B-WET Education Program

2017 PACIFIC NORTHWEST B-WET RECIPIENTS

AWARD NAME/DESCRIPTION

LOCATION

AMOUNT

Chehalis River Education Consortium
Chehalis River Connection: Using Water Quality to Connect Students and Inspire Environmental Stewardship Across Chehalis Basin
Students and teachers from around the Chehalis Basin Watershed will learn about local environmental topics and environmental stewardship through twice yearly water quality monitoring days of a nearby stream or river, restoration events, including invasive species removal and/or planting native trees and shrubs, field trips and classroom presentations in addition to a culminating event at a local college. Teachers will attend training events and additional workshops to help facilitate these programs. The audience for this project is spread across 14 districts (including a juvenile detention center) in the Chehalis Basin area and includes students in grades 4-12. Approximately 40 teachers and over 1,000 students participate in this program every year.

Tumwater, WA

$45,000

Environmental Science Center
Salmon Heroes: Watershed Education and Water Quality Training for
Underserved Students
Salmon Heroes is an education and stewardship program which uses project-based learning to train the next generation of environmental leaders. Salmon Heroes will educate approximately 1,800 students and 300 adults on watershed issues and improve their stewardship behaviors through hands-on learning in an outdoor setting.

 Burien, WA

$36,500

Feiro Marine Life Center
North Olympic Watershed Science Program (NOW Science)
NOW Science will provide meaningful watershed educational experiences for elementary and middle school students in four school districts on Washington’s North Olympic Peninsula in hands-on, inquiry and place-based field investigations. Customized multi-disciplinary curriculum will build core science literacy, culminating with peer teaching opportunities and a community-focused student showcase.

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”)
Lummi Natural Resource Department will engage approximately 250 students in 1st-8th grades at the Lummi Nation Schools 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. This program will help provide Lummi Nation School students with the tools and knowledge to be the next generation of natural resource managers and the ability and empowerment to control and improve the environment for the betterment and survival of their community and culture. The lessons will connect the importance of watershed health and water quality and quantity to the abundance and health of salmon and shellfish- which are culturally important food sources for the Lummi community. Students will learn about watersheds, water quality and storm water runoff, and limiting factors that adversely affect salmon and shellfish survival through classroom and field based lessons. Students learn best with hands-on activities, and will learn about how to protect water quality and watershed health through several activities including: raising salmon in the classroom for release in a nearby stream, observing the spring fishery and tagging and tracking Chinook returning to their natal spawning grounds, planting native plants, taking water quality samples, conducting a stormwater structure survey, touring LNR and NWIC water quality and aquatic robot labs, touring LNR’s salmon and shellfish hatcheries, conducting a clam survey and traditional clam bake, and conducting a clam survey. The lessons will be provided using best available science, data collection and inquiry and will meet state curriculum standards. All activities will be embedded into the school curriculum beyond just the sciences; students will also create art (poetry, photography, personal narratives, artwork, and verbal and visual presentations). The students will demonstrate mastery of their curriculum by sharing what they have learned with their parents and community in a video presentation and poster session.

Bellingham, WA

$59,792

Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group
Watershed Connections – Hands-on Salmon, Climate, and Ocean Science
Rural Watershed Stewards Program
This project will support ten meaningful watershed education experiences (MWEEs) with ten school districts in Eastern Washington. This project reaches 1,250 4th – 12th grade students (and 33 teachers), helping students connect salmon recovery and local watershed issues to ocean ecosystems (including lessons on ocean acidification). Each MWEE includes in-class preparation, hands-on restoration, stewardship, or monitoring at a restoration project site, and in-class reflection and follow-up. Each MWEE is tailored to meet the needs of the individual school, and to demonstrate to teachers the value and feasibility of MWEEs.

White Salmon, WA

$58,582

The Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association
Students for Salmon (SFS) Program
Students for Salmon (SFS) Program educates and inspires the next generation of conservationists; at the same time, restores critical salmon habitat and promotes direct action opportunities for more than 1,825 4th graders to learn about and improve the health of the Salish Sea. This multi-stage program includes both in-classroom and outdoor activities, utilizing the marine environments and surrounding watersheds of Whatcom County, Washington. SFS assists 80+ teachers from public, tribal, private and homeschool cooperative schools annually, supporting students in the investigation of both local and global environmental topics, and identifying actions available to address environmental issues in their own community. The SFS Program is a long-standing, well-rounded program offered at no cost. Additionally, SFS creates a comprehensive sequence of NSEA-led, instructional sessions that are supplemented by an inquiry-based, watershed science curriculum that is fully aligned with state standards. SFS additionally includes a teacher professional development training series, which takes place over several months involving area partners. Participating teachers will demonstrate environmentally-responsible attitudes and behaviors, acting as role models for their students and increasing their ability to guide students to address current and future environmental issues. Through this series, NSEA staff will work to build a community of environmental leaders beyond our program.

Bellingham, WA

$50,564

Oregon State University / Oregon Sea Grant
MWEEs by the Sea: Connecting Oregon Coast Educators and Students with Resources to Support Project Based Learning
The Oregon Coast STEM Hub (OCSH) is a network of diverse educational and community partners focused on increasing STEM interest and literacy for students along the entire Oregon Coast. One of eleven state-funded hubs, OCSH connects educators and students to regional resources and relevant issues, with a focus on coastal natural resources and marine science. The  project will leverage partner expertise, existing resources, and regional connections to support educators in the creation and implementation of MWEEs tied to watershed-focused project based learning. The project leadership team will work with coastal education partners to determine needs and priorities for five day long workshops that will be held at informal education sites along the coast. These workshops will introduce MWEEs, provide fundamental knowledge about Project Based Learning (PBL), and connect participants to local community partners and NOAA-funded resources to support the implementation of watershed-focused student projects. Once projects are completed, students will convene at Oregon State
University's Hatfield Marine Science Center where they will share their results with peers, community partners, researchers, resource managers, and the general public. It is anticipated that a minimum of 75 educators and 2000 students will be directly impacted by the project.

Newport, OR

$60,000

Port Townsend School District #50
Building Awareness and Understanding of Ocean Acidification in a Coastal Community
The Port Townsend School District will collaborate with three community partners, Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee, the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, and Fort Worden State Park to design and deliver professional development to cohort teachers and Meaningful Watershed Education Experiences (MWEE) for students, with an emphasis on ocean acidification. Thirteen cohort teachers will participate in a two-day summer professional development, followed by two project planning sessions during the school year. This training will provide NOAA resources, lesson plans, and activities, combined with background knowledge to prepare the cohort teachers to provide MWEEs for approximately 400 PTSD students, at seven grade levels. The project outcomes will be shared with educators across the region as a model for place-based watershed education.

Port Townsend, WA

$43,454

RE Sources
Rural Young Water Stewards Project
The Young Water Stewards program will engage high school students from rural school districts in Whatcom County in investigations of how human land-use practices impact the health of their local watershed through in-class lessons, water quality testing, field visits in the watershed, studying Best Management Practices and reporting on what they learned. High school students from rural Whatcom County communities will be led by RE Sources staff through two introductory lessons to provide background education on watersheds and the sources and issues with non-point water pollution. The students will then participate in a field experience to survey their local watershed, including a tour of several areas of their local watershed and conducting water quality sampling. A follow-up lesson will be conducted to compare and contrast the collected data. Results will be used to discuss Best Management Practices, how they are informed by Best Available Science and the value of individual stewardship actions. The students will conclude the project by participating in a stewardship project coordinated by RE Sources using available community resources. Experiences from all classes will be shared with the community, either through student-generated culminating projects or through RE Sources staff-generated opportunities to capture and share student experiences. During the second half of the project year, a teacher professional development opportunity will also be provided to support Whatcom County teachers in collaboration with Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association. The goal of the training is to increase teachers’ confidence and ability to teach about watersheds and nonpoint source pollution by providing Whatcom County teachers with tools to directly support the use of environmental education pedagogy and increase their knowledge of issue-specific content to enhance Meaningful Watershed Education Experiences (MWEEs) in their teaching.

Bellingham, WA

$49,823