runcie.jpgFORT LAUDERDALE — The Broward County School District is the first in the nation to be certified by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), selected for its “comprehensive approach to environmental education and creative creation and use of outdoor learning spaces.” 

More than 40 percent of the district’s schools are Certified Schoolyard Habitats, and 25 percent of its students are active in outdoor learning.

Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie noted that the NWF “teaches the importance of environmental stewardship by providing guidelines for making landscapes more hospitable to wildlife,” and had recognized the property of Forest Hills Elementary School as officially certified. “The school site attracts a variety of birds, butterflies and other local animals by providing a wildlife-friendly landscape,” the superintendent said.

NWF began the Certified Wildlife Habitat program in 1973, he added, and has since certified almost 150,000 habitats nationwide.

Photo: Robert Runcie