Lucy School Celebrates Tree Challenge Win With DNR Field Day

2010-2011 School Challenge Underway

Middletown, MD (October 21, 2010) — The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Marylanders Plant Trees 2009-2010 School Challenge first place winner, Lucy School of Middletown, Md., celebrated its grand prize this week, a field day conducted by DNR staff. Students from the Lucy School participated in hands-on activities, learning about trees, fish, water, animals, rocks, wetlands, watersheds, the Chesapeake Bay and more. The students and DNR staff planted a tree to conclude the day.

“I want to congratulate the Lucy School students on their win and thank them for inspiring their parents and community to join in this planting effort,” said Governor Martin O’Malley. “I hope young people across the State will participate in this year’s challenge to create a smarter, greener, more sustainable future.”

Students at the private arts-based school, which teaches preschool through third grade, planted 207 trees, the greatest number of the 82 Maryland private and public schools that participated in the challenge. Mt. View Middle School in Marriottsville took second place with 120 trees and the Highlands School in Bel Air came in third place with 65 trees.

“This has been such a wonderfully enriching and enjoyable learning opportunity for our students. We were particularly pleased with the expertise of the DNR staff, in preparing and leading age-appropriate and engaging activities,” said Lucy School Director Dr. Victoria Brown. “The lessons they learned support Lucy School's own environmental curriculum and our mission to help each student appreciate the delicate balance of nature and grow to become stewards of the environment.”

The 2009-2010 challenge ran from April 1, 2009 through April 30, 2010.

The next Marylanders Plant Trees School Challenge will include trees planted from May 1, 2010 to April 30, 2011. The grand prize, a program by the Maryland Park Service’s Scales and Tales, will be won by the school that plants the greatest number of trees and registers them in the name of the school on the Marylanders Plant Trees website at www.trees.maryland.gov.

The Marylanders Plant Trees Program encourages citizens to plant and register trees to help improve quality of life in Maryland. The school challenge encourages all Maryland elementary, middle and high schools students to reach out to family, friends and neighbors and encourage them to plant native trees on their school’s behalf.

To help schools with the challenge, the Marylanders Plant Trees website contains guidance for selecting, purchasing and planting trees for each location as well as a tool to calculate the benefit of the trees planted and an interactive map to track trees planted across the State. Students may also collaborate with community, watershed and service organizations to plant trees.

Governor O’Malley launched the Marylanders Plant Trees program in November 2008 to give Marylanders an accessible opportunity to make an impact in the natural world around them. To date, citizens have planted 46,985 trees. In cooperation with participating nurseries, the Marylanders Plant Trees program continues to offer $25 coupons toward the purchase of native trees costing $50 or more, redeemable at nearly 85 nurseries across the State. Governor O’Malley and DNR encourage Marylanders to register every tree they plant and contribute to our statewide goal.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2009, is the state agency responsible for providing natural and living resource-related services to citizens and visitors. DNR manages more than 467,000 acres of public lands and 17,000 miles of waterways, along with Maryland's forests, fisheries, and wildlife for maximum environmental, economic and quality of life benefits. A national leader in land conservation, DNR-managed parks and natural, historic, and cultural resources attract 12 million visitors annually. DNR is the lead agency in Maryland's effort to restore the Chesapeake Bay, the state's number one environmental priority. Learn more at www.dnr.maryland.gov