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!