The new license plate — held by Tateana Sena, 11, of the Pawtucket Boys & Girls Club — features a nesting osprey. It will cost $40. A sponsor of the bill, Sen. John J. Tassoni Jr., D-Smithfield, is at right.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

PAWTUCKET — Mr. Potato Head helped stamp out hunger. Now environment advocates hope an osprey can contribute to the preservation of the Ocean State’s natural features, one license plate at a time.

Yesterday afternoon, state lawmakers and representatives from the Boys & Girls Club, Save the Bay and the Audubon Society unveiled a new specialty Rhode Island license plate carrying the message: “Conservation through education” — with proceeds to benefit environmental organizations in the state.

A black-and-white nesting osprey was chosen for the plate for its role as a sentinel of ecological health and its symbolism as an environmental success story in Rhode Island, where the birds have recently returned after years of retreat.

Each plate costs $40, with $10 each going to educational programs at Save the Bay and the Audubon Society and the remaining $20 going to the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles to make the plates.

Nine hundred plates must be ordered before the DMV will start production.

Neither organization has specifically laid out plans to spend the money, each waiting to see how many orders are placed.

Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Paiva Weed, who co-sponsored the legislation that authorized the plates last year, was on hand for the informal ceremony in front of the Pawtucket Boys & Girls Club.

“Save the Bay and the Audubon Society have been working on this initiative for years,” Paiva Weed said.

The idea to use a specialty plate to fund environmental education branched off past attempts to use them to raise money for habitat restoration, she said.

The past attempts didn’t garner enough support to pass the General Assembly, Paiva Weed said, but the combined support of Save the Bay and Audubon Society can comfortably secure the minimum orders required to make the plates.

Environmental education advocates in the state have noticed a decline in outdoor activities for children, where the demands of state testing and the allure of ever-emerging technology keep many of them indoors more than ever.

Even if the money from the plates only covers some childrens’ bus fare to community centers such as the Boys & Girls Club, it would have a significant effect, advocates said.

Conservation is also on the minds of Rhode Island lawmakers these days.

U.S. Sen. Jack Reed introduced a bill called No Child Left Inside, which calls for $100 million to develop and fund environmental literacy plans of attack to increase awareness and environmental stewardship, as well as combat childhood obesity.

To order a “Conservation through education” plate, visit www.savebay.org or www.asri.org.

ngarcia@projo.com