Date: Fri 20-Jun-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

Hawley-park-biodiversity

Full Text:

Hawley Pocket Park Proposal Wins $500 Grant

BY DOROTHY EVANS

A $500 educational grant has been awarded to Hawley Elementary School by

Fortune Brands, Inc, a company based in Old Greenwich. The money will be used

to develop a biodiversity park in a natural area on school property behind

Taylor Field.

According to Hawley School math/science specialist Debbie Cowden, Hawley was

one of only 20 schools selected to receive a Fortune grant, out of 127 schools

that applied.

Mrs Cowden said Monday she is making plans for starting work on the outdoor

nature lab as soon as the children come back to school in September.

"We plan to involve the whole community and as many students as possible," Mrs

Cowden said.

Late last fall, the Boy Scouts had cleaned out brush to clear a trail, in

preparation for a possible project.

The school's plans for development of the biodiversity pocket park include

building a sand trap to record animal tracks, constructing spillways to

regulate water flow through the drainage ditch traversing the back of the

field, and creating an outdoor amphitheater where small groups of students can

gather.

The one-acre park, donated to Hawley by the town in June of 1995, is mostly

wooded and contains two good-sized vernal pools, which are fertile breeding

grounds for frogs and salamanders. Vernal pools appear in early spring and dry

up by mid or late summer, when the amphibious life they support has fully

matured and is able to survive on land.

The $500 Fortune Brands grant came through in June after Hawley had been

turned down for a larger Toyota Corporation grant application that was

submitted in February for $9,580.

Mrs Cowden said last week that she was "very happy" about getting the Fortune

Brands grant because it meant the school could go ahead with some of the ideas

they had developed when they were submitting the pocket park proposal to

Toyota.