelter and nourishment were provided for amphibians and insects. Lindsay won Best Overall Entry. Here are the runners up:

Elementary Level:
Louise Gel, Stewart Hawke Elementary School, Hudson Bay, Sask.
Merilyn Mitchell, Southern Kings Consolidated School, Peters, P.E.I.
Secondary Level:
Patrick Rittinger, Collegiate Vocational School, Kitchener Waterloo, Ont.
Honourable Mentions:
Joanne De Guevara, Sensisyusten School, Westbank, B.C.
Julia Malcolm, Branksome Hall School, Toronto, Ont.
Mike Goodchild, Western Secondary School, Amherstburg, Ont.
Karen Poitras, École St. François-Xavier, Rivière-du-Loup, Que.

CWF’s Wild and Blue School Youth Project Program is looking forward to celebrating its twentieth year in the fall of 2010.