The legislature cut from the budget this summer a state-run $275,000 environmental education program, leaving in the lurch the two staff members who manage the North Carolina Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs and the thousands who have relied on the resource over the last 30 years.
After months of uncertainty and an outpouring of support for the program, the public learned this week that the office and its North Carolina Environmental Education Certification Program will transition to Catawba College’s Center for the Environment starting Oct. 1 from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.
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“We ask our students to consider their stewardship as citizens, about how they can serve others,” Catawba President David P. Nelson said in the announcement. “We ask the same questions of the College. This program has served our state well, and we are glad to respond to this opportunity to serve the people of North Carolina by carrying on this important work.”
More than 1,600 environmental educators have been certified through the program and hundreds more were working through the multistep, multiyear process when the program was cut. The certification program is part of a broader state environmental education effort that began in the early 1990s.
Though details of the transition to the campus in Salisbury are being finalized, officials said in a press release that the transition will preserve the certification program, its staff, and all the programs and resources that connect educators across the state, including its listserv and calendar.
Certification participants and educators who use the program’s resources are not expected to experience delays or interruptions in access.
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Lee Ball, executive director of the Center for the Environment, and staff from DEQ’s Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs announced the transition last week at the 35th annual conference of Environmental Educators of North Carolina, the state’s nonprofit professional association for environmental educators. The announcement drew a standing ovation, the press release explains.
“This transition will extend the Center’s work in environmental education and create opportunities for our students to learn from and work with educators serving communities across North Carolina,” Ball said.
“The Environmental Education program has been a resounding success for 30 years, awarding Environmental Education Certificates to more than 1,600 people,” DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson said. “Educating children about the natural world and their role in protecting it is more essential than ever. The Center for the Environment at Catawba College deserves a huge thanks for taking on the leadership of the program in the wake of the new state budget’s removal of its funding.”
Lisa Tolley, program manager for the environmental education program at DEQ, thanked Ball, the center, Catawba College, Wilson, the leadership of Environmental Educators of North Carolina and the statewide community of educators for supporting the transition.
“This transition preserves North Carolina’s environmental education legacy and allows an important statewide career-development and community-building resource to continue,” Tolley said.
Marty Wiggins, program consultant for the environmental education program, said the certification program will continue to serve the entire state.
“Our plan is to make a seamless transition to the Center for the Environment,” Wiggins said. “All of the resources that support the program, such as the NCEE listserv and calendar, will continue to be an integral part of the certification program.”
