Environmental Education

The poet W. H. Auden once wrote, “a culture is no better than its woods.” As we pass down our culture and values to our children, environmental education is an essential element. 

In primary and secondary schools, especially with an outdoor learning component, has shown to dramatically improve overall student performance, particularly in science and math, including test scores. Environmental education also helps build “environmental literacy” among the public who will then be more likely to take action to conserve and sustain forests and the environment.

Through its program Project Learning Tree ^®, The American Forest Foundation has provided one of the nations’ widely-used environmental education curriculum in America for over 35 years. More than 500,000 teachers have been trained to use Project Learning Tree curriculum, reaching more than 75 million students.

AFF is also a proud supporter of the No Child Left Inside Act, legislation introduced by Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Congressman John Sarbanes of Maryland to include environmental education as part of a new Elementary and Secondary Education Act.