Delaware Governor Jack Markell celebrated Arbor Day at Blackbird State Forest by accepting a $2 million grant from the U.S. Forest Service for forestland preservation in Sussex County.
The money will help fund Delaware's "Green Horizons Project," a multi-phase effort to purchase forestland in high-priority natural resource areas near Redden State Forest. Delaware was one of only 24 recipients nationwide for the competitive grants awarded by the U.S. Forest Service's Forest Legacy Program.
Since 2004, Delaware has received almost $9 million from the U.S. Forest Service's Forest Legacy Program. Combined with state and private funding, Delaware has been able to preserve over 2,000 acres of forestland in Sussex County in the past 5 years. Officials hope to announce a land purchase sometime next year in the "Redden/Ellendale Forest Legacy Area" – situated just north of Georgetown.
The "Green Horizons Project," now in Phase VI of a multi-year effort, is targeting tracts of contiguous forestland to protect wildlife as well as the ecologically sensitive watersheds of Sussex County, an area which has experienced accelerating development. The land will be added to Redden State Forest - Delaware's largest – which currently covers over 11,000 acres.
Delaware Forest Service Educator Ashley Ward received a prestigious Bronze Smokey Award from the Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention Committee, a national honor presented to a select few recipients in any given year. Ward was honored for her work in directing Delaware's annual Smokey Bear Fire Safety Education Program. For the past five years, she has succeeded in expanding the range and scope of the program to almost 75 percent of all first-grade children in Delaware's private and public schools. The award is sponsored by the Ad Council, the U.S. Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters.
Markell also honored the children in grades K-5 who won Delaware's 16th Annual Arbor Day School Poster Contest. Delaware's National Representative, fifth-grader Sophia Kottenhahn Leslie, of Claymont Elementary in Wilmington, was honored for placing third overall in the United States for her watercolor poster on the theme, "Trees Are Terrific…In Cities and Towns." Grace Winston of Winston Learning Academy in Milford was recognized as the winner in Delaware's statewide contest for grades K-4.
Markell also honored Delaware's Tree City USA communities - a designation for municipalities who meet criteria established by the National Arbor Day Foundation.
This year's Delaware's Tree City USA cities are: Bethany Beach, Bridgeville, Dagsboro, Delaware City, Dewey Beach, Dover, Dover Air Base, Fenwick Island, Lewes, Middletown, Milford, Newark, Ocean View, Odessa, Rehoboth Beach, Smyrna, and Wilmington.
