There are four general types of activities within the Outreach Education efforts. This is a series of formal lesson plans developed to provide background training to citizen wetland board members and local government officials. The individual lesson plans cover the basic ecology of shoreline systems, background on various shoreline management options, and guidance on the mechanics of Virginia s tidal wetlands management program. The curriculum elements are designed to be offered by Wetlands Program staff as required. The basic elements have been converted into self study modules which can be requested from the Wetlands Program.
Efforts are currently underway to move the curriculum elements into interactive web based formats.
Each year the Wetlands Program offers four to six formal courses, each lasting one to three days. Other course offerings include wetlands identification, winter botany, and wetlands mitigation. Courses are usually scheduled well in advance, and have limited enrollments. Courses can be offered at sites other than VIMS by arrangement with Wetlands Program staff. The Wetlands Program staff are available to speak to a wide variety of groups on a wide variety of coastal resource topics.