I’m back at my computer after spending a week in the Caribbean goofing off, and I’m going through the thousand + email messages that stacked up in my absence.

Here are a few tidbits worth relaying:

National Forest Foundation “Collaboration Support Program” Grant Oppotunity
The National Forest Foundation, in partership with the Surdna Foundation, is distributing grants of up to $5,000 to nonprofit organizations under the auspices of its “Collaboration Support Program.” The notice specifically references both watershed management and community outreach and communications, so this has potential for you.

Grants are available only to formally established nonprofit organizations that can demonstrate their involvement in some kind of collaborative community project related to a national forest or grassland and the waters found there. The good news is that if you meet those very specific criteria, the program is otherwise very flexible — no matching funds are required and the grantee can use the funds for both projects and planning, and to hire consultants.

Applications are due 10/26. Click here to learn more about the Collaboration Support Program.

NOAA’s Chesapeake B-WET Grant Program
Better act fast if you want in on this action, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is soliciting proposals for environmental education projects in the Chesapeake Bay region. Applications are due on October 19 and can be for as much as $75,000, it seems. Click here to learn more.

Environmental Communication for Behavior Change.
Duke University’s Environmental Leadership Program will be running an online course on environmental “social marketing” from 1/15 to 2/24 — persuading everyday citizens to change their polluting and wasteful ways using commercial marketing techniques. The course will be lead by Brian Day, executive director of the North American Association for Environmental Education. I spoke on a panel once with him and he’s very good. I might sign up for this one myself.

Click here to learn more, or write del@nicholas.duke.edu

Clean Water for the Future-Will Georgia’s New Water Plan Provide Enough Clean Water for the Future?
That’s the title of a symposium that some Georgia conservation groups held last week to focus attention on the state’s forthcoming water plan. It’s chock full of water words that work! Good job, guys! This is a powerful way to set up the discussion.

Click here to see the agenda.