Concord — Outdoor education programs in the Upper Valley soon will receive more than $230,000 in grant funding, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation announced last week.

This year’s Wellborn grants are aimed at funding projects that provide access to high-quality ecology education in local schools, the foundation said in a news release. An emphasis of the grants is placed on underserved districts, such as Mascoma, Claremont and Newport.

“These grants will enable hundreds of kids to meet science standards through outdoor, hands-on inquiry-based curriculum that is meaningful and relevant,” Kevin Peterson, a program manager at the foundation, said in the release.

The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park in Woodstock is expected to receive a large portion of the grant funds. About $60,000 will go to the Wellborn Institute, a professional development program at the site that instructs teachers to incorporate nature into the classroom. Another $7,000 also will be contributed to the site’s Forest for Every Classroom professional development program.

The Center for Northern Woodlands Education in Corinth also will receive $25,000 from the foundation, and that money will go to The Outside Story, a weekly series devoted to natural history topics.

About $30,000 will go to programs and service learning initiatives from the Four Winds Nature Institute, of Chittenden, Vt. Much of those dollars will be put to use in Claremont schools, the foundation said.

The Vermont Institute of Natural Science in Quechee also will receive $20,000 toward its school programs, and Vital Communities will be given $19,000 for farm-to-school projects.

Other groups benefitting from the grants include D Acres Permaculture Farm and Educational Homestead in Dorchester; ForestKinder in Randolph; Friends of Mascoma Foundation; Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site; the Soil Carbon Coalition; The Fells in Newbury, N.H.; and the White River Partnership in South Royalton.

The Claremont/Cornish/Unity, Fall Mountain, Mascoma Valley Regional, Lebanon and Springfield (Vt.) school districts also will receive grant funding, along with the Sharon Elementary School and the Newton School in South Strafford.

Named after the former Hanover naturalist Marguerite Wellborn, the Wellborn Energy Fund has provided more than $5.3 million in funding since 2001 to 125 Upper Valley organizations.

Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.