The West Virginia Commission for National and Community Service is pleased to announce Future Leaders of Watershed (FLOW) grantees for the Learn and Serve America grant. Funds for the service-learning grant are provided by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The organizations chosen will focus on engaging youth in their community to improve watershed health. The Commission awarded more than $210,000 for the 2006-2007 year. More than $145,000 was awarded for grantees in the 2007-2008 year. A list of organizations that were chosen as grantees are listed below.

2006-2007 Grantees

Friends of Deckers Creek (FODC)
Monongalia County, WV
30 youth in middle and high school participating
“All Hands on Deckers” is a watershed education program designed to engage the youth in watershed service-learning experiences that will result in formation of a youth advisory board for FODC, enhanced scientific understanding and skills for youth concerning watershed issues and sampling. This will help recruit additional volunteers to sustain FODC.

High Rocks for Girls
Pocahontas, Nicholas and Greenbrier Counties
25 girls in middle and high school participating
This project will engage girls in the rural counties of Nicholas, Pocahontas, and Greenbrier around watershed service-learning through a four-tiered watershed project. The project will allow teenage girls to learn about regional and state water resource issues and empower them to create effective community service opportunities to address watershed threats.

Mountain Resource, Conservation and Development and Indian Creek Watershed Association
Monroe County
More than 25 middle and high school youth participating
High school students in Monroe County will work to develop a watershed project book that will be tested by middle school 4-H clubs. Several school age youth with attend a four week summer camp and present water-quality data and recommendations to the County Planning Commission.

Greenbrier River Watershed Association
Greenbrier County
300 middle school students participating
Greenbrier County’s unique topography presents unique needs around their watersheds. This project will develop the middle school students’ environmental literacy, as well as perform stream bank restoration, and pollution controls.

Girl Scouts of Shawnee Council
Grant, Hardy, Mineral, Hampshire, Morgan, Berkley and Jefferson Counties
Over 750 middle and high school age girls participating
The project will restore an open water emergent marsh at the White Rock Scout Camp providing girls opportunities to learn about wetland ecosystems, native species, and watersheds. The girls will also have the chance to explore and develop service-learning projects around river monitoring, seed collection, and rain gardens construction in their local communities.

Piney Creek Watershed Association
Raleigh County
Over 25 high school students participating
Youth Watershed Leadership Program is a service-learning project to educate youth on the importance of Piney Creek Watershed and Lower New River basin. Service-learning will include litter sweeps, stream assessment and monitoring, lake water quality monitoring, and education on sources of pollution.

Patch 21st Century Community Learning Centers
Roane County
30 to 40 students participating
The program will provide a three day service-learning science camp focusing on the study of the local Spring Creek watershed and water quality testing. The project raises student and community awareness about local water quality issues, provide baseline data for future water testing, and introduce students and adults to service-learning.

Olgebay Institute
Marshall, Ohio, Brooke Counties
150 students participating
The program will allow students to assess, map, and sample the Upper Ohio South watershed and complete monitoring of the Buffalo, Wheeling, and Grave Creek drainages.

Web of Life (Big Laurel Learning Center)
Lincoln and Logan Counties
185 to 200 youth participating
Youth at six sites in southern West Virginia communities will participate in this watershed education initiative at each of their after school programs, science classes, or summer camp programs. Project to include a litter control program, program newsletter, stream monitoring, or stream restoration.

2007-2008 Grantees

Eastern Coal Regional Roundtable
Taylor County
More than 25 youth participating
The Tygart Project is a watershed service-learning project that will engage youth as leaders for a community educational float trip, monitoring of the Tygart River, the instruction of young 4-H members, and the creation of Club Tyggers - a youth watershed club.

Cacapon Institute
Morgan, Hardy, Mineral and Hampshire Counties
More than 25 youth participating
Cacapon Institