PORTLAND — The Casco Bay Estuary Partnership has awarded almost $11,000 in annual grants to local organizations carrying out environmental awareness projects in Falmouth, Freeport, Chebeague Island and Cumberland.

In one project a team of volunteers led by the Falmouth Land Trust will inventory vegetation in Mill Creek to inform future management decisions about the creek, which empties into Casco Bay.

Seventh graders at Freeport Middle School will conduct field-based research into clam recruitment, survival and growth in Freeport. The findings will be shared with the Freeport Shellfish Committee.

The Chebeague and Cumberland Land Trust will start an explorers program aimed at kids in Cumberland and Chebeague Island, with activities at land trust properties.