Earth Partnership for Schools
LINKS TO INTERNET SITES OF OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL CENTERS OR PRESERVES
Located in Madison, Wisconsin, the gardens include the Bolz Tropical Conservatory and 14 acres of outdoor display gardens (sunken garden, rose garden, rock garden, herb garden, and wildflower garden, as well as others). In June 2002, Olbrich Gardens will become the site of a Thai Pavilion and Garden, a gift to the U-W Madison from the Thai government and the university's Thai alumni association. The Gardens offer classes, school programs (K-5), a Children's Garden program, and the Olbrich Explorer Experience.
This center, located on the Lake Michigan shoreline in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, provides environmental education to over 34,000 children every year. Many programs are provided for school field trips (for example, a recent, early spring class about maple sugaring). The center offers a wide variety of summer classes and programs for kids of all ages such as "Habitats of Audubon," "Reptiles Rule!," "Become a Paleontologist," "Living off the Earth," "Talons, Beaks, and Wings," "Babes in the Woods," and many others.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Botanical Garden
"The University of Wisconsin - Madison's Botanical Garden is maintained by the Department of Botany under the supervision of Dr. Mohammad Mehdi Fayyaz. The garden is an important resource for both teaching and research and serves as reference for the different families, genera and species represented. It also provides an area for leisure where examples of plants from around the world demonstrate the diversity and beauty of the plant kingdom. One-fifth of an acre includes 386 different species from 68 different families of flowering plants." (from the UW-Madison Botanical Garden web site.)
University of Wisconsin-Madison Campus Natural Areas
"The Campus Natural Areas (CNA) of the University of Wisconsin-Madison are an integral part of the campus landscape. Covering 325 acres (one third of the campus total) the Campus Natural Areas offer a wide range of educational and recreational opportunities. The Campus Natural Areas consist of natural woods and wetlands, open fields, restored prairie/savanna, and three miles of Lake Mendota shoreline. There are several miles of trails throughout these 14 ecological research sites..." (from the UW-Madison Campus Natural Areas web site)
"The Urban Ecology Center is a neighborhood based, non-profit community center located in Milwaukee's historic Riverside Park. Using this living laboratory, the Urban Ecology Center: provides environmental science programs to neighborhood shools; promotes environmental awareness in the community; preserves and enhances the natural resources of Riverside Park; and protects the Milwaukee River." (from the Urban Ecology Center web site) The UEC offers the Neighborhood Environmental Education Project, the Citizen Science Program, adult lectures, workshops, and discussions, weekend family and youth programs, urban adventures, summer youth camp, and community programs.
The Center includes a variety of habitats, including a lowland forest, a shrub carr, sedge meadow,upland deciduous forest, a prairie restoration, and an oak savanna. There are also an ethnobotanical garden and 20-acre Mallard Lake. Center naturalists offer field trips for schools and programs in the classroom. There are programs offered at the Center for all ages. (Located in Franklin, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County.)