Did you know that Project WILD/WILD School Sites facilitators receive a fee for services of $200? If you are an independent facilitator (not being paid by your company) you can submit an invoice for $200 to cover your time plus your travel log (.31 cents per mile), tolls and receipts for expenses. Your invoice must have your name, mailing address, phone number, email address, date of workshop, type of workshop (clarify PW or WSS), your social security number and the number of participants.

The Division would like to thank all of our facilitators for sharing their time and expertise. It is our hope to increase the number of workshops offered this year. Therefore, if you want to remain as a WILD or WSS Facilitator or if you know someone interested, please email us your contact information so we can update our records. Please note my new email address: ejackson@dep.state.nj.us.

If you are hosting a workshop, contact me at least a month prior to the workshop so books can be ordered and sent. In order to list your workshop on our website we need at least a two to three month lead time. Simply forward the date, time, fee (if applicable) and contact person.

Sponsored in New Jersey by NJDEP                      Division of Fish and Wildlife

WILD School Sites & Schoolyard Habitats: Liz Jackson Pequest Trout Hatchery 605 Pequest Road Oxford, NJ 07863 Liz.Jackson@dep.state.nj.us www.nj.gov/dep/seeds/schhabs.htm

Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the NJ DEP Division of Fish and Wildlife have teamed up to bring wildlife habitat to students in New Jersey by using the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) and WILD School Sites.

An NRCS program, WHIP provides technical and financial assistance to create, enhance, or maintain habitat to be used as outdoor classrooms on school grounds and at environmental education centers. Funds can be used to plant native trees, shrubs, and grasses, and also to establish wetlands and native meadows. WHIP can provide up to 75% cost sharing to implement projects. On most WILD School sites WHIP provides about $2000-$3000, and the school and other partners provide the remaining 25% of the project cost.

As a condition of participation in WHIP, at least one teacher from each school or education center must complete NJ DEP Division of Fish and Wildlife's WILD School Site training. At the workshop, teachers learn about wildlife needs, which plants provide the best wildlife habitat, how to inventory a potential WILD School site, how to prepare wildlife habitat development plans, and how to involve students in the development and implementation of the plan. The workshops equip teachers with all of the resources they need to design an outdoor classroom and to incorporate it into lesson plans. Participating teachers receive 5 to 6 Professional Development Credits.

Together, WHIP and WILD School Sites are helping to ensure that New Jersey's students see first-hand the value of wildlife habitat. Since 1998, approximately thirty schools and environmental education centers have participated in WHIP.

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Mark your calendars now for our spring celebration at the new Forest Resource Education Interpretive Center in Jackson. Bring your family, friends, scout group or class and help us spread the word. You can enjoy many outdoor, fun activities such as a tour the greenhouse, maple sugaring or build a birdhouse. You can also use an old-fashion, two person saw, or take a ride on a horse drawn hayride. This is a great day for Scouts to meet requirements for various merit badges like the Forester, Naturalist, Plant Science, Eco-Action and Nature & Me. For more information, call (732) 928-2360.

These innovative workshops will highlight activities from the energy storylines in the PreK-8 Activity Guide. Activities will include: "Renewable or Not", "In the Driver's Seat", and "May the Source Be With You". Workshop participants will receive the PreK-8 Activity Guide, correlations to the NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards, and six hours of professional development. Participants will also be eligible to borrow one of the Energy and Society kits to enhance energy education in the classroom. Each school that sends at least one educator to an Energy and Society PLT workshop will receive a free Bill B. Energy and Me music CD to complement the energy activities.

Both the Forest Resource Education Center and the Monmouth Battlefield State Park Visitor Center use geothermal systems to heat and cool the buildings. A tour of each facility will be included in the workshop schedules, as well as resource information on various energy conservation and alternative energy initiatives.

Gina Provenzano, Resource Interpretive Specialist at Liberty State Park, was named the 2002 New Jersey Project Learning Tree Outstanding Educator at the PLT International Coordinator's Conference in Huron, Ohio. Gina has been a Project Learning Tree facilitator for over five years, facilitating several workshops each year at the Interpretive Center. She has also served as a mentor to a number of facilitators-in-training, including two of her staff. The Liberty State Park Interpretive Center has several thousand school students visit each spring, summer and fall. In the winter months, Gina and her staff work with pre-kindergarten classes in Jersey City on an "awareness to action" program that results in the students visiting Liberty State Park and planting trees in the spring. Using Project Learning Tree activities such as "Looking at Leaves" and "Tree Lifecycle", the students become aware of the world around them and the benefits of trees.

Gina served for four years on the Advisory Council for the Alliance for New Jersey Environmental Education, including serving as the Northern Region Program co-chair, and assisting with the development of the Strategic Plan. She also worked with the Dr. Charles DeFuccio School #39 in Jersey City for two years as a mentor in the New Jersey EIC (Environment as an Integrating Context) program. This program, funded through the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, funds teams of teachers at 10 schools across the state to implement an EIC plan. Through this program, she has greatly increased the "comfort level" of the EIC team with environmental education. By inviting them to workshops, such as Project Learning Tree, at Liberty State Park, to sharing lessons that meet their classroom needs, Gina has fostered the urban educators' interest in their local environment.

Also available is "Shrubs and Vines of New Jersey and the Mid-Atlantic States". Each book is $10. Send a check or money order made out to "New Jersey Forest Service" to Forest Resource Education Center, 370 East Veterans Highway, Jackson, NJ 08527, attn. Trees/Shrubs book.

