PPL Montana offered the Project Earth Environmental Education Grants program for the first time in 2005. Teachers can receive grants for school projects that focus on issues such as watersheds and wetlands, air quality, renewable resources, energy conservation and the greening of schools.

Nine schools received the grants in 2005 to support their earth science programs. The schools were:

• Fergus High School, Lewistown — Students will enhance their earth science, biology and agricultural studies curriculum by studying the Big Spring Creek that adjoins school property. The grant will be used to purchase water sampling and measurement kits and other equipment that will allow on-site studies of the creek.
  
• Stevensville Elementary School, Stevensville — Students will be able to tour the Kerr Dam hydroelectric power plant on the Flathead River, gather water samples and learn about the fish and wildlife habitat created by the dam. The grant will be used for an after-school program that will enhance the students' classroom study of biology and the environment.
  
• Cherry Valley and Linderman elementary schools, Polson — Students will have the chance to study plant life cycles, learn about the interdependence of plants and animals, and establish an outside garden and indoor lab from which to harvest healthy snacks in a joint after-school program funded by the PPL Montana grant.
  
• Colstrip High School, Colstrip — Students will gather water quality data, conduct a study of the biological impacts of a coal-bed methane production along the Tongue River and share their information with federal and state environmental agencies. All the data gathered by the students will be available to state agencies and organizations through the school's Web site. In addition, the students will present their project findings at the Montana Environmental Education Association meeting. The PPL Montana grant will provide support for the project.
  
• Butte High School, Butte — Students will work with a meteorologist, a horticulturist and a biologist to understand the weather patterns that create drought and its effects on wildlife and the environment. As part this program, funded by the PPL Montana grant, students will take field trips to various rivers in southwest Montana affected by drought to provide context to the lessons learned in the classroom.
  
• Anna Jeffries Elementary School, Cut Bank — With funding from the PPL Montana grant, students will study the environmental benefits of recycling, devise a recycling program and work with city officials to implement it.
  
• Billings West High School, Billings — Students will explore a section of the Yellowstone River through science and the arts. With support from the PPL Montana grant, they will spend several days at the Yellowstone River to conduct water analyses and other scientific assessments as they keep logs of the birds they see, write journal entries about the experiences they have and create artwork of the river.
  
• Elder Grove School — Students will study the functional and aesthetic quality of plants. With funding from the PPL Montana grant, they will beautify the grounds of their new gymnasium by planting trees, shrubbery and flowers as they study how plants sustain wildlife, protect the soil, and provide shade and wind breaks.