2023 Pacific Northwest Bay Watershed Education and Training | 3116761

Opportunity Information: Apply for 3116761

The 2023 Pacific Northwest Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) grant opportunity is a NOAA-supported environmental education program offered through the U.S. Department of Commerce. It is designed to expand high-quality, locally relevant watershed education for K-12 students across the Pacific Northwest by funding projects that deliver hands-on, real-world learning tied to local environmental conditions and priorities. The program emphasizes "Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences" (often referred to as MWEEs), which are structured, experiential learning opportunities that get students outside of traditional classroom-only instruction and into authentic investigation of watershed and environmental issues. Alongside student experiences, funded projects are also expected to strengthen educator capacity by providing professional development for teachers that is directly connected to implementing the MWEEs.

The central purpose of the program is to support classroom-integrated, experiential watershed learning that is memorable, place-based, and instructionally useful for teachers and schools. Rather than one-off field trips, the B-WET model prioritizes learning experiences that connect to curriculum and can be embedded into teaching practice, helping students build skills through observation, data collection, problem-solving, and reflection on real environmental challenges in their communities. NOAA describes the program as reaching thousands of students and teachers each year, indicating that it is intended to be a practical delivery mechanism for scaling effective environmental education across a region through competitive awards.

For FY23, the funding announcement highlights two main priority areas. The first priority is systemic, classroom-integrated MWEEs for K-12 students that promote climate resilience, paired with high-quality teacher professional development that supports those experiences. This priority signals that projects should not only engage students in watershed learning, but also intentionally connect that learning to climate resilience concepts and local or regional climate-related challenges (for example, impacts related to flooding, drought, sea level rise, wildfire, stormwater, or habitat change), while ensuring teachers receive training and support to implement the work effectively. The second priority focuses on MWEEs that appropriately incorporate Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge and also promote climate resilience. This indicates NOAA is seeking projects that respectfully and accurately integrate Indigenous knowledge systems and perspectives as part of watershed education, ideally through meaningful collaboration with Indigenous communities or organizations, while maintaining a clear climate resilience component.

The award mechanism includes both grants and cooperative agreements, and the opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding supporting education, environment, and natural resources activities (CFDA 11.429). Eligible applicants span a wide range of organizations capable of delivering K-12 educational programming, including state, county, city, township, and special district governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments and other tribal organizations; and nonprofit organizations, whether or not they hold 501(c)(3) status (as long as they are not institutions of higher education). This broad eligibility is meant to accommodate the mix of school districts, environmental education providers, tribes, universities, and community-based organizations that often partner to deliver watershed education.

Key logistics from the opportunity listing include a posting/creation date of November 23, 2022, and an application deadline of February 27, 2023. The maximum award amount (award ceiling) is $150,000, and NOAA anticipated making approximately six awards under this announcement. In practical terms, this suggests a relatively competitive process with a limited number of awards and an emphasis on well-designed, high-impact projects that clearly align to one of the two FY23 priorities, demonstrate strong educational design, and show credible plans for teacher professional development and student learning outcomes connected to watershed systems and climate resilience in the Pacific Northwest.

• The Department of Commerce in the education, environment, natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "2023 Pacific Northwest Bay Watershed Education and Training" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 11.429.
• This funding opportunity was created on Nov 23, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 27, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $150,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 6 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education.

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