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Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET)
Marine Science Institute
NOAA brings thousands of K-12 teachers and students around the country outside for hands-on environmental education opportunities as part of Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) projects. In fiscal year 2017, one hundred and thirty four new and continuing projects benefitted from a total of over $7 million in funding from the NOAA Office of Education’s B-WET program.
In 2017, funded activities include the Stroud Water Research Center working collaboratively with K-12 and informal watershed education stakeholders on a statewide capacity-building project to advance and expand the environmental literacy and watershed education among Pennsylvanian K-12 students and educators through promoting Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs). In Hawaii, funds will support a 10-week experiential afterschool program for 6th graders to gain an intimate connection to Kohala’s coastline. The program combines environmental education with leadership and positive mentorship, and inspires students to be involved in coastal stewardship through place-based learning and service projects. In Texas, 40 middle school teachers will experience five MWEEs first-hand. They will gain understanding of Texas watersheds, environmental literacy, and STEM subjects, which will allow them to develop a pilot student MWEE. The ultimate goal is the adoption of the student MWEE in schools statewide.
B-WET currently serves seven areas of the country: California, Chesapeake Bay, Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, New England, and the Pacific Northwest. Grantees were selected through a rigorous peer review process administered by a NOAA program office in their region. All B-WET applicants are encouraged to partner with local NOAA offices, and/or utilize local NOAA field sites and data where appropriate. Awards in the Great Lakes region are made possible by funds from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
2017 B-WET awards, by region, are:
California
| Recipient | Project | State | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| California State University, Channel Islands | Crossing the Channel (CTC) | Camarillo, CA | $59,955 |
| Elkhorn Slough Foundation | Celebrating Our Slough - Connecting Neighbors to the Elkhorn Slough | Watsonville, CA | $41,543 |
| Local Earth Action Forum/ Sonoma Ecology | Inspiring Water Wonders and Creating Climate Champions | Sonoma, CA | $39,986 |
| One Cool Earth | San Luis Obispo County Watershed Education Project | Paso Robles, CA | $60,000 |
| San Antonio Union School District | Study of the Effects of Climate Change on the Lake San Antonio Watershed | Lockwood, CA | $55,261 |
| San Jose Children's Discovery Museum | BioSITE CONNECT | San Jose, CA | $54,947 |
| Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE), Inc. | Teaching Our NextGen Green Infrastructure for Coastal Adaptation | Calabasas, CA | $49,974 |
| The Watershed Project | Wild Oysters, Living Shorelines and our Changing Climate | Richmond, CA | $53,750 |
Chesapeake Bay
| Recipient | Project | State | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charles County Public Schools | CCPS Bridging the Watershed MWEE | La Plata, MD | $311,955 |
| Chesapeake Bay Trust | Environmental Education Capacity Building in the Chesapeake Region | Annapolis, MD | $600,000 |
| Earth Force Inc. | Alliance to Advance Student Action Projects | Denver, CO | $273,125 |
| James River Association | Students Investigating Urban Parks: Providing MWEEs to Richmond Public Schools | Richmond, VA | $449,849 |
| Stroud Water Research Center | Pennsylvania Environmental Literacy and MWEE Programming Capacity Building | Avondale, PA | $298,877 |
| University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science | Making the Link: Aligning MWEEs with NGSS and MD E-Lit | Cambridge, MD | $298,685 |
| Virginia Department of Education | Virginia Environmental Literacy Cohort | Richmond, VA | $130,131 |
Gulf of Mexico
| Recipient | Project | State | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alma Bryant High School (Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County) | Oyster Reef and Saltmarsh Restoration in Coastal Alabama | Mobile, AL | $68,251 |
| Mobile Baykeeper, Inc. | Strategic Watershed Awareness and Monitoring Program (SWAMP) | Mobile, AL | $87,294 |
| School Board of Sarasota County, FL | Sarasota Watershed Educator Learning Lab (SWELL) | Sarasota, FL | $99,923 |
| Texas State Aquarium | Coastal Bend Watershed Resilience Education | Corpus Christi, TX | $100,000 |
| University of Florida | Nature Coast Adventure: Connecting Grade School Students with an Undeveloped Coastline | Gainsville, FL | $69,958 |
| University of Houston - Victoria | Gulf Coast Guadalupe River Watershed Teacher and Student Environmental Education | Victoria, TX | $100,000 |
Hawaii
| Recipient | Project | State | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alakaina | Molokai Digital Bus (MDB) KILO Project (Keiki Investigate Learn & Observe) Kahua Meaola | Honolulu, HI | $74,126 |
| Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources | Learning Aina Through Kahoolawe and Arts Integration | Wailuku, HI | $79,333 |
| Hawaii State Department of Education | Promoting Cultural Based Knowledge and Practices Through Environmental Stewardship and Preservation | Hoolehua, HI | $88,213 |
| Hui O Hauula | Ahupuaa o Hauula: Watershed Xplorers | Hauula, HI | $99,990 |
| Lanai Culture & Heritage Center | E Ike Hou ia Lanai | Lanai City, HI | $103,935 |
| Malama Kai Foundation | Local to Global Science, Service Learning, and Community Sharing for North Hawaii 6th Graders | Kamuela, HI | $150,000 |
| Pacific American Foundation | NALU Studies Kauai Project | Kaneohe, HI | $150,000 |
| Pacific American Foundation | WIRED Program, Phase II: Watershed Investigation, Research, Education, and Design | Kaneohe, HI | $150,000 |
| Youth Service Hawaii | Sustaining the Ahupuaa | Kaneohe, HI | $150,000 |
New England
| Recipient | Project | State | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gulf of Maine Research Institute | Building Sustainable Regional Capacity to Advance Environmental Literacy | Portland, ME | $216,987 |
| Massachusetts Audubon, Inc | Delivering Meaningful Watershed and Fish Experiences through Science for Solution | Lincoln, MA | $211,234 |
| Save the Bay, Inc | Narragansett Bay Field Studies: How Healthy is Your Local Urban System? | Providence, RI | $233,992 |
| SoundWaters, Inc | Long Island Sound Oyster Investigation | Fairfield, CT | $168,439 |
Pacific Northwest
| Recipient | Project | State | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chehalis River Education Consortium | Chehalis River Connection: Using Water Quality to Connect Students and Inspire Environmental Stewardship Across Chehalis Basin | Tumwater, WA | $45,000 |
| Environmental Science Center | Salmon Heroes: Watershed Education and Water Quality Training for Underserved Students | Burien, WA | $36,500 |
| Feiro Marine Life Center | North Olympic Watershed Science Program (NOW Science) | Port Angeles, WA | $48,193 |
| Lummi Indian Business Council | Lummi Nation Youth: Importance of Water Quality and Healthy Watersheds to the Lummi Schelangen (“Way of Life”) |
Bellingham, WA | $59,792 |
| Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group | Watershed Connections - Hands on Salmon, Climate, and Ocean Science | White Salmon, WA | $58,582 |
| Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association | The Students for Salmon (SFS) Program | Bellingham, WA | $50,564 |
| Oregon State University | MWEEs by the Sea: Connecting Oregon Coast Educators and Students with Resources to Support Project Based Learning |
Newport, OR | $60,000 |
| Port Townsend School District #50 | Building Awareness and Understanding of Ocean Acidification in a Coastal Community | Port Townsend, WA | $43,454 |
| RE Sources | Rural Young Water Stewards Project | Bellingham, WA | $49,823 |
Funding amounts listed above are full federal award amounts for all years of the award. In addition to the awards listed above, NOAA supported 91 continuing awards. For more details about B-WET awards, please visit the regional program websites.