Students from Bryn Mawr Elementary and Anwatin Middle School use Anwatin Woods as a natural classroom, studying the plants and animals on field trips throughout the year. This unique area of naturally wooded land enables students to experience a "wild" environment unavailable to most urban youngsters whose closest ties to nature may be the manicured lawns of the city parks. Understanding our environment and how a major urban city impacts it, and coexists with it, is key to understanding our place in the larger scheme of life.

To view a PDF image of a letter drafted by several Anwatin Middle School science teachers talking of the importance of preserving this natural classroom, click here. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF (Portable Document Format). If you do not have this software, it is available for a FREE download at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

The opportunity to participate in, and explore this natural setting benefits well over one thousand students living in an area extending far beyond the boundaries of Bryn Mawr. Anwatin Woods is a treasure enjoyed not just by the immediate neighborhood, but by a large portion of Minneapolis itself, pulling students from as far away as Lake Calhoun and Interstate 35W.