The Diack Family Oregon Ecology Education Program provides a system of grants, awards, and resources that are distributed to teachers and other youth leaders in Oregon to encourage them to involve youth in field based ecology.

In awarding grants, emphasis is placed on regular field study by children of living things, using scientific-based processes at an easily accessible site.  Of particular concern is the extent to which the children will see that their work is important to their community.  The grant committee considers elements such as the projects use of good educational and scientific methods, its age appropriateness for the children, whether the project involves more than identification of plants and animals, how the project integrates other school subjects into the activities, whether the children's observations will lead to conclusions to be presented for a specific purpose.

The first step for a grant is a letter of interest (see GRANT PROCEDURES).