The Virginia Living Museum in Newport News has received a $150,000 matching grant from the National Park Service’s Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network to create a “Green House” environmental education center and “bayscaping” backyard habitat.

The project, called “Living ‘Green’ in the Watershed,” is designed to demonstrate how choices for products and landscaping can improve our environment. It is expected to cost $315,000 and is scheduled to open in spring 2009.

“Though green design options and products are becoming more available to architects and contractors, they are not easily accessible to the public,” said Fred Farris, deputy director of the VLM. “This project will position the Virginia Living Museum as a showcase of green living options. The ‘greening’ of America will come one step at a time through more informed consumer decisions by each of us. The VLM’s ‘green’ house will be just the place to learn how to make those green choices.”

“This funding will play an important role in supporting the Green House environmental education center, and I cannot think of a more appropriate location for this habitat than the Virginia  Living Museum,” said Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis, who worked to help secure funding for the Gateways grant program. “This project will demonstrate the importance of conservation and encourage environmentally friendly policies and practices for everyday life. I compliment VLM for their pursuit of this worthwhile project,” added Davis.

The museum plans to create a 600-square-foot “green” house environmental education center to promote conservation. The building will be covered by an extensive green roof of living plants with rain barrels and solar collectors. Exhibits will promote recycling, water conservation, green building products, energy conservation and other related topics, including the museum’s own conservation initiatives.

Exhibits will also highlight the weekly efforts by museum volunteers to remove the urban runoff of trash and other debris from the creek, lake and museum grounds. These waterways targeted for cleanup are a part of the Bay watershed and shared by Deer Park, the Mariners’ Museum and the Noland Trail.

The “green” house will be surrounded by a 3,000-square-foot bayscaping garden to highlight “earth-friendly” gardening techniques, such as use of native plants, mulching, composting and reduced use of synthetic fertilizers/pesticides.

Much of the “green” building will incorporate green design elements and be made with recycled building products where possible. The roof will have a steeply sloped section that comes within several feet of the ground, allowing the public to closely examine it. The green roof display will encourage people to consider this Bay-friendly roofing option for their home, garage, shed, porch and/or business.

Exhibits inside the building will promote options to increase stewardship of the Bay environment. Visitors will be able to calculate their carbon footprint and see how that footprint can be affected by various lifestyle choices, such as type of car, frequency of travel, amount of electricity usage.

The bayscaping garden will show visitors how to transform their traditional yard into a wildlife-friendly habitat. Bayscaping landscaping has many environmental benefits including reducing storm water runoff and pollution into the local waterways, while providing food, water and shelter for wildlife.

The Virginia Living Museum already has one of the largest displays of native plants in the region. This project will provide a more prominent teaching display garden to highlight the use of native plants, backyard habitats and Bay-friendly gardening methods. The garden portion of this project is also being supported through a generous donation from the local Huntington Garden Club.

Gateways matching grants have helped fund several major projects and exhibits at the museum, including the current “Survivor: Jamestown” maze exhibit. The most recent Gateways grant provided funds for a canoe dock and 100-seat amphitheater. The canoe dock was completed in May and will be used for watershed education programs. The amphitheater is scheduled for completion in spring 2008.

The Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network is a partnership system of more than 140 parks, refuges, historic ports and museums, trails and water trails throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The Virginia Living Museum is a private non-profit organization that has been in operation since 1966. It is located at 524 J. Clyde Morris Blvd., Newport News.

For more information call 757-595-1900 or visit the web site at www.thevlm.org.

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Contact

Fred Farris

Deputy Director

(757) 595-1900 ext. 212

deputy.director@thevlm.org

Virginia Gabriele

Marketing Director

(757) 595-1900 ext. 249

marketing@thevlm.org