Kirkwood School District

Community Contacts for Projects on the Environment

Choose Environmental Excellence - Gateway Region
9012A Manchester Rd.,  St. Louis, MO 63144
314-962-4100   www.ceegr.org
Choose Environmental Excellence - Gateway Region (CEE-GR) is a not-for-profit central resource for environmental information. CEE-GR offers services for businesses, schools, faith communities and individuals that encourage positive actions and environmental awareness.Community Cultivators
403 Henry St.,  Alton, IL 62002
618-781-9911
The Community Cultivators teaches children, through organic means, about their natural source of food. This tangible learning experience promotes the children’s connection with the soil and natural cycles of Earth. The fostering of an appreciation of nature increases the children’s Earth Literacy while providing an alternative creative outdoor activity and encouraging the holistic growth of our community’s consciousness. Children’s groups attend educational events at the Community Cultivators’ Children’s Discovery Garden, a one-acre organic garden in Godfrey, IL, where children participate in a variety of educational gardening activities. A minimum of 10% of the harvest is donated to food pantries.

Earthways Center – A Division of the Missouri Botanical Gardens
http://www.earthwayshome.org/index.html
EarthWays Center is a division of  Missouri Botanical Garden that promotes sustainable energy and resource use in the greater St. Louis region and beyone.  We work with K-12 and university students, homeowners, businesses, instiutions and government sectors.  Program topics include environmental education in solid waste reduction and recycling, energy efficiency and renewable energy use, green building, air quality, and sustainability.  We operate out of the EarthWays Home, a century old Victorian residence renovated to be a showcase of energy and resource efficiency.
You can download FREE environmental lesson plans for all ages at the website.
They will come to the school and present lessons free of charge.  http://www.earthwayshome.org/leap_lessons.html
They allow groups to tour their energy efficient house for $2 a person.  Reservations can be made online. http://www.earthwayshome.org/tours.html

Facing the Future
http://www.teacherscorner.org/activities.html
This is a wonderful organization dedicated to saving the environment.  They have excellent FREE downloadable lesson plans.  This website is well worth checking out!!!

Forest ReLeaf of Missouri
4207 Lindell,  Suite 120,  St. Louis, MO 63108
314-533-5323   www.moreleaf.org
Forest ReLeaf of Missouri, a St. Louis-based, not-for-profit organization, is dedicated to inspiring volunteer efforts in planting and caring for Missouri’s trees and forests, particularly those in our urban areas. The organization offers a variety of innovative tree-planting and education programs.

Great Rivers Environmental Law Center
705 Olive St.,  Suite 614,  St. Louis, MO 63101
314-231-4181  www.greatriverslaw.org
Great Rivers Environmental Law Center's mission is to provide public interest legal services to citizens’ groups, individuals and organizations who seek to protect and preserve the environment. Great Rivers primary areas of focus include: the enforcement of air and water pollution laws, the preservation of forests, open space, floodplains and wetlands and the advancement of environmental justice.

The Green Center
http://www.thegreencenter.org/home/
The Green Center is an arts and environmental organization dedicated to helping people experience the wonder of nature, to protecting the ecosystems of our world, to encouraging the creation of art inspired by nature, and to building a spirit of community with the natural world.  There are opportunities for field trips to the center as well as many volunteer opportunities.

Kids for Saving the Rainforest
Kids Saving the Rainforest (KSTR) is a non-profit organization in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica dedicated to educating people about the connection between nature and humankind, and enlisting their support in order to protect the flora and fauna of Costa Rican rainforests.
The goals of KSTR are to set up an educational center in Manuel Antonio to teach school age children about saving the rainforest, to plant trees in honor of those schools and persons making donations.
The website contains a lot of great information about rainforests and how to preserve them, as well as many links to other websites.
http://www.kidssavingtherainforest.org/

Litzsinger Road Ecology Center
http://www.litzsinger.org/k8field.html
Area classroom educators are invited to partner with Center staff and volunteers to implement student ecological field studies at the Center that support local, state and national educational objectives. Students are typically divided into small teams with a trained volunteer, staff, or classroom teacher assigned to each team. Multiple visits to the Center are encouraged.
Pre-designed Field Labs are available for K–6 classrooms. Field Lab plans include grade-appropriate pre-visit and post-visit classroom activities that focus on
·  Ecological concepts
·  Observation and measurement techniques
·  Data management and interpretation

Mary Culver Home
221 W. Washington Avenue, Kirkwood 63122
Contact:   Colleen Hill - 966-6034
Opportunities:   Gardening, cleaning sidewalks, maintaining courtyard, wash chairs and table tops, water summer flowers.
Training:   Minimum training required.  Call for schedule and make appointment.
Minimum age:   16 years.
Preferred number of volunteer hours a week:    2 - 3 hours.
Time shifts available:   10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. or 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Missouri Coalition for the Environment
http://www.moenviron.org/
Missouri Coalition for the Environment works to preserve, protect, and enhance an environment that is livable, healthful, and sustainable through a comprehensive program of education, citizen action, and legal defense.
Click on “Resources” for links to other environmental organizations.

