PLT, an initiative of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), is an award-winning education program that advances environmental awareness, forest literacy, and green career pathways, using trees and forests as windows on the world. The Leadership in Education award recognizes educators who make significant contributions in their state to PLT and youth environmental education.

“Angie is a pillar in the North Dakota PLT program. As a facilitator and educator, she has worked with Project Learning Tree and state partners to promote environmental stewardship through education. She is integral in nurturing the next generation of environmentally literate educators and students across the state,” said Beth Hill, the North Dakota PLT State Coordinator at the North Dakota Forest Service. “Angie is always intentional in providing environmental education opportunities to diverse audiences, such as Indigenous and rural K-12 schools.”

Over 30 years ago, Bartholomay began teaching PLT in her rural classroom and now serves as a professor in science at Dakota College in Bottineau (DCB). She hosts many workshops for teachers, nonformal educators, and preservice education students. In recent years, she has spearheaded a series of four summer workshops called the “Natural Resource Institutes”. In these workshops, she collaborates with local natural resource professionals to enrich educator learning, covering topics like soil health, drone technology, forest inventories, and conservation tree production. She additionally organizes direct education events for students that highlight green career pathways in her region, including career fairs and the DCB Water Festival, STEM Day, Science Olympiad, and more.

“Angie’s passion for improving access to environmental education is one of the things that truly makes her stand out. Oftentimes, students in rural areas don’t have access to events or resources, so Angie hosts education days in the heart of the communities where she helps connect students from rural and tribal schools to nature. She wants to ensure everyone can learn about and enjoy the environment,” says Josh Brankman, VP of Education at SFI/PLT. “We are pleased to honor Angie for her leadership and dedication in environmental education in North Dakota, and we know her passion for the environment and youth education will be felt for years to come.”

Since 1976, PLT has reached 145 million students and trained 765,000 educators to help students learn how to think, not what to think, about complex environmental issues. PLT helps develop students’ awareness, knowledge, and appreciation of the environment, builds their skills and ability to make informed decisions and encourages them to take personal responsibility for sustaining the environment and our quality of life that depends on it.

Bartholomay, along with Butch Bailey, a forester and instructor for Mississippi State University Extension Service, and Susan Cox, Conservation Education Coordinator for the USDA Forest Service, Eastern Region, will be honored at the 2025 PLT Annual Conference in Clemson, South Carolina, from March 10-14.

The recipients of PLT’s Leadership in Education were selected from nominees across the US for their leadership in implementing PLT programs and initiatives within their state, provincial, and local communities.

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About Project Learning Tree

Project Learning Tree®️ is committed to advancing environmental education, forest literacy, and green career pathways, using trees and forests as windows on the world. Our award-winning resources offer a lifetime of learning from early childhood through adulthood, and our wide and diverse network provides professional development for educators and opportunities for young adults to explore forests and green careers. Together, we are growing future forest and conservation leaders. PLT is an initiative of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative®, a non-profit charitable organization with the mission of advancing sustainability through forest-focused collaboration. For more information, visit www.plt.org.

About North Dakota Forest Service

The mission of the NDSU-North Dakota Forest Service is to care for, protect, and improve forest and natural resources to enhance the quality of life for present and future generations. A wide variety of customers depend on the North Dakota Forest Service for technical, financial and educational assistance relating to the management of private forestlands, state forestlands, urban and community forests, tree plantings and wildland fire protection. The agency operates a nursery at Towner specializing in the annual production of one million conifer (evergreen) tree stock in over twenty species, and also owns and manages approximately 13,290 acres of state forests.