CSO and Manomet, with funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, led a two-year project to convene stakeholder groups to share information and identify actionable steps and partnerships to advance the Atlantic Flyway Shorebird Initiative Business Plan. The objective of the plan is to increase populations of three key shorebird species in the Atlantic flyway by 15-20% over a 10-year period. Learn more here.

Join CSO's Executive Director, Derek Brockbank, in a five part podcast series to learn about the basis of the act, why it’s important, how it’s changed, and more.

All five episodes of the series are now available! Listen to all of them here or wherever you get your podcasts!

The Great Lakes Observation System has launched Seagull, a new platform for data and information in the Great Lakes. Seagull is a transformation in the way people discover, view, access and contribute to the information ecosystem in the region. Learn more here.

To help property owners, particularly those in flood-prone areas, understand their flood risk and the most effective flood mitigation strategies for their particular property, ASFPM ReduceFloodRisk.org, an interactive flood mitigation resource library. At the heart of Reduce Flood Risk is a decision-making engine that guides property owners through a series of questions to help them understand their current flood risk and the specific steps they can take to better protect their home or business. The mitigation options on Reduce Flood Risk can be filtered by key attributes, such as cost, complexity, and level of required maintenance. The site also features a variety of resources on flood risk, flood insurance, financial assistance options, who to contact with questions, and links to more in-depth information and guidance. Learn more here.

The EPA has released a new Watershed Academy Module on Clean Water Act Part 1. The Clean Water Act Module Part 1 is designed to provide a history of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and an overview of Water Quality Standards (WQS). This module is the first part of an update to the existing Introduction to the Clean Water Act module. This module is intended to increase your understanding of the CWA; provide an overview of WQS; and describe the role of states, territories, and authorized tribes, the public, and EPA in the WQS process. The course contains fourteen core sections and will take about two hours to complete. To learn more and complete the course here.

The “Cleaner Communities and Waterways” Curbside Disposal Education Campaign was piloted in Washington, D.C., through a partnership between the EPA’s Trash Free Waters Program (TFW) and the local District government. The primary goal of this initiative was to educate residents about proper waste containment and encourage behavioral changes to reduce unintentional leakage associated with curbside municipal trash collection. The campaign included the distribution of 8,000 educational stickers and weekly data collection around compliance with sticker recommendations and litter accumulation in the alleyways of several D.C. neighborhoods. This pilot demonstrated an overall positive impact on the target communities, including a statistically significant reduction in the number of overflowing cans and number of overflowing and open cans combined across all neighborhoods. Learn more about this project and how to launch a similar campaign in your community here.

NFWF Announces America the Beautiful Challenge 2022 Request for Proposals

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), through anticipated cooperative agreements from the Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of Defense (DoD), and the Department of Agriculture’s U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), is pleased to announce the launch of the America the Beautiful Challenge (ATBC) 2022 Request for Proposals (RFP). The ATBC vision is to streamline grant funding opportunities for new voluntary conservation and restoration projects around the United States. This Request for Proposals is a first step toward consolidating funding from multiple federal agencies and the private sector to enable applicants to conceive and develop large-scale, locally led projects that address shared funder priorities spanning public and private lands. In year one of the ATBC approximately $85 million will be awarded in nationwide funding to advance the America the Beautiful Initiative and its goals to connect and restore the lands, waters, and wildlife upon which we all depend. Proposals are due July 21, 2022. Learn more here.

Restore America’s Estuaries announced the availability of the 2022 National Estuary Program Coastal Watersheds Grant Request for Proposals, NEP CWG is a nationally competitive grants program designed to support projects that address urgent and challenging issues threatening the well-being of coastal and estuarine areas within determined estuaries of national significance. The deadline to submit Letters of Intent is May 27, 2022. Learn more and apply here.