Author: Vince Robinson

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CONSERVATION NEWS RELEASE STATEMENT Statements Uncategorized

Stormwater Pollution is Not Going Away

NEWS RELEASE

ANS Message to Montgomery County Council: Stormwater Pollution is Not Going Away

For Immediate Release: July 18, 2018
For more information, contact Caroline Brewer, caroline.brewer@anshome.org or 202-830-5115 or Eliza Cava, 301-652-9188, ext. 22, eliza.cava@anshome.org

CHEVY CHASE, MD – ANS Director of Conservation Eliza Cava issued the following statement in response to the Montgomery County Council’s vote on stormwater issues:

"Stormwater pollution is not going to go away. It is getting worse, with bigger, more intense storms an increasing fact of life due to climate change and more and more pavement and sprawl turning that rain into stormwater pollution. We must redouble our efforts to use green infrastructure to stop stormwater pollution from destroying our streams and infrastructure.

ANS will continue its long partnership with the Department of Environmental Protection to advise upon and watchguard the progress of this new contracting method, and continue to make recommendations about how to clean up our streams and watersheds for the benefit of nature and our communities.

The compromise is not perfect but it allowed the Council to pass a special appropriation, which was needed to get work moving again on these critical environmental projects. We're pleased that it includes commitments to green infrastructure and Low Impact Development projects that use lessons of nature to manage stormwater and heal our streams.

ANS thanks the Councilmembers who worked hard to make this special appropriation happen."

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About ANS: ANS is the oldest, independent environmental organization in the DMV. Throughout its history, ANS has played a pivotal role in conserving our region’s iconic natural places from development including the C&O Canal, Dyke Marsh and, most recently, Ten Mile Creek. Past ANS member and board president, Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, is credited with launching the now global environmental movement. ANS’s nature experts provide hundreds of opportunities each year for children and adults to enjoy, learn about, and protect the environment.

Follow ANS at www.Facebook.com/AudubonNaturalistSociety and www.Twitter.com/ANStweets

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Children and Nature Guide

Education

Audubon Nature Preschool

Washington, DC’s only preschool program on a nature sanctuary for children aged 5 and younger

LOCATION

ANS’s 40-acre Woodend Nature Sanctuary provides a unique home for our preschoolers and their families. This natural environment serves as a one-of-a-kind green venue for creative language, artistic, musical expression, hands-on observation, and discovery.

Audubon Nature Preschool is a nature-based preschool with education and environmental programs for children aged 5 and younger outside Washington, DC in Chevy Chase, MD.

Woodend Sanctuary
8940 Jones Mill Road
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
(301) 652-9188

CONTACT

For more information about Audubon Nature Preschool:

Stephanie Bozzo
Preschool Director
Phone: (301) 652-9188 x32 
stephanie.bozzo@anshome.org

Audubon Nature Preschool is a nature-based preschool with education and environmental programs for children aged 5 and younger outside Washington, DC in Chevy Chase, MD.

Many preschools place greater emphasis on finishing an end product rather than on acquiring knowledge through self-paced activities.

Our curriculum focuses on the experience and children being in the moment. Our student-centered, process-based philosophy introduces young students to a lifetime of learning. 

Children are naturally curious about the environment and we let their natural discoveries guide our explorations. At Audubon Nature Preschool, our curriculum emerges from the children’s interests and follows the seasons. Our student-centered, process-based philosophy introduces young students to a lifetime of learning.

We see a direct correlation between how dirty and messy children get and how happy they feel, and at our 40-acre nature sanctuary, our students engage with the environment and build knowledge in deep and meaningful ways in all types of weather. 

Our school days are spent outdoors, rain or shine as students come to school prepared for all of the elements. Families are our partners and ensure children are properly dressed for the weather each day. Wet and rainy days provide some of our most magical experiences. 

Our program includes a balance of teacher-directed and child-directed activities. Teacher-directed activities include group meeting/circle time, journals, cooking projects and science experiments.

The remainder of our program time is centered on child-directed activities such as our learning centers (art, blocks, easel, dramatic play, sensory table, discovery table, book nook, etc). Materials are rotated to spark and extend children’s play themes.

