Toyota and the National Audubon Society have announced $37,419 in TogetherGreen Innovation Grants funding has been awarded to two Pennsylvania-based projects that will demonstrate the ecological value of Early Successional Scrub Habitat and create a rare plant trail that exhibits threatened, endangered and extirpated plants of Pennsylvania.

One of the winning projects is the Lehigh Gap Nature Center's Plant Refuge Network project, in Slatington, which was made possible with support from the Lehigh Valley Audubon Society, Audubon Pennsylvania and Edge of the Woods Native Plant Nursery.

The project plan will create a rare plant trail on center grounds exhibiting threatened, endangered, and extirpated Pennsylvania plants.

The trail will serve as a model to inspire homeowners, municipal and school officials, and corporate complex managers to plant native plants-including rare ones-on their properties as part of a "Plant Refuge Network."

TogetherGreen, a conservation initiative of the National Audubon Society and Toyota, provides financial support for projects that use innovative approaches and technologies to engage new and diverse audiences in conservation and address pressing conservation problems.

"Groups that won Innovation Grants this year have ingenuity and creativity on full display. And that's what it takes to tackle the environmental challenges we face today," said Audubon President and CEO David Yarnold. "I'm proud to partner with these innovators increative approaches to achieve healthier communities and big conservation results."