POLAND SPRINGS — The Ferry Beach Ecology School of Saco was named as Poland Spring’s “Natural Leader” award winner for 2010 Thursday at the company’s bottling plant museum.

During a luncheon outside the company’s museum, Poland Spring’s Northeast Operations Director Bill Maples praised the Ferry Beach Ecology School for doing “great work” by providing hands-on learning to young people about coastal ecology and sustainability.

“In 2010, 4,300 Maine students from 26 different schools had a chance to go through the program. It’s quite remarkable,” Maples said. Some 130 students from Poland, Minot and Mechanic Falls attended the school with help from Poland Spring. More area students will attend the beach school late this summer, officials said.

At the Ferry Beach Ecology School students take part in weather forecasting, star gazing, identifying coastal wildlife, learn the importance of recycling, the beach ecology “and even the beauty of composting food scraps,” Maples said.

Drew Dumsch, a founder and executive director of the school, accepted the award saying he was proud and grateful.

Dumsch said he founded the school in 1998 “to get kids outside.” The focus is to teach students “to live what they’re learning” at the school.

Students spend three days at the school “going to tidal pools, to Ferry Beach, to a salt marsh, learning about the water cycle, organic gardening and solar power.”

Now is an exciting time to be an environmental educator and spread environmental literacy, Dumsch said. If ordinary citizens don’t know how the environment functions, “we’re going to have problems,” he said. In Maine there are now “amazing organizations beginning to work together to create an environmentally literate citizenship that’s going to take leadership and really care.”

Poland Springs gives the award annually to one of the 71 non-profits it supports. Poland Spring is owned by Nestle. Kim Jeffery, president and CEO of Nestle Waters North America, was the keynote speaker at the luncheon. He said his $4 billion beverage company has had a great deal of success since 1980, but being successful comes with obligations, he said. “Every place we operate in the U.S. we put back.”

Even in 2009, when nationally bottled water sales went down due to the economy, Poland Spring continued to provide nearly $1 million in donations to community non-profits doing good things, he said.

Maples said there are four areas of non-profit organizations Poland Springs supports. They are environmental sustainability, health and wellness, emergency relief and supporting community needs.