2021 NOAA California Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program

This year, COVID-19 has significantly impacted the ability of environmental education providers to engage with schools and therefore meaningfully reach students and teachers. The loss of programs will have lasting repercussions on the targeted audiences of these programs and to the institutions who provide these services. The NOAA B-WET program recognizes that support is needed to bridge the gap that has been created by the loss of revenue, the cancellation of programs, and the inequities that are being exacerbated by the pandemic. 

Given this, the CA B-WET funding announcement focuses on the following priority areas: 1) Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEE) Implementation in School Districts (professional development for teachers and student experiences), 2) Teacher Professional Development for Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs), 3) Meaningful Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic and 4) Continuation Projects that Focus on Student MWEEs.

The terms used throughout each Section are defined as follows: a. Monterey Bay watershed—the counties of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, Monterey, San Benito, and San Luis Obispo; b. San Francisco Bay watershed—the counties of Marin, San Francisco, Alameda, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity, Napa and Santa Rosa; c. Santa Barbara Channel watershed—the counties of Santa Barbara and Ventura.