Sponsored in New Jersey by NJDEP          Division of Watershed Management                  and the Wetlands Institute

NJ Project WET Colleen Gould 2528 Algonkin Trail Manasquan, NJ 08736 njwet@optonline.net www.projectwet.org www.nj.gov/dep/seeds/projwet.htm

Make a Splash with Project Wet is a national initiative to raise student awareness and appreciation about the importance of clean water in their every day life. A Water Festival is a unique opportunity to educate our future leaders about the value of this natural resource that all life depends on. It is a celebration that engages students in active learning stations that focus on an array of water topics. The Make A Splash Water Festival brings schools together with their community to celebrate the wonders of water - a resource that unites all people.

The NJ Project WET Program is offering grants to public or private schools interested in sponsoring a one-day Water Festival in May 2004 or on the last Friday of September 2004 as part of National Water Education Day. Grants range from $500 to $1,000 based on the number of students. The festival coordinator(s) must attend a Project WET Workshop and a three hour Water Festival Planning Workshop at the end of March.

Teachers will receive professional development credit the workshop and an additional 10 hours for planning a festival. To receive the grant guideline email njwet@optonline.net or visit www.nj.gov/dep/seeds/wetgrnt.htm. Deadline to apply for May 2004 Water Festival Grants is February 20th and June 20th for September 2004 Water Festival Grants.

A Water Festival is a one or two-day event that engages students in structured learning stations and exhibits that explore the wonders of water. Stations topics typically include the hydrologic cycle, water conservation, drinking water, water purification, watershed, water quality, wetlands, watershed management, and properties of water, wastewater management and more. It is a unique opportunity for schools to partner with local water resource organizations, community groups as well as local businesses, parents and government officials.

A Water Festival is a celebration in a festival atmosphere with music, games, contests, demonstrations, skits, murals and other fun, hands-on activities.

For the last six years, the NJ Watershed Stewards Program has been a successful and effective means of engaging high school students in an environmental stewardship project. The program begins with a Leadership Weekend Workshop held Friday, February 6th to Sunday, February 8th at the Mount Misery Retreat Center in Browns Mills (Burlington County). The workshop is designed to empower students with the necessary knowledge, resources and tools to become team leaders while coordinating a stewardship project of their choice in their community. Participating schools will receive a $500 grant to plan, develop and implement their watershed stewardship project. A teacher or adult advisor must accompany the students. They will receive a $150 stipend as well as 12 NJDOE Professional Development Credits and the Project WET Curriculum and Activity Guide.

A Watershed Stewards Team consists of a minimum of three and a maximum of five students interested in completing a stewardship project. It is a long-term commitment that just begins with their participation in the Leadership Workshop in February. They will be required to choice a project that will make a difference in their community (or on their school site) and write a two-page proposal outlining their plans. Most project are completed within the calendar year.

The Weekend Workshop begins at 6:00 p.m. on Friday evening and concludes at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday. The cost for registration is only $35 per student which includes overnight accommodations, food and resources.

The NJ Watershed Stewards Program is a unique opportunity for students to explore the outdoors while building their leadership skills and making a difference in their community. To learn more, please email or call Colleen Gould at (732) 292-4670 or njwet@optonline.net.

To register, the high school team must send the following information with a check payable to NJ Project WET c/o Colleen Gould, NJ Project WET, 2528 Algonkin Trail, Manasquan, NJ 08736 by January 20th:

(1) School Name; (2) Address and Phone; (3) School Fax; (4) Teacher/Advisor Name; (5) Student Names; (6) Email Address.

Healthy Water, Healthy People (HWHP), the latest program of Project WET, uses innovative, interactive lessons and materials to demonstrate critical water quality topics. Healthy Water, Healthy People will help educators address science standards through interactive activities that interpret water quality concepts and promote diverse learning styles, with foundations in the scientific method. This Guide contains 25 original activities that link priority water quality topics to real-life experiences of educators and students.

In addition to the curriculum guide, the 100-page technical reference manual is an excellent companion text. The "Testing Kit Manual" serves as a technical reference and gives an in-depth look into eleven water quality parameters that is easy to read and interesting. The manual answers questions about water quality testing using technical overviews, data interpretation guidelines, case studies, chemical formulas, testing kit activities, laboratory demonstrations, and much more.

Together, these two guides make Healthy Water, Healthy People a wonderful resource for all science teachers in middle and high school. The Healthy People, Healthy Water Workshops provide first hand experience with the lessons in the guide and an introduction to the testing kits. Please join us!

Hunterdon County Soil Conservation District in Franklin Twp. Registration is $30 and $25 for ANJEE Members. Mail check/invoice payable to HCSCD and mail to Carmen Pirotte, 687 Pittstown Rd., Ste 1, Frenchtown, NJ 08825. Phone (908) 788-9466.

Registration is $30 and $25 for ANJEE Members. Mail check/invoice payable to Colleen Gould, NJ Project WET, 2528 Algonkin Trail, Manasquan, NJ 08736. njwet@optonline.net

Registration is $30 and $25 for ANJEE Members. Mail check/invoice payable to Colleen Gould, NJ Project WET, 2528Algonkin Trail, Manasquan, NJ 08736.

Human health is dependent on the health of our water. It is very important to remind our future water managers about the importance and value clean water in their every day life. Water is a theme that is carried through science in almost every grade. However, it is just as important to weave water through all the disciplines: math, science, social studies, language arts, visual arts and more. Here are some lessons that may assist you in connecting healthy water with healthy people from the other EE guides. We hope this will encourage you to develop a fun and exciting water unit this year!