Links to Relevant National Water Education Initiatives

Adopt Your Watershed

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

This national campaign is designed to encourage stewardship of the nation's water resources. Through this effort, EPA challenges citizens and organizations to join those who are working to protect and restore our valuable rivers, streams, wetlands, lakes, ground water, and estuaries. Explore the on-line database to learn about opportunities to get involved in activities in your community, such as monitoring, cleanups, and restoration projects.

Cooperative Extension Supports Youth Environmental Stewardship (CESYES)

This national project has pulled together a number of resources, and has developed a few of its own, to facilitate program development and delivery for Extension educators, 4-H county and state faculty, and professionals from other natural resources agencies to serve communities, youth leaders and youth.

Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) and Digital Water Education Library (DWEL)

DLESE resources include electronic materials for both teachers and learners, such as lesson plans, maps, images, data sets, visualizations, assessment activities, curriculum, online courses, and much more. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, DLESE is being designed, built, and governed by community members from around the country. The DWEL collection, a component of DLESE, will be accessible through the Digital Library for Earth Systems Education in the future.

Educating Young People About Water (EYPAW)

EYPAW guides and water curricula database provide assistance for developing a community-based, youth water education program. These resources target youth and link educators to key community members to build partnerships to meet common water education goals.

• Database of Youth Water Education Curricula
• Program Planning

Getting In Step: A Guide to Effective Outreach in Your Watershed

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, The Council of State Governments, and Tetra Tech, Inc.

This guide provides tools for the development and implementation of an effective watershed outreach plan. If you're a watershed practitioner trained in the sciences, this manual will help you address public perceptions promote management activities, and inform or motivate stakeholders.

Guide to Great Lakes Fisheries Education Resources

This guide describes Great Lakes fisheries education resources in terms of content and education approach. Search for Great Lakes fisheries education resources or use the resources to promote Great Lakes ecosystem and fisheries education efforts.

National Watershed Forum--Final Report

The National Watershed Forum was an unprecedented event designed to give voice to geographically, politically, and culturally diverse individuals that worked together to develop recommendations for advancing watershed protection and restoration. It brought together 480 community leaders and senior policy makers to discuss the future of the nation's watersheds. Recommendations outlined by the group for watershed education and outreach are listed on page 18 of the final report.

Polluted Runoff (Nonpoint Source Pollution), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

This site offers a variety of nonpoint source education resources including the following:

• Section 319 Nonpoint Source Success Stories
• Training/meetings
• Youth Resources

Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation Resources (RBFF)

The RBFF is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to increase participation in recreational angling and boating and thereby increase public awareness and appreciation of the need for protecting, conserving and restoring this nation's aquatic natural resources.

• Defining Best Practices in Fishing, Boating and Aquatic Stewardship (full report)
• Recommended Educational Practices for Youth Environmental Education from a 4-H Youth Development Perspective

Supporting Community-Based Environmental Education (CBEE)

Project materials focus on two issues: How to support community involvement in decision-making about the environment, and how to most efficiently and effectively use the strengths of the sponsoring agencies, US EPA and USDA Cooperative Extension, when working with communities. For more on CBEE project findings: http://www.uwex.edu/erc/pdf/EPA1.pdf

The following project pamphlets are particularly relevant to evaluating BEPs:

• Building Capacity--Educating for Community Action, No. 6, 4 pp.
• Building Capacity--From Transferring to Transforming, No. 7, 4 pp.
• Building Capacity--Community-Based Environmental Education in Practice, No. 8, 4 pp.

Water Academy Web: Online Training in Watershed Management

Watershed Academy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

This Web site offers a variety of self-paced training modules that represent a basic and broad introduction to the watershed management field.