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Go Wild for Great Outdoors Month

NEWS RELEASE

Go Wild for Great Outdoors Month

ANS Issues Another Challenge for D.C. to Spend at Least an Hour a Day in Nature and the WIlderness

For Immediate Release: May 31, 2018
For more information, contactcarolinebrewer@anshome.org or 301-652-9188, ext. 23 or Lisa Goodnight, lglisagoodnight@gmail.com, 301-523-5394.

CHEVY CHASE, MD –

Tomorrow, June 1 marks the start of Great Outdoors Month. To celebrate, the Audubon Naturalist Society is challenging the DC area to get up and go outside – for the fun of it just as we did for Earth Month! Researchers say Americans live the majority of their lives indoors, despite the well-documented benefits of being in nature and the wilderness. ANS wants to buck this “indoor species” trend by showcasing dozens of the region’s most beloved outdoor spaces and challenging the DMV to spend more time – at least an hour a day - in nature for pleasure.

Fueled by the slogan, “Wild Places Are Closer than You Think. Follow Me!” the goal of the ongoing challenge is to get people to visit outdoor spaces in the DMV, such as Rock Creek Park, Great Falls, the National Arboretum, Dumbarton Oaks, ANS’s Woodend and Rust nature sanctuaries, and the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, where Harriet Tubman grew up. (Download the ANS Great Outdoors Month LocationsPDF). ANS experts are available throughout the month to speak with media about how to #EscapeTheIndoors.

Because scientific studies say the great outdoors is good for the mind, body, spirit, and creativity, ANS is hopeful that spending at least 60 minutes connecting with nature will become habit-forming, for adults, as well as children, who, one leading researcher says are outdoors fewer than seven minutes a day, on average.  This problem is gaining more attention. Just this week, the Washington Post published "Kids do not spend nearly enough time outside. Here's how (and why) to change that," authored by the head of the National Wildlife Federation, which has a "green hour" challenge aimed at kids.  

As to the benefits of being outside, here are some universal facts to consider:

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Follow ANS at www.Facebook.com/AudubonNaturalistSociety and www.Twitter.com/ANStweets

About ANS: Throughout its history, ANS has played a pivotal role in conserving our region’s iconic natural places from development including the C&O Canal, Dyke Marsh and, most recently, Ten Mile Creek. Past ANS member and board president, Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, is credited with launching the now global environmental movement. ANS’s nature experts provide hundreds of opportunities each year for children and adults to enjoy, learn about, and protect the environment.

 

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NEWS ALERT NEWS MEDIA

Take Your Child To Work Day 2018

NEWS ALERT

Children of ANS Employees are Digging this Day of Nature Work and Play!

Take Your Child to Work Day will feature planting native trees

For Immediate Release: April 26, 2018
For more information, contact caroline.brewer@anshome.org or cell, 202-830-5115 or Lisa Goodnight, lglisagoodnight@gmail.com, 301-523-5394

CHEVY CHASE, MD – At least 10 area youth will be leaving behind screens to get their green on for Take Your Child to Work Day! Audubon Naturalist Society will engage the youngest members of its employee family in the restoration of Woodend Nature Sanctuary April 26, 2018, in honor of the annual career education celebration.

From 10 am to 12 noon today, the children of ANS employees will get their hands dirty in our woodland helping plant tree seedlings from an assortment of native trees to ensure the future of our forest, which has suffered from recent storms, disease, invasive species, and “four-hooved lawnmowers.”

Restoration Director Alison Pearce is leading the project.

Trees, of course, improve air quality, filter polluted runoff, clean streams, which supply drinking water, and provide shelter and food for countless wildlife species. On a day when work becomes play, ANS is thrilled to share hands-on experiences in the natural world with the next generation so that “going green” has more meaning – and just might become a way of life.

The native tree assortment includes: Red Maple, River Birch, Swamp White Oak, Willow Oak, Hazel Alder, Eastern Redbud, American Hazelnut, and American Sycamore.

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About ANS: ANS is the oldest, independent environmental organization in the DMV. Throughout its history, ANS has played a pivotal role in conserving our region’s iconic natural places from development including the C&O Canal, Dyke Marsh and, most recently, Ten Mile Creek. Past ANS member and board president, Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, is credited with launching the now global environmental movement. ANS’s nature experts provide hundreds of opportunities each year for children and adults to enjoy, learn about, and protect the environment.

Follow ANS at www.Facebook.com/AudubonNaturalistSociety and www.Twitter.com/ANStweets