Missouri Department of Conservation
http://www.mdc.mo.gov/teacher/classroom.htm
This link takes you to conservation resources, grants for fieldtrips, and contacts.

Missouri Department of Natural Resources
http://www.dnr.mo.gov/teachers/
This link takes you to curriculum resources you can obtain from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources

Operation Brightside
4646 Shenandoah Ave., St. Louis, MO 63110
314-772-4646   www.stlouis.missouri.org/brightside
Since 1982 Operation Brightside has been working to make St. Louis a cleaner, more beautiful place to live, work and visit.

Project Wild
Project Wild National Office
Council for Environmental Education
5555 Morningside Drive, Suite 212
Houston, TX  77005
(713) 520-1936  www.projectwild.org
Project Wild is the nation's longest-standing wildlife education program.

Shaw Nature Reserve
http://www.shawnature.org/education/schoolprog.aspx
Shaw Nature Reserve school programs offer students the opportunity to experience and investigate the natural world under the guidance of skilled staff and volunteer Teacher Naturalists.  Programs are designed to encourage inquiry, exploration and problem solving.  Instructors lead hands-on investigations that enable students to discover, gather information, ask questions, and begin to formulate their own answers.  Discoveries in the field can stimulate more questions and new investigations to be pursued back in the classroom.  Classes are 2 hours long (unless otherwise noted) and we encourage you to schedule two classes with a lunch in between to make the most out of your Shaw Nature Reserve experience.

St. Louis Earth Day
P.O. Box 19863,  St. Louis, MO 63144
314-962-5838  www.stlouisearthday.org
St. Louis Earth Day fosters environmental appreciation through celebration, education, and stewardship around the Earth Day holiday. St. Louis Earth Day, and 90 partnering organizations, seeks to strengthen our community by focusing on common bonds, creating dialogue, and focusing on positive solutions to help improve and conserve our environment. .

St. Louis Audubon Society
http://stlouisaudubon.org/
Here you will find the most up-to-date information about our programs and activities serving the St Louis region and beyond. St Louis Audubon cultivates and leads a community that values and protects birds and the natural environment.  They provide speakers and field trips, just contact them!

St. Louis Community Air Project
http://www.stlcap.org/site/m_idlefree.html
This organization is committed to reducing air pollution in the St. Louis area.  They have many ways you can help, as well as educational resources.  One of their programs encourages students to stop the idling of buses waiting for students.  They give an action plan as to how to make this happen.  Many districts in St. Louis are already participants.

St. Louis Regional Clean Air Partnership
314-645-5505  www.cleanair-stlouis.com
The St. Louis Regional Clean Air Partnership's mission is to increase awareness of regional air quality issues and to encourage activities to reduce air pollution emissions.

St. Louis Zoo
http://www.stlzoo.org/education/programsforschoolgroups/
The St. Louis Zoo gives presentations on many different areas of conservation and protection of animals.  Check out their website for a list of programs!

Trailnet
3900 Reavis Barracks Rd., St. Louis, MO 63125
314-416-9930  www.trailnet.org
Trailnet is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating and conserving multi-use trails and greenways, and encouraging walking and bicycling for recreation and transportation in the St. Louis bi-state region of Missouri and Illinois.

Wild Candid Center
http://www.wolfsanctuary.org/Home/default.htm
The Wild Canid Survival and Research Center (WCSRC), popularly known as the Wolf Sanctuary, was founded in 1971 by noted naturalist Dr. Marlin Perkins, his wife Carol, and a group of individuals concerned about the plight of canids. It is a private, nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to the preservation of the wolf and other endangered canids through education, research and captive breeding.  Groups of students can arrange a tour of the facility.  They also provide information on ways you can help, either by donations or a collection for their wish list.

World Bird Sanctuary
http://www.worldbirdsanctuary.org/
The World Bird Sanctuary’s mission is to preserve the earth’s biological diversity and to secure the future of threatened bird species in their natural environments. We work to fulfill that mission through education, captive breeding, field studies and rehabilitation.  They provide educational materials and speakers.  They also have an extensive wishlist.