Janice Staab of the Malama Learning Center


Artist Brandon Ballengee

Restoring acres of cornfield to native prairie in Iowa. Creating a greenhouse program at a prison in Portland. Providing green jobs training for Oakland at-risk youth. These are just a few ways in which 40 promising conservation leaders will advance their environmental vision and leadership skills as recipients of the 2011 TogetherGreen Fellowships.

"We are thrilled to award TogetherGreen fellowships to another talented and diverse group of environmentalists who have the passion and skills to inspire and lead others," said Audubon President David Yarnold. "They are the talented leadership the environmental community needs to tackle the huge challenges and opportunities confronting us."

Fellows are selected to conduct projects in a community or region focused on engaging diverse audiences in habitat, water, and/or energy conservation. This year's fellowship project include:

• Habitat: In Connecticut, Ken Elkins (of the Audubon Center at Bent of the River) is developing a replicable training program called "Bird Tales," a low-cost therapeutic program that brings the healing power of the natural world to people living with dementia. Working with a dementia care expert, Ken is incorporating Audubon at Home principles into dementia patient therapy in order to improve quality of life and improve habitat at four care facilities.
• Water: In Florida, Daniell Washington (of the Big Blue and You Foundation) is pairing up 15 inner-city students with filmmaker mentors to learn the film production process and create five different public service announcements about water resources.
• Energy: In Kentucky, David Wicks (of Get Outdoors Kentucky: GoKY) is supporting independent research projects focused on environmental issues impacting Louisville as part of four-week high school math and science summer program. Interdisciplinary activities include: field study, classes at U of L, a science fair component, and development of a research proposal with a mentor.
• Engaging diverse audiences in conservation: In Providence, Rhode Island, Allison Rogers (former Miss Rhode Island and Miss USA pageant competitor) will develop environmental training materials and an online blog to educate Miss America contestants on the conservation actions and projects occurring in their home states.

"The results from the first three years of the Fellows program brought to life everything that TogetherGreen sought to accomplish," says Pat Pineda, group vice president of philanthropy for Toyota Motor North America. "I'm confident that this next group of Fellows will continue that success and make a difference for years to come."

The first tour of the garden


ASWP guides the educational tour

A Pittsburgh Mining Area is on Track for a Green Makeover

Twenty minutes outside Pittsburgh, almost 500 acres of a former coal-mining site lay abandoned for years. Then the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden stepped in and accepted a lease from Allegheny County, with the ambitious intention of turning the degraded land into a native plant oasis. To get started, the Garden was awarded a $45,000 grant from TogetherGreen.

Their plan? To restore native habitat, helping to restore biodiversity to the site. The woodland area was largely denuded by mining in the 1920s and lacks three-quarters of the native trees that should be found there. Planting native trees and shrubs while clearing invasive plant species will help restore insect populations, ultimately boosting the numbers of birds and other wildlife using the site.It will also help clean up local water supplies, from Chartiers Creek all the way to the Ohio River, into which it flows. Finally, as an example of transforming degraded land into highest and best use, the project will serve as a guide for future restoration.

For all its biological ambitions, the project has social goals, too. Working with the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania and the social services organization Auberle, the Garden has been able to introduce children caught in the Child Protective Services and Juvenile Court systems to the woodlands and local wildlife. Ultimately, they hope to reconnect all communities in the area to the abundant natural resources that surround them. "The 21st century American is fairly far removed from natural green spaces and an awareness of a balanced ecosystem," said Kitty Vagley, Development Director of the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden. "The Pittsburgh Botanic Garden will help to re-unite the public with the natural environment." They'll accomplish this through volunteer opportunities as well as the creation of a public trail, slated to open in October 2012.

Receiving support from TogetherGreen provided a boost to the project. "The Innovation Grant is an affirmation of our efforts and serves to signal to the community that we are engaged in education outreach and collaboration," Kitty said.

Audubon Arkansas Partners for Local Prairie Restoration

Before: the site full of invasives


After: invasives free!

Wilson Springs, the largest conservation property and tall grass prairie in Fayetteville, Arkansas was under attack. Despite its protection from development by the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust and Audubon Arkansas, invasive woody plants were moving in, threatening this endangered habitat, as well as species such as the Henslow's Sparrow which depend on the prairie.

With help from a TogetherGreen Volunteer Days grant and partners new and old, Audubon Arkansas was able to completely remove invasive woody plants from 3.5 acres of prairie, restoring it to a healthier state and creating a demonstration site for tall grass prairie restoration.

Working with the University of Arkansas Center for Community Engagement through their Make a Difference Day volunteer program, Audubon Arkansas was able to get seventy first-time volunteers to come out for a hard day's work. Not only had these individuals never volunteered with Audubon Arkansas before; most had never visited a tall grass prairie.

After a brief presentation about tall grass prairies and their natural history in Northwest Arkansas, volunteers began the laborious process of uprooting callery pear, multi-flora rose, bush honeysuckle, privet, green ash, eastern red cedar, blackberry, and other woody plants.

According to Audubon Arkansas's Conservation Programs Manager, Michelle Viney, funding from TogetherGreen was critical in making this volunteer event a success. The grant allowed Audubon Arkansas to purchase enough tools and equipment so that all seventy volunteers were able to work on pulling invasive plants at one time.

Pennies for the Planet is as easy as 1-2-3!

As we approach the halfway point of the Pennies for the Planet campaign, there is still plenty of time for your class or group to help wildlife and wild places in need.

1. Visit www.penniesfortheplanet.org and download your free starter kit today.

2. Start collecting--and be creative! You can set up a collection jar at your school for the rest of the year and encourage classmates to donate any loose change from lunch. Display a jar at home and ask for donations at your next birthday or slumber party. Work with a local place of business to sit outside for one day with a jar and information about what your change is doing to help endangered species.

3. Send in your collection!

Your donations this school year will help Ocelots and jaguarundis that need a place to roam in the native sabal palm trees of Texas, nesting birds and animals on a North Carolina barrier island, and the amazing animals of the Arctic, like polar bears and sea ducks, that need a safe habitat.