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Member Group Accomplishments

2011 EarthShare of Georgia Member Group Accomplishments

Atlanta Audubon Society

  • Partnered with Trees Atlanta to restore critical habitat along a 6-mile stretch of the Atlanta Beltline.
  • Identified 48 locations that are key breeding and feeding sites for birds in our state through the Georgia Important Bird Areas (IBA) program.
  • 39 backyard certifications certified as official AAS Backyard Wildlife Sanctuaries, approaching 500 total certified properties (more than 25,000 acres) 

Captain Planet Foundation

  • A 2010-2011 CPF grant to Roswell non-profit, Giving Point, has assisted in building a handicapped accessible garden and walking trail on 15,000 square feet of land in Fulton County. This program has developed community partnerships between Giving Point, Alpharetta High School, YMCA, and other community based groups.  Over 1,000 students, parents, teachers, community leaders, and farmers came together to complete the garden project.
  • On Earth Day 2011, CPF partnered with Chattahoochee Nature Center, providing fun hands-on projects and edutainment for more than one thousand children and families. 
  • In December 2010, CPF raised funds to assist children and families in distressed areas of the Gulf. Through a specific grant to Youth Villages, in 2011 CPF were able to train teachers from the Gulf in installing and seeding vegetable gardens. These gardens will become a reality in the Spring of 2012.

Chattahoochee Nature Center

  • The Kaiser Permanente Unity Garden produced five tons to date of fresh produce for charity, promoting healthy living and providing a means to promote our horticulture initiatives and volunteerism as a catalyst for community collaboration and interaction. 
  • The Nature Exchange in our Discovery Center, exclusive to the southeast, increased participation to over 2751, exceeding expectations. Other NEX programs in the US average 1500 participants enrolled after two years of operation.  As of December 2011, 53% of enrolled participants are CNC members and it is estimated that over half of them returning to trade two or more times.
  • Camp Kingfisher delivered two thrilling weeks in nature for 31 underprivileged kids through a Fresh Grant from Fulton County via partnerships with Roswell’s STAR House, Fulton Families Matter, and Drake House.

The Conservation Fund

  • Protected nearly 162,000 acres nationwide, bringing total land protected since 1985 to nearly 7 million acres, with more than 85,000 acres protected in Georgia. In partnership with the City of Atlanta, we have continued our work to expand the Atlanta Park System, adding a total of 182 acres since 2005.
  • Purchased more than 930 acres in Polk County to move the Pinhoti Trail off the highway. This area south of Cave Spring sets a foundation for the city to develop into a “trail town” to spur economic development.
  • Protected more than 3,100 acres in Liberty and Long counties as part of the Army Compatible Use Buffer (ACUB) program. A conservation easement will be held by the Georgia Land Trust and the land will be managed by The Conservation Fund as a working forest.\

Elachee Nature Science Center

  • Conducted an extensive Nature Preschool feasibility study with plans to open the first program of its kind in the southeast in 2014.
  • Launched a comprehensive 3-year Capital Campaign to secure funds for three initiatives: the Nature Preschool retro-fit; renovations and improvements to the museum and interpretive displays to enhance the education experience for visitors;  and expand our conservation and preservation work in the Preserve and on lands throughout North Georgia.
  • Educated 34,000 students from 22 metro Atlanta and north Georgia school districts and added five new programs to our slate of 30+ environmental education programs correlated to the state science curriculum standards.

Flint Riverkeeper

  • Working directly with Georgians for Smart Energy, Friends of the Chattahoochee, Georgia Chapter of the Sierra Club, Greenlaw, and several other Georgia Riverkeepers, marked the DEFEAT, the end of the so-called ‘Longleaf’ coal-fired energy facility in Early County. 
  • Working directly with Georgians for Smart Energy, local citizen activists, the Georgia Chapter of the Sierra club, and several other Georgia Riverkeepers, directly influenced the outcome of Board elections at Cobb and Pataula EMCs, which led to the end of funding for the coal-fired facilities in Washington and Ben Hill counties, a project led by the so-called ‘Power4Georgians’ consortium orchestrated by Allied Energy, a corporation fronted by Dean Alford and co-owned by the indicted Dwight Brown.
  •  Working with local citizens, facilitated enforcement actions against and/or improvements of wastewater treatment plants in Decatur, Lee, and Upson counties.

Friends of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia

  • More than 8,000 people across Georgia participated in SBG education programs in 2011.
  • Certificate in Native Plants with classes taught in Athens the past three years, expanded to coastal Georgia in cooperation with the Coastal Bamboo Station of Savannah and Coastal Wildscapes in 2011.
  • Grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Wildlife Federation and Georgia Power are funding research and removal of invasive species and establishment of native plants on 9 acres of floodplain. The Center for Native Plant Studies was christened on November 4, 2011.

Georgia Conservation Voters

  • Led the Georgia Environmental Action Network, which keeps nearly 15,000 Georgians informed of environmental policy issues and engages them with policy makers at strategic times in the decision making process.
  • Led an effort to use advanced modeling and supporter identification to build a nearly 30,000 piece mail campaign to educate citizens about the dangers associated with new coal plant construction and the need to use cleaner energy.
  •  Led an effort to educate senior policymakers on the technological advances of emerging alternative energies and the rapidly improving economics associated with their use. 

Georgia Organics

  • Georgia Organics Farm to School program provided technical assistance to six school districts who served 2 million meals with fresh local produce.
  • Georgia Organics held the 14th Annual Conference in Savannah and hosted 1,100 attendees, held 10 workshops, 32 educational sessions and 12 farm tours
  • Georgia Organics as fiscal sponsor for Wholesome Wave assisted in distributing $65,500 to match food stamp dollars at 14 farmers markets around the state

Georgia Ornithological Society

  • H. Branch Howe, Jr. Graduate Student Research Grants – GOS awarded $15,000 in research grants to support Georgia-related research in ornithology; Bill Terrell Graduate Student Research Grants – GOS awarded $15,000 in research grants in support of graduate students working on behalf of the conservation of declining bird species in the southeastern U. S.
  • Bill Terrell Avian Conservation Grants – GOS awarded $50,000 to restore native grasslands that support Bachman Sparrow and numerous other grassland bird species and to rehabilitate pond embankments and water control structures at the Altamaha National Wildlife Refuge. Opportunity Grants – GOS provided $11,735 to sponsor citizen scientist and public education projects including mist-netting study to identify the southernmost distribution of Saw-whet Owls, $2,000 to the GA DNR Youth Birding Competition and Camp TALON (Teen Adventures Learning Ornithology)
  • Bird Counts - GOS continues its support of numerous statewide Christmas Bird Counts, Breeding Bird Surveys, Operation Migration (Whooping Crane), International Crane Foundation, Mid-Winter Shorebird Count, Great Backyard Bird Count. It also publishes the “Oriole”, a biannual journal of Georgia ornithology.

Georgia Wildlife Federation

  • Welcomed more than 4,000 visitors to the re-opened the Mill Creek Nature Center in Buford, GA, hosting educational events and access to view wildlife and the wetlands.
  • Completed a Five-Star wetlands restoration of the Alcovy River at East End, restoring 35 total acres and 8,245 linear feet of riparian buffer, with 12 partner organizations and 956 direct participants involved in the project.
  • Launched Georgia’s Camp Charlie, in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a camping program aimed at connecting families to nature with the goal of conducting programs throughout all of the eco-regions of Georgia.

GreenLaw

  • Helped to defeat the Longleaf Energy Station – the largest new pollution source proposed for Georgia in decades.  This victory will prevent 475 million tons of carbon dioxide along with a host of other harmful pollutants from being discharged into Georgia’s air and water.
  • Held the line against two other new coal fired power plants which would contaminate our rivers with high levels of mercury, a dangerous neurotoxin;
  • Worked with Ogeechee Riverkeeper to address the state’s inadequate response to the worst fish kill in Georgia’s history;

Museum of Arts and Sciences – Macon, GA

  • Installed signage along the Sweet Gum Nature Trail interpreting native plants, pond life, and trees of the trails.

  • Conducted environmental education programming at Amerson Water Works Park that reached 2100 students from Bibb, Baldwin, Butts, and Peach Counties.

  • Constructed a pond dipping station to be used for educational programming including macroinvertebrate studies and water quality studies.

Oxbow Meadows Environmental Learning Center

  • Opened our new 8,000-square-foot building featuring indoor and outdoor exhibits focusing on our wetlands, the reptiles, plants and trees that live in it and the role humans play in maintaining their continued existence.  Over 10,000 people have visited our new facility since August.
  • Partnered with a neighborhood elementary school (75 4th graders) to create and maintain an on-site organic garden and generated food for our local food bank.
  • Provided interactive guidance and instruction to over 250 citizens using our trails as the tool for improving identification and interpretation skills for our wetland habitat. 

Park Pride

  • Elbow Grease for our Public Greenspaces: Coordinated 15,000 volunteer hours by nearly 4,000 volunteers with 106 volunteer projects in geographically diverse Atlanta parks and in DeKalb County.Growing
  • Local: Continued fostering the Community Garden program,which allows residents to create organic community gardens in their parks. Park Pride, with the support of private funders, has worked with volunteers to create 20 gardens in Atlanta parks.
  • Hitting New Visioning Milestones: Partnered with communities to develop conceptual master plans through our Park Visioning program. Since the start of the program in 2005, 24 “Park Visions” have been created, with upwards of $9 Million in public and private funding going toward implementation.

Reynolds Nature Preserve

  • Purchased a fire tower which will be moved to and erected on property site where one stood in the early 1900’s for educational programs.
  • Partnered with Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission and installed an educational native tree identification field; partnered with Clayton State University so their students could conduct hands on water quality, tree species and fish population studies during Biology and Ecology labs.
  • Taught over 2,000 local children about native flora and fauna during on site field trips and outreach programs; hosted the second Wild Azalea Festival with over 20 local environmental organizations attending providing information about Georgia’s vast outdoor opportunities.

Friends of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia

  • More than 8,000 people across Georgia participated in SBG education programs in 2011.
  • Certificate in Native Plants with classes taught in Athens the past three years, expanded to coastal Georgia in cooperation with the Coastal Bamboo Station of Savannah and Coastal Wildscapes in 2011.
  •  Grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Wildlife Federation and Georgia Power are funding research and removal of invasive species and establishment of native plants on 9 acres of floodplain. The Center for Native Plant Studies was christened on November 4, 2011

Sierra Club-Georgia Chapter

  • We defeated the proposed Longleaf Energy Station, which was the longest running fight against a coal-fired power plant in the country, protecting Georgia’s atmosphere and water system from the pollution of 88 pounds of toxic mercury, 1,938 pounds of lead, and 8000 tons of soot and smog, each year. We raised awareness and support for EPA's recently finalized mercury rule by generating thousands of comments in Georgia, turning people out for the May hearing, and holding the Georgia Attorney General accountable when he signed on to a petition seeking a delay.
  • We launched the April 2011 John Muir Outings Series where we took 100 people out to explore Georgia's five most threatened places and educated about what they could do to help protect them.
  • We played a significant role in protecting Georgia’s water-ways as active Adopt-a-Stream (AAS) monitors.  In fact, two of our AAS groups placed in the top tier of the most active monitoring teams in Georgia, Savannah River Group (Columbia County) placed 10th and Centennial Group placed 14th.

Trees Atlanta

  • NeighborWoods volunteers and urban trees contractors planted 1,511 shade trees in various Atlanta neighborhoods, along sidewalks, in school yards and in city parks in areas including Decatur, Westview, Ansley, Virginia-Highlands, Sandy Springs, Capitol View, Avondale Estates, West End, Midtown and downtown among many, many others. 
  • The Trees Atlanta Kendeda Center received the 2011 Exceptional Merit Award for Leadership in Sustainability from the Atlanta Regional Council.  This award recognizes developments in the 10-county Atlanta region that exemplify cutting-edge, livable designs.
  • Trees Atlanta Urban Forestry Crew members provided more than 41,000 maintenance visits to trees we have planted throughout the city.  These visits included watering, pruning, mulching and removing invasive species.

Trout Unlimited

  • Successfully operated our eighth “Trout Camp” for 24 young people in the age range of 12–15 years of age. These young people learned not only about trout fishing but spent many hours in classes on ecology, stream restoration, fly tying and casting, and outdoor ethics, etc.
  • Continued work with “Back the Brookie” Projects. These projects included collection of water samples on 15 representative Brook Trout streams in North Georgia to obtain data on water quality and temperature ranges in Brook Trout habitat. TU’s intern program, through the efforts of eight college wildlife and fisheries students, built 58 structures on 6 different streams in 4 watersheds for a total of 14.5 miles of enhanced stream.
  • Multiple chapters participated in a project coordinated by the Upper Chattahoochee Chapter in conjunction with the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, the National Park Service, the Georgia DNR, and the Chattahoochee Cold Water Fishery Foundation aimed at research on the naturally reproducing wild brown trout population to provide the GA DNR with data for future fisheries management on the Chattahoochee River.
  • Several chapters in Georgia continue to operate “Trout in the Classroom” programs at schools in North Georgia. These programs help teach students about ecology, coldwater habitat, and the trout life cycle. The students hatch the eggs and grow them to 4” fingerlings before they are stocked into a coldwater stream.

Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper

  • Brought 3,866 students and teachers onboard our floating classroom on Lake Lanier, including 752 underserved youth, with partner Elachee Nature Science Center.
  • Restored and/or protected 15,825 linear feet of river and stream banks.
  • Recognized as the top adopt-a-stream group in Georgia with more than 500 water samples collected and analyzed.

Wilderness Southeast

  • In 2011, 2,900 participants benefited from Wilderness Southeast’s interactive programs, exploring beach, swamp, marsh, and estuary and gaining understanding of the workings of the natural world that supports our lives.
  • Our Fish Gotta Swim program provided 5,260 hours of science and language arts enrichment to underserved public school sixth graders. Students investigate and write about basic concepts of ecology, the importance of water quality to all life, and the interconnectedness of biotic and abiotic elements of our world.
  • WiSE is now merging the worlds of science and art, including a Coastal Photography Contest, encouraging new perspectives and new methods of investigation of the world around us.