Directory of Federal Grant-making
Programs for Environmentally-related Education

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INFORMAL EDUCATION

Watershed Intern Program

Agency		Department of the Interior, Office of Surface Mining
Program Name		Watershed Intern Program
Program Website		http://www.osmre.gov/acsi/internindex.htm
Eligible Applicantes		Watershed organizations in the following states are eligible to participate: Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. All Undergraduate and/or Graduate Students, throughout the United States, interested in helping to clean up the environment are encouraged to apply.
Budget FY06		30000
Budget FY07
Range of Awards		$1250-2500
Number of Awards
Percent of Applicants Awarded
Cost Sharing Requirements		For those organizations that have been awarded and sponsored interns in the past, the Office of Surface Mining will provide half of the total ($1,250) and we ask that the sponsor match these funds by providing the remaining half of the funds ($1,250).
Program Description		The goal of this program is to determine what the measurable effects of agricultural conservation practices are on water quality patterns and trends in surface and/or ground water at the watershed scale. CSREES requests applications for the Integrated Research, Education, and Extension Competitive Grants Program—Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) for fiscal year (FY) 2006 to develop research, education, and extension projects aimed at improving the quality of water resources in agricultural watersheds across the Nation. This is a joint effort with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Farm Service AGENCY (FSA). CEAP seeks to fund projects that evaluate the effects of watershed conservation practices, especially with respect to understanding how the suite of conservation practices, the timing of these activities, and the spatial distribution of these practices throughout a watershed influence their effectiveness for achieving locally defined water quality goals. An extensive body of literature exists that describes plot- or field-scale conservation practices aimed at protecting water quality. However, research results from plot- and field-scale studies are limited in that they cannot capture the complexities and interactions of conservation practices within a watershed. CEAP responds to a need to conduct research that: 1) evaluates the impacts of interactions among conservation practices and their biophysical setting on water quality at the watershed scale; and 2) evaluates social and economic factors influencing implementation and maintenance of practices. CEAP also responds to a need to conduct outreach education to transfer knowledge from this research to farmers, ranchers, community leaders and other stakeholders.
Contact Info		Mike O’Neill National Program Leader for Water Quality Natural Resources and Environment Unit Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service U.S. Department of Agriculture; STOP 2210 1400 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20250-2210; Telephone: (202) 205-5952; Fax: (202) 401-1706; E-mail: moneill@csrees.usda.gov Lisa Duriancik Program Specialist Natural Resources and Environment Unit"