The Watershed Game

January 7, 2015

Minnesota Sea Grant

The Watershed Game is an interactive tool that helps community leaders understand the connections between land use, clean water and their community. Participants learn how a variety of land uses impact water and natural resources and learn how their choices can prevent adverse impacts. Participants increase their knowledge of best management practices (BMPs), the benefits of planning, and the role of policies and how these tools can reduce runoff and reduce the impacts of storms and flooding on infrastructure and natural resources. The activity is designed to foster interaction and cooperation among participants, and ensures that everyone understands that water doesn’t respect political boundaries. Designed to fit within a 45 minute session, to-date, over 100 facilitators in 12 states are trained in using this activity. There are four versions of the Watershed Game. The Stream Version represents a small headwaters stream watershed, the Lake Version representing a lake and its watershed, the River Version representing a large river system and new in 2015, the Classroom Version designed for middle to high school students in both formal and informal learning environments.

Four people install substrate for an oyster reef.

Alaska

Biden-Harris Administration invests $60 million to build a climate-ready workforce through Investing in America agenda

Today, the Department of Commerce and NOAA announced $60 million in funding to help train and place people in jobs that advance a climate-ready workforce for coastal and Great Lakes states, Tribes and Territories as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda under the Inflation Reduction Act. To date, awards like these from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda have created more than 270,000 jobs across the country.

The funding will support nine projects around the nation, with $50 million going directly to the projects and $10 million for technical assistance to support the grantees.

Sea Grant Aquaculture Academy in New Hampshire

Sea Grant aquaculture professionals from across the country convened in Portsmouth, NH in early April for a 4-day intensive “Sea Grant Aquaculture Academy” hosted by New Hampshire Sea Grant with support from North Carolina Sea Grant.

Sea Grant takes center stage in Oceanography special issue

NOAA Sea Grant-funded research and work with coastal and Great Lakes communities across the nation are being highlighted in a special issue of “Oceanography,” the official journal of The Oceanography Society.

This special issue, published in April 2024, features 36 articles contributed by Sea Grant authors across 29 programs and the NOAA National Sea Grant Office.