I Am Conservation

Students and school leaders of the Steelville School District pose in front of the biomass furnace that heats the school using wood chips. School leaders pictured are, from left: Leon Callahan, district maintenance director (on tractor); Nathan Holder, school superintendent; Walker Richards, wood chip supplier; and Scott Perkins and Tim Mullen, school board members. The Missouri Department of Conservation, in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service’s State and Private Forestry program, awarded almost $6 million in grants to six public schools for Fuels for Schools projects. These grant funds helped the school districts install boiler systems that use wood biomass from local public and private forest land to heat their facilities. ”The Fuels For Schools Program has been very beneficial to our district, said Superintendent Holder. “We are now able to use a local natural resource from a local business and save money, which allows us to allocate more of our resources to benefit the students.” Holder said the project was paid in entirety by the Fuels For Schools grant and would not have been possible without the assistance of MDC. —Photo by David Stonner