2023 NOAA Great Lakes Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program

The NOAA Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program is an environmental education program that promotes locally relevant, authentic experiential learning focused on K-12 audiences. The primary delivery of B-WET is through competitive funding that promotes Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs; defined in Section I.A.b.) for students, related professional development for teachers, and help to support regional education and environmental priorities in the Great Lakes. B-WET was established in 2002 in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and currently exists in seven regions: California, Chesapeake Bay, Hawaii, Gulf of Mexico, New England, Pacific Northwest, and Great Lakes. The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries coordinates four of the seven B-WET regions. The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries serves as the trustee for a network of underwater areas encompassing more than 620,000 square miles of marine and Great Lakes waters from Washington State to Florida Keys, and from Lake Huron to American Samoa. The network includes a system of 15 national marine sanctuaries and Papahanaumokuakea and Rose Atoll marine national monuments. The Great Lakes B-WET region was established in 2011 with funding for awards provided by the Environmental Protection Agency through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (https://www.glri.us/). The Great Lakes B-WET program supports grantee capacity building and connects grantees to local NOAA assets and relevant STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) expertise, while being responsive to local education and environmental priorities. For the purposes of this solicitation, the Great Lakes region is defined as counties in the Great Lakes watershed in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.