So he went out on a limb and quit his job with the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources and moved back to Mobile.

He wanted to study trees. His goal was to create a database of the different types of greenery that could grow in wetlands.

His interest in trees came about because of a job in North Carolina in which he devised ways to protect wetlands by evaluating the soil to identify which plants would grow best in that particular wetland.

Schwartz researched 75 different species of trees indigenous to the South.

He also found out that identifying the numerous species of trees could be fun.

"They seemed to have a lot of personality and would make great characters," Schwartz said.

He figured if it was entertaining and challenging to him, others might like to get in on the fun.

So more than two years ago, he turned his energy into creating a card game.

In May, he released "Mighty Trees," an environmental education card game for children and adults that teaches everything from whether a specific tree needs a lot of shade to identifying cloud formations.

"I thought, 'What better way to educate people?'" said Schwartz.

He enlisted the help of his wife, Kongpaseuth Schwartz, who quit her job as a respiratory thera pist, to work with her husband on the game.

"He told me about the idea and we started playing around with it and it was fun," said Kongpaseuth. "At that time, 'Pokemon' was so popular."

Schwartz said the game looks and plays like a trading card game, along the lines of "Pokemon," "Digimon" and "Magic."

Rules of the game are introduced in three stages: seedling (basic); timber, (intermediate); and elder (advanced.) Each new stage introduces a couple of new playing card types and a few new game rules.

"It's hard to sell people on learning something, but once they start to play it they realize it's a lot of fun," said Tom Ray, one of the owners of groundZero Cards-Comics-Games on Moffett Road. "You can't play it and not learn something.

"It's a unique way to learn."

As you play Mighty Trees, you learn about the tree species and natural forces that form forests.

"As they are strategizing, they are learning about the strengths and weaknesses of different trees," Schwartz said. "They are learning all the nuances of trees."

Schwartz said the game can be played by anyone from 8 to 108, but "kids 8-20 pick up the game the quickest."

Matthew McGill, 11, said he did learn something about trees by playing the game, but his favorite part was the disasters -- "like when the trees caught fire."

"I learned about natural disasters," McGill said. "And that some trees are stronger."

Schwartz said the easiest way to learn the game is to play.

"It's a whole ecological simulation," said Schwartz, sitting in groundZero on Moffett Road watching a game between his wife and McGill.

"It's a learning experience," Schwartz said. "Learning comes in the act of playing the game because it's simulation.

"It's not wasted learning."

The card game was released May 1 and has already been selected as a winner in "Dr. Toy's Best Children's Vacation Products 2002."

Some area parents also think it's a winner.

"The thing that impressed me was to hear the way the boys spoke after they played the game one time," Joy Herring said. "They were throwing around words like habitat, canopy and words you don't hear come out of little boys."

A Cub Scout leader, Herring said her Scouts were introduced to the game by Schwartz during an outdoors project.

"After they played the card game, we did a nature walk in the woods and they walked through and ate it up," Herring said. "We had walked those same woods before and they weren't interested."

Herring said not only does the game teach about nature, but it also teaches the kids about atmospheric conditions.

She said her own son now notices clouds and can identify them.

Herring said the game peaks children's' awareness.

"They will stop, look and notice because they have had fun."