2025 NOAA Hawaii Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program

2025 NOAA Hawaii Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program is sponsored by NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Supports environmental education programs in Hawaii to engage communities in coastal, marine, and watershed ecosystem stewardship.

Hawaiʻi Bay Watershed Education and Training (BWET) Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program The B-WET program anticipates a funding opportunity will be available in 2026. Please visit the National B-WET Apply webpage for more information.

The Hawaiʻi B-WET program plays a foundational role as an environmental education program promoting locally relevant, experiential learning, primarily for grades K-12, on regional priorities such as Indigenous knowledge and science. Funded projects provide Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs) in Hawaiʻi's ahupuaʻa for students and professional development for teachers.

The purpose for this grant program is to support communities by developing well-informed members of society who are involved in decision-making that positively impacts coastal, marine, and watershed ecosystems in the Hawaiian Islands. For more information, please contact hi. bwet@noaa.

gov . Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences The Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE) is a learner-centered framework that focuses on investigations into local environmental issues and leads to informed action.

Ahupuaʻa (traditional land division) The Hawaiian Islands are an excellent resource for environmental education and provide a multitude of “hands-on” laboratories where students can see, touch, hear, feel, and learn about earth processes and the dynamic interactions of different ecosystems within an ahupuaʻa.

Learning Science by Connecting to the Hawaiian Culture Learn more about how traditional Hawaiian knowledge engages students, teachers, and communities through watershed education. The Hawaiʻi B-WET program provides a venue for students and teachers to weave traditional knowledge systems, values, and practices with Western science tools into contemporary ahupuaʻa management practices.

Ahupuaʻa throughout the Hawaiian Islands provide a locally relevant opportunity through broader community stewardship initiatives for engaging local students in MWEEs through meaningful science-based learning experiences that advance learning skills and problem-solving abilities through a biocultural lens with the general school curriculum.

Hawaiʻi B-WET 20th Anniversary We brought together our past and present Hawaiʻi B-WET grantees for an engaging gathering and celebration in late October 2024 at Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi in Heʻeia, Oʻahu. During our time together, we hosted various educational sessions surrounding B-WET collaboration, Indigenous knowledge, community engagement, resilience, and current trends in ocean science.

Project Spotlight: University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa The UH Mānoa College of Education, Curriculum Research and Development Group has a project called Our Project in Hawaiʻi’s Intertidal or OPIHI. It includes teachers statewide who are trained on the rocky intertidal ecosystem in Hawaiʻi, where they receive the tools and resources they need to lead their students in scientific data collection.

Project Spotlight: The Kohala Center Hawaiʻi B-WET has had a lasting impact on participants. Explore The Kohala Center’s perspective to learn about their program and how it benefits the educators,students, and local community they serve. To gain a better understanding of the Hawaiian language and culture, get familiar with the Hawaiian words and other terms that are used throughout the Hawaiʻi B-WET program.

B-WET was established in 2002 in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and currently exists in seven regions: California, Chesapeake, Hawaiʻi, Gulf of Mexico, New England, Pacific Northwest, and Great Lakes.