LHS Ecoscape awarded Legacy grant

Published 4:00 am Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Leeds High School will be getting a financial boost soon for the development and care of its Ecoscape program.

The Legacy Foundation announced last week that the Ecoscape was one of 13 organizations to be awarded funds through its competitive grant program. According to LHS science teacher and Ecoscape sponsor Bryan Swift, the grant awarded will be approximately $7,000.

Of the 13 recipients chosen by Legacy, LHS is the only public school to receive the grant award. The remaining awards went to organizations such as the Alabama Cooperative Extension Agency, Anniston Museum of Natural History, Troy University, and the Alabama Water Watch Association.

“We are very fortunate to be awarded this grant,” Swift said. “Legacy provides funds to a lot of organizations. We are very excited about being one of those chosen.”

Swift wrote the application for the Legacy grant.

“The grants are designed to reflect a collaborative effort between the community and the applying organization or school to educate area students and citizens about environmentally related issues. These grants are open to both public and private groups and organizations within the state of Alabama,” according to a statement released by Legacy.

Swift said the funds will be used to help with several projects within the ecoscape.

Among the purchases planned will be a testing system to help monitor the quality of the water within the pond that was built last year and other water features.  The system will include a device, similar in size to a large calculator, that measures Ph levels, temperature, phosphates, nitrates, and other organic pollutants. Students will be able to take the information from the device and provide detailed computer charts and graphs. Swift said the system will allow students to test samples independently and that different groups could monitor different areas of the ecoscape.

Swift said that about $1,200 from the grant will be used for the monitoring system.

In addition, Swift said some funds would be used to purchase native wildflowers and grass seed.

The grant is limited in that it will not allow for the school to pay for any labor needed to move projects forward. For those needs, Swift said he and his students would be looking to the community for support.

The plans for the coming year include honoring one of the Ecoscape’s first and biggest supporters – State Rep. Owen Drake who died this month. Plans are being considered to have a memorial for Drake.

Plans are also be formulated to plant Ginkgo trees and move memorial stones from the old LHS site into the ecoscape.

“We are working with the historical society on those plans and we plan to include a tree in honor of Mr. Drake. He was one of our very first supporters and was willing to help us with our projects,” Swift said.

Swift said this past spring was supposed to see a butterfly garden come to life at the ecoscape, but tornadoes and downed trees caused that project to be postponed. He said the students will move forward with that plan again in the coming year.