SC PLT Environmental Education Centers
Established in 2018, the South Carolina PLT Environmental Education Center Program is an initiative that has helped increase PLT’s outreach and visibility across the state. A SC PLT Environmental Education (EE) Center is a special designation for museums, parks, science centers, and other education centers that have partnered with SC Project Learning Tree. These seven centers host at least one PLT professional development (PD) event annually on site, which are often free and open-to-the-public. Each center has three “Tree Trunks” full of materials to lead a variety of PLT activities. These educational kits are available to loan, free of charge, to anyone who has attended a PLT training.
Each center has a designated Center Coordinator, who is an active PLT Facilitator that assists with planning and leading the annual PLT training. If you are interested in loaning a Tree Trunk, attending a PLT PD event, or having a SC PLT EE Center host a PLT training for your group, please contact your local PLT EE Center Coordinator.
Tree Trunks
The SC PLT EE Center Tree Trunks are located at each of the seven SC PLT EE Centers. Each center has three Tree Trunks full of PLT resources and activity supplies for educators to use with their students. The Trees & Me trunk has materials to lead activities from the Trees & Me: Activities for Exploring Nature with Young Children activity guide, which is for ages 1-6. The K-8 trunk has activity supplies from the Explore Your Environment: K-8 activity guide. The Secondary trunk is geared towards middle and high school students and has resources for the Exploring Environmental Issues: Focus on Forests and the Green Jobs: Exploring Forest Careers activity guides.
There is no charge to loan a Tree Trunk and they are available to anyone who has participated in a Project Learning Tree PD event. Tree Trunks must be rented in their entirety, and individual activity supplies cannot be borrowed on their own, unless specified by the Center Coordinator. Please view the links below for a detailed list of supplies and suggested activities/experiences for each trunk. If you are interested in borrowing a Tree Trunk, please fill out the Tree Trunk Request Form below and send it to your local EE Center Coordinator. The coordinator can answer any questions you have about this process.
- Trees & Me Tree Trunk Supplies (pdf)
- K-8 Tree Trunk Supplies (pdf)
- Secondary Tree Trunk Supplies (pdf)
- Tree Trunk Request Form (pdf)
For more information about the SC PLT Environmental Education Centers, please contact Assistant Environmental Education Program Manager Shelby Bentley at SBentley@scfc.gov.
SC PLT EE Center locations
 | Harbison State Forest Environmental Education Center Shelby Bentley SC Forestry Commission (803) 896-8855 SBentley@scfc.gov |
 | Hobcaw Barony Discovery Center Sara Beth Freytag Coordinator of Children and Youth Education (843) 904-9291 sarabeth@hobcawbarony.org |
 | Roper Mountain Science Center Carrie Whitlock (864) 355-8900 carrie.whitlock@gmail.com |
 | Ruth Patrick Science Education Center Kimberly Fickling Program Director; STEP/BEEP (803) 641-3769 kimberlyf@usca.edu |
 | USC Upstate Watershed Ecology Center John Ratterree Operations Coordinator (864) 503-5728 ratterrj@USCUpstate.edu |
 | Old Santee Canal Park Kathy O’Connor Education Coordinator 843-899-5200 kathy.oconnor@santeecooper.com |
 | Nemours Wildlife Federation Heather Kraus Education and Outreach Coordinator 843-548-4621 hkraus@nemourswildlife.org |