The merged Washington Department of Fish and WIldlife has formed an Ecosystems Education Team to develop stewardship opportunities with schools and communities. WDFW wants to support the creation of outdoor environmental learning labs on or near school grounds and has grants available for this purpose. Students will have opportunities to hone skills for data collection and monitoring, habitat creation and resource management through the outdoor environmental learning labs. One way to hook kids on caring for the environment is to teach them about fish and shellfish through fishing. Fishing clinics and equipment are available to schools, where volunteers teach students how to fish.
Instructors stress ethics, conservation practices and personal safety.
Governor's Council on Environmental Education The Governor's Council on Environmental Education was created in 1990 by Executive Order 90-06 as part of the Environment 2010 Action Agenda. Members include directors of Washington's natural resource agencies, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Commissioner of Public Lands and Washington State University Cooperative Extension. This council is working with the Watershed Coordinating Council to establish a student and citizen network for watershed protection. One priority task is to establish what citizens can do to collect data and monitor natural resources for communities and agencies. NatureMapping is a key model.