The news comes as the Trump administration proposes to eliminate the environmental education grant program, the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program.
Chesapeake B-WET is administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Chesapeake Bay Office, which the administration also would defund.
According to the Bay Program, the number of school districts that say they are “well prepared” to adopt a comprehensive environmental education program increased from 17 percent to 19 percent between 2022 and 2024.
The percentage rebounded nearly to the pre-Covid level of 20 percent.
The seven Bay jurisdictions committed in the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement to ensuring their students can graduate high school with the knowledge and skills to be good stewards of their local watershed by the end of this year.
Chesapeake B-WET is the principal source of federal funds to advance that goal. It helps school districts develop curriculum and instruction to get students outside for hands-on learning and to investigate real-world phenomena, gather data, draw conclusions, and devise solutions to environmental challenges in their communities.
Chesapeake Bay Foundation Vice President for Environmental Education Tom Ackerman released the following statement:
“With day-to-day experience increasingly dominated by screen time, students need hands-on, real-world learning. The federal government must invest more in environmental education, not eliminate it.
“State education agencies and school districts deserve a lot of credit for recent progress. The coordination and leadership from NOAA and other federal partners have been an essential catalyst and support.
“While environmental education has rebounded since the pandemic, we have also seen massive teacher turnover. Now more than ever, we need B-WET to help train new teachers to deliver high-quality, locally relevant educational experiences that inspire students to be good stewards of the Bay and its rivers and streams.
“We urge Congress to reject the Trump administration’s misplaced priorities and support investing in the future of our students.”
For more on Chesapeake Bay-related issues in Pennsylvania, visit the Chesapeake Bay Foundation-PA webpage. Click Here to sign up for Pennsylvania updates (bottom of left column). Click Here to support their work.
CBF has over 275,000 members in Bay Watershed.
How Clean Is Your Stream?
The draft 2024 report has an interactive report viewer that allows you to zoom in to your own address to see if the streams near you are impaired and why.
Click Here to check out your streams. Click Here for a tutorial on using the viewer.
Resource Link:
-- Chesapeake Bay Program: Environmental Literacy Programming Rebounds Across Chesapeake Watershed Following COVID Pandemic
Related Articles This Week:
-- Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership Honored With A Foxwynd Foundation $10,000 Visionary Leadership Award [PaEN]
-- CBF Blog: Big Spring High School Is Getting Kids Outdoors To Investigate Their Local Environment, Thanks To NOAA Grant [PaEN]
-- CBF: White House Proposes To Eliminate Chesapeake Bay Watershed Education Training (B-WET) Program [PaEN]
-- Headwaters To The Ohio Water Network Hosts May 29 Webinar On The Changing Landscape Of Federal Clean Water Funding & Policy [PaEN]
-- Penn State Seeks Participants For Survey Study On How People Perceive The Safety And Trust Of Their Water [PaEN]
NewsClips:
-- Tribune-Democrat: Cambria County Conservation And Recreation Authority Talks Test Site For Washout Prevention
-- Inside Climate News: Federal Judge Orders President To Restore USDA Climate-Smart Commodities Funding [Pasa Sustainable Agriculture Was Party In Lawsuit]
[Posted: May 19, 2025] PA Environment Digest
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