Acres for America

Acres for America, a partnership between Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, annually provides funding for projects that conserve large landscape-level areas that are important habitat for fish, wildlife, and plants through acquisition of interest in real property.

The goal of the Acres for America program is to offset the footprint of Wal-Mart's domestic facilities on at least an acre-by-acre basis through acquisitions of interest in real property. Endorsement of a proposed acquisition by appropriate federal, state, and local government agencies and by nonprofit organizations that the land is of high conservation value is a primary program consideration. Preference will be given to acquisitions that are part of published conservation plans, State Wildlife Action Plans, or Endangered Species Act Recovery Plans.

Amount: Varies

Date due: April 1, 2010 (Pre-proposal)

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Eastern Oregon Noxious Weed Projects

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the Eastern Oregon Noxious Weed Projects grant program. Wild and scenic river corridors are popular recreation areas and support a wide array of threatened, endangered, and sensitive plant, animal, and fish species. In recent years, invasive exotic plant species (noxious weeds) have been on the increase in the river corridors, their tributaries, and associated federal and non-federal lands. Preventing, monitoring, and controlling the spread of noxious weeds is vital to the protection and conservation of native plants and animals inhabiting these wild and scenic river corridors as well as to the preservation of these lands' inherent natural beauty. This project focuses on weed control efforts on these lands by implementing coordinated detection and treatment projects including biological control, surveying and inventorying, and preventing and/or limiting the spread and impact of noxious weeds which compete with, and displace, desirable native domestic plant species.

Amount: $155,000

Date due: March 26, 2010

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Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP)

The Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP) program seeks to establish a coordinated national network of regionally- or thematically-based partnerships devoted to increasing the adoption of effective, high quality educational programs and resources related to the science of climate change and its impacts. Each CCEP is required to be of a large enough scale that they will have catalytic or transformative impact that cannot be achieved through other core NSF program awards. The CCEP program is one facet of a larger NSF collection of awards related to Climate Change Education (CCE) that has two goals: (1) preparing a new generation of climate scientists, engineers, and technicians equipped to provide innovative and creative approaches to understanding global climate change and to mitigate its impact; and, (2) preparing today's U.S. citizens to understand global climate change and its implications in ways that can lead to informed, evidence-based responses and solutions. Each CCEP must include representation from at least each of the following communities: climate scientists, experts in the learning sciences, and practitioners from within formal or informal education venues. This combined expertise will insure that educational programs and resources developed through the activities of each CCEP reflects current understanding about climate science, the best theoretical approaches for teaching such a complex topic, and the practical means necessary to reach the intended learner audience(s). Each CCEP should be organized around either geographic regions that share similar climate change impacts, or major climate impact themes (e.g., sea-level rise).

Amount: $750,000 - $1m (over 2 years)

Date due: April 23, 2010 (Letter of intent); May 24, 2010 (Full proposal)

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NASA GCCE grant released

The Global Climate Change Education (GCCE) project extends the results of NASA’s Earth Science Program to the education community by sponsoring unique and stimulating opportunities for global climate and Earth system science education. The goals of the GCCE project are to use NASA’s unique contributions to climate and Earth system science to:

• Goal 1: improve the teaching and learning about global climate change in elementary and secondary schools, on college campuses, and through lifelong learning;
• Goal 2: increase the number of people, particularly high school and undergraduate students,using NASA Earth observation data, Earth system models, and/or simulations to investigate and analyze global climate change issues;
• Goal 3: increase the number of undergraduate students prepared for employment and/or to enter graduate school in technical fields relevant to global climate change.

Amount: Varies

Date due: April 28, 2010

For more information, click here.

Global Climate Change Funding Opportunity

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center (LaRC) is releasing a Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN) soliciting proposals for "Global Climate Change Education (GCCE): Research Experiences, Modeling and Data". The objective of the effort is to extend the results of NASA’s Earth Science Program to the education community by sponsoring unique and stimulating opportunities for global climate and Earth system science education.

GCCE is designed to improve the quality of the Nation’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education and enhance students’ and teachers’ literacy about global climate and Earth system change from elementary grades to life-long learners. Each funded proposal is expected to make use of NASA’s unique contributions in climate science to enhance learners' academic experiences and/or to improve educators’ abilities to engage their students. The GCCE project will consider proposals in the following two funding categories:

(1) Funding Category R: Global Climate Change Science Research Experiences for Undergraduate or Community College Students and Pre- or In-Service Teachers including those in nontraditional teacher licensure programs;

(2) Funding Category D/M: Using NASA Earth system data, interactive models and/or simulations to Strengthen Teaching and Learning about Global Climate Change.

Projects may be proposed for durations of up to 3 years. Notices of intent (NOIs) are strongly encouraged and are to be submitted electronically through NSPIRES at http://nspires.nasaprs.com.

The CAN will be released in mid-February.

For more information, click here.

Early-Career STEM Summer Leadership Institute

Project Kaleidoscope is seeking early-career STEM faculty engaged with transforming undergraduate STEM education in their classrooms and departments to apply for the 2010 PKAL Summer Leadership Institute. The 2010 Summer Leadership Institute is designed to enhance the leadership capacity and ability for early career faculty to act as agents of change within their home institutions or professional societies to reform STEM education.

Institute participants will have opportunity to:

• engage in discussions about national, regional and local challenges and opportunities facing faculty engaged in improving STEM education
• learn from experience how to deal with the political dimensions of change: how to influence, negotiate and communicate, as well as the importance of understanding the institutional culture as well as the changing context for leadership
• reflect privately and with mentors and peers on the personal responsibilities of being an agent-of-change, and on one’s potential for leadership, to make a lasting difference for the communities of which you are a part.

The Summer Institute will be held July 17 – 22, 2010 in the heart of the Rocky Mountains at the Baca Campus of Colorado College in Crestone, Colorado.

More information is posted at:http://www.pkal.org/activities/2010PKALSummerFacultyLeadershipInstitute.cfm.

NSF Geoscience Education

The Geoscience Education (GeoEd) Program is part of a portfolio of programs within the Directorate for Geosciences that seeks to increase public understanding of Earth system science and foster recruitment, training, and retention of a diverse and skilled geoscience workforce for the future. The program achieves these goals by supporting innovative or transformative projects that (1) improve the quality and effectiveness of formal and informal geoscience education at all educational levels, (2) increase the number of students pursuing geoscience education and career paths, (3) broaden participation of traditionally underrepresented groups in the geosciences, and (4) promote public engagement in Earth system science.

In fiscal year 2010 and FY 2012, the GeoEd program invites proposals in four main areas: (1) advancing public Earth system science literacy, particularly through strengthening geoscience education in grades K-14 and informal education settings; (2) fostering development and training of the diverse scientific and technical workforce required for 21st century geoscience careers; (3) utilizing modern technologies to facilitate and increase access to geoscience education and/or develop innovative approaches for using geoscience research activities and data for educational purposes; and (4) establishing regional networks and alliances that bring together scientists, formal and informal science educators, as well as other stakeholders, in support of improving Earth system science education and broadening participation in the geosciences.

Date due: March 8, 2010

For more information, click here.