NOAA B-WET program awards $452,583 to Washington and Oregon organizations for environmental education

NOAA’s Pacific Northwest Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program announced $452,583 in awards to Washington and Oregon organizations to assist with community-based environmental education programs.

The grants support standards-based, hands-on education activities that promote greater understanding about watersheds, the ocean and protected areas such as NOAA’s Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

Funding was awarded to academic, tribal and nonprofit groups serving under-represented students and communities. Programs will focus on the priority areas: meaningful watershed educational experiences for students; professional development related to meaningful watershed educational experiences for educators; and ocean acidification education. The recipients are:

Washington

Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group ($59,500) for watershed education in eight school districts in eastern Washington
Feiro Marine Life Center ($52,030) to improve understanding of the North Olympic Watershed through experiential learning targeting elementary and middle school students in four school districts on the North Olympic Peninsula
Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association ($35,000) for a hands-on watershed education program serving elementary school students and teachers in all seven Whatcom County school districts
RE Sources for Sustainable Communities ($40,000) to engage high school students in investigations of how human land-use practices impact the health of their local watershed through in-class lessons, water quality testing and field visits
Lummi Indian Business Council ($50,000) to engage Lummi Nation students in active stewardship of the environment, focusing on the impacts of poor water quality and development in the watershed on the health of salmon and shellfish

Environmental Science Center ($36,243) to provide meaningful watershed educational experiences to students and adults within Highline School District to collect and analyze water quality of the local watershed

Oregon:

Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership ($59,810) to provide meaningful watershed learning experiences to students from underserved communities in the lower Columbia River estuary, including schools in Pacific and Wahkiakum Counties in Washington, and Clatsop and Columbia Counties in Oregon
Oregon Department of State Lands ($60,000) to support coastal education partnerships and professional development workshops which build capacity for community stewardship in four Oregon communities on the Oregon Coast, Bend and Portland
Oregon State University ($60,000) to support students, teachers and project partners with hands-on field and classroom trainings; access to field sampling equipment; curriculum materials and open-source, web-based tools for watershed data analysis.

The NOAA B-WET Program was established in 2002 to improve the understanding of environmental stewardship of students, teachers and communities across the United States through education. The Pacific Northwest B-WET regional program is managed by NOAA’s Office of Education and NOAA’s Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

NOAA’s Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary was designated in 1994 as the first national marine sanctuary in the Pacific Northwest. It encompasses about 3,189 square miles off the Washington coast, extending from Cape Flattery to the Copalis River. Significant natural and cultural resources include 29 species of marine mammals, large populations of nesting seabirds, shipwrecks, and some of the most spectacular wilderness coastline in the lower 48 states.

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