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 2018, one hundred and fifty-nine 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 2018, funded projects include: students and teachers engaging with community partners to learn about Great Lakes fisheries and watershed stewardship opportunities aligned with their school improvement and learning goals; students at four Title 1 schools directly contributing to a statewide effort to monitor rocky intertidal and sandy beach habitats of California’s national marine sanctuaries through LiMPETS; and 4th grade students being taught the basics of salmon and stream ecology and restoring critical salmon habitat in Whatcom County to help improve the health of the Salish Sea.
B-WET currently serves seven areas of the country: California, Chesapeake Bay, Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, Hawaiʻi, 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.
2018 B-WET awards, by region, are:
California
| Recipient | Project | State | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coastal Watershed Council | Watershed Rangers | Santa Cruz, CA | $37,486 |
| Earth Team | Aqua Team - Sustainable Youth Watershed Internships | Richmond, CA | $41,872 |
| Girl Scouts of Northern California | Green By Nature | Alameda, CA | $49,997 |
| Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy | Expanding the Impact of Project WISE (Watersheds Inspiring Student Education) | San Francisco, CA | $40,000 |
| Greater Farallones Association | LiMPETS Climate Literacy Project | San Francisco, CA | $38,261 |
| Marin County Office of Education | Connecting NGSS To Marin's Bay and Ocean Backyard | San Rafael, CA | $59,970 |
| Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout | Salmon and Trout Education Program (STEP) to the Sea | Davenport, CA | $35,968 |
| MERITO Foundation | Energy Efficiency to Mitigate Climate Change and Ocean Acidification | Ventura, CA | $59,930 |
| Santa Barbara Unified School District | Connecting the NGSS to the Natural Laboratory of the Santa Barbara Channel and its Watershed | Santa Barbara, CA | $51,074 |
| Save the Whales | From Soledad to the Ocean: Teaching Coastal Stewardship to South County Title 1 School Children | Seaside, CA | $36,097 |
| Treasure Island Sailing Center | Sailing to Save the Sea Program | San Francisco, CA | $43,226 |
Chesapeake Bay
| Recipient | Project | State | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chesapeake Bay Foundation | Systemic Solutions: Advancing Environmental Literacy & Supporting Clean Water Initiatives in the Susquehanna Watershed | Annapolis, MD | $329,813 |
| Culpeper Soil and Water Conservation District | Environmental Literacy in the Piedmont | Culpeper, VA | $247,661 |
| Earth Force | Alexandria Youth Action for the Bay (AYAB) | Denver, CO | $329,162 |
| Friends of Rappahannock | Rappahannock MWEE Expansion Program: Creating A Model for a Sustainable MWEE | Fredericksburg, VA | $329,926 |
| Gettysburg College | What's in the water? Investigating and controlling runoff in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed of Pennsylvania | Gettysburg, PA | $444,952 |
| Maymont Foundation | Bay Watershed in Science Education (BWISE) | Richmond, VA | $449,224 |
| National Aquarium | What Lives in the Harbor? | Baltimore, MD | $432,628 |
| National Audubon Society | Audubon Chesapeake Exploration (ACE) with Wicomico County Public School Students and Teachers | New York, NY | $377,577 |
| Nature Conservancy | Student and Teacher Experiential Environmental Learning (STEEL): Implementation of Systemic Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences on the Eastern Shore of Virginia | Arlington, VA | $326,300 |
| Northbay Education, Inc | NorthBay and School District of Lancaster Systemic MWEE Program for Middle School Teachers and Students | North East, MD | $390,234 |
| Saint Francis University | Headwaters to Estuaries: Enhancing Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences with Immersive Technology | Loretto, MD | $369,980 |
| University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science | Wave of Plastic: Student Inquiry of Plastic Waste and its Impacts on Marine Ecosystems | Cambridge, MD | $415,995 |
| University of Virginia | Developing MWEE Capacity through Systemic, Vertically Aligned, Integrated Curricula, Grades K-12 | Charlottesville, VA | $331,721 |
Great Lakes
| Recipient | Project | State | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Detroit Zoological Society | Great Kids Saving the Great Lakes | Royal Oak, MI | $50,000 |
| Grand Valley State University | Groundswell – Go Outside and Learn (G-GOAL) | Grand Rapids, MI | $68,000 |
| Michigan State University | Our Fisheries, Our Future | Lansing, MI | $70,000 |
| Pennsylvania State University | STEM Hub engages students in Great Lakes research | Erie, PA | $65,000 |
| Riveredge Nature Center | Testing the Waters | Newberg, WI | $70,000 |
| University of Minnesota | Watershed Stories: Learners Exploring their Place in the Ecosystem | Duluth, MN | $55,000 |
| West Michigan Environmental Action Council Education Foundation | WAKE Zone: Watershed Advocates for Kids’ Engagement | Grand Rapids, MI | $70,000 |
Gulf of Mexico
| Recipient | Project | State | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calcasieu Parish School System | Wetland Restoration Through Aquaponics | Lake Charles, AL | $99,293 |
| Florida Aquarium | Our Tampa Bay Watershed: Spring to the Gulf | Tampa, FL | $99,978 |
| Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation | Discovering the Secrets of Pontchartrain Beach: Revealing Mysteries Using STEM Methods | New Orleans, LA | $70,000 |
| Mississippi State University | Old Fort Bayou Watershed Education and Civic Engagement | Mississippi State, MS | $68,954 |
| Pinellas County School Board | Elementary Students and Teachers Exploring the Watershed | Largo, FL | $94,092 |
| University of Southern Mississippi (Gulf Coast Research Laboratory) | A MWEE to Promote Community Resilience to Coastal Hazards | Hattiesburg, MS | $99,511 |
Hawaiʻi
| Recipient | Project | State | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Kohala Center | Ke Kumu ʻĀina: Restoring the Kawaihae 1 and Kawaihae 2 Watersheds | Kamuela, HI | $71,000 |
| Kupu | Kupu Hawaiʻi Youth Conservation Corps Community Program | Honolulu, HI | $150,000 |
| Mālama Pūpūkea-Waimea | Ka Papa Kai: Expansion of Ocean Education & Service Learning at Pūpūkea MLCD | Haleʻiwa, HI | $35,898 |
| Maui Economic Development Board | Healthy Watersheds -> Healthy Communities Project | Kīhei, HI | $150,000 |
| Pacific American Foundation | NALU Studies Kauaʻi Phase II: Leadership and Mentoring Program | Kāneʻohe, HI | $150,000 |
| Pacific American Foundation | WIRED Program, Phase III: Watershed Investigation, Research, Education, and Design | Kāneʻohe, HI | $150,000 |
| School for Examining Essential Questions of Sustainability | Essential Questions of Sustainability (EQS): Learning from Our Ahupuaʻa - Clean Water, Ocean Energy and Sea-Level Rise | Honolulu, HI | $145,851 |
| University of Hawaiʻi (Mānoa) | Our Project In Hawaiʻi's Intertidal (OPIHI): Kilo ʻAe Kai - Observer of the Place Where the Sea and Land Meet | Honolulu, HI | $149,994 |
Pacific Northwest
| Recipient | Project | State | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feiro Marine Life Center | North Olympic Watershed Science Program (NOW Science) | Port Angeles, WA | $46,298 |
| Lummi Indian Business Council | Lummi Nation Youth: Importance of Water Quality and Healthy Watersheds to the Lummi Schelangen (“Way of Life”) | Bellingham, WA | $59,698 |
| Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group | Watershed & Ocean Connections | White Salmon, WA | $58,562 |
| Nisqually River Foundation | Climate Literacy, Action, and Monitoring in South Sound (CLAMSS) | Olympia, WA | $59,493 |
| Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association | Students for Salmon (SFS) Program | Bellingham, WA | $59,283 |
| Oregon State University | MWEEs by the Sea II: Expanding Opportunities for Oregon Coast Educators and Students to Engage in Project Based Learning | Corvallis, OR | $60,000 |
| Port Townsend School District #50 | Building Awareness and Understanding of Ocean Acidification in a Coastal Community | Port Townsend, WA | $47,296 |
| RE Sources | Young Rural Water Stewards Project | Bellingham, WA | $48,949 |
Funding amounts listed above are full federal award amounts for all years of the award. In addition to the awards listed above, NOAA supported 106 continuing awards. For more details about B-WET awards, please visit the regional program websites.