The Roving Ranger is a mobile trailhead designed to serve as a visitor contact and information center within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Chesapeake Conservancy and National Park Service employees staff the vehicle to provide information about park sites, topics of interest, and park events. Staff also offer unique educational programs developed specifically for the Roving Ranger. Visitors to the Roving Ranger can collect a National Park passport stamp, pick up special junior ranger program books related to the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and participate in an interpretive program.

The National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF), with major funding support from Toyota, is offering $100,000 in mini-grants to support restoration and/or resilience-focused volunteer events on public lands. Awarded grantees will be expected to lead service events that either restore public lands and/or make those lands more resilient to future natural disasters. Grant-funded activities will mobilize community volunteers and educate participants about their role in protecting the long-term sustainability of their local public lands.

The Bay Backpack e-Newsletter is a great opportunity to see what events, professional development opportunities, and funding sources are available to environmental educators around the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. New this time around is a section titled “Schools in the News” where we have shared the recently announced Green Ribbon School winners! Subscribe to the e-Newsletter by visiting baybackpack.com and navigating to the bottom of the homepage.

Whether you’re enticed by the strong community feel, the chance to get out in the great outdoors or simply want something fun to do with the family on a Sunday afternoon, The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Geocaching has all you need to know about one of our favorite activities. Geocaching is an outdoor activity in which players use GPS technology to search for geocaches which contain small knick-knacks and often log books so that Geocachers can see who else is finding the hidden treasures!

Project Learning Tree’s Teaching with i-Tree Unit includes three hands-on activities that help middle and high school students discover and analyze the many ecosystem services that trees provide. The activities can be used in formal classroom settings or with non-formal groups, such as scouts, students enrolled in after-school programs, and visitors to nature centers and parks. In addition, students can share what they’ve learned with family members to assess the trees around their home.

The Conservation Trust for North Carolina AmeriCorps program seeks to reconnect people with the outdoors and to develop future leaders in conservation. CTNC AmeriCorps members will develop service projects that help remove barriers to environmental education throughout North Carolina, as well as help expand the diversity of backgrounds among conservation leaders in the state.

National Environmental Education Week will be held April 23rd-29th and is the nation’s largest annual celebration of environmental education. The event brings together educators, students, government agencies, businesses, communities, nonprofit organizations, and others to inspire environmental learning and encourage stewardship of our essential resources: land, air, and water.

Join us for a five-day professional learning adventure on the Chesapeake Bay or one of its tributaries in summer 2018. CBF is offering more than 30 courses that will explore the mountains of Virginia, the rivers of Pennsylvania, the islands of the Bay, and many places in between. Learn how to integrate the environment into your classroom and to help your students achieve environmental literacy success.

From April 27th-30th, join the National Aquarium in celebrating biodiversity by taking the City Nature Challenge! Citizen Scientists from all around the world will be participating in the event and sharing observations of biodiversity.

This inspiring article by the Washington Post shares how Environmental Literacy Standards have influenced green schools to affect positive change inside and outside the classroom through environmental education.