By Ayala Ben-Yehuda
Teens can learn all about plant life in a new botany course at the Alley Pond Environmental Center, thanks to a new grant of more than $10,000 the center received from a state fund this year.
The grant from the state-administered New York City Environmental Fund will provide the Douglaston facility with $10,450 for “Plants of Alley Pond Park,” a beginning botany class aimed at middle and high school students as well as a volunteer program to remove invasive species from the park, said education director Aline Euler.
“It has been a tremendous help to us,” said Euler of the money APEC has received from the environmental fund for the past few years.
The New York City Environmental Fund, established in 1994 as the result of an environmental enforcement settlement between the state Department of Environmental Conservation and Con Edison, is administered by DEC and the Hudson River Foundation, a non-profit group that promotes scientific research of the Hudson ecosystem.
Sixty-five grants totaling $771,907 have been awarded this year to organizations in New York City and Westchester County, Gov. George Pataki said in a news release Friday.
Con Edison provided $5 million for the fund in 1994 to promote environmental education programs, Pataki's office said.
APEC has used money from the fund to provide classes to middle and high school students on air, soil and water quality, said Euler.
“We've been talking about water and air. Now we wanted to start on plant life,” said Euler.
The new botany course will start this school year and will focus on plant anatomy and physiology.
Another planned use for the grant will be a volunteer effort to remove invasive plant species from Alley Pond Park and replace them with native shrubs.
Instead of using herbicides, Euler said volunteers will manually remove plants such as the porcelain berry, a thick vine-like growth that kills trees by depriving them of sunlight.
Another Queens recipient of money from the fund this year was the Baisley Pond Park Coalition, which received a $10,000 grant to improve and restore South Jamaica's Baisley Pond and provide public education, Pataki's office said.
Reach reporter Ayala Ben-Yehuda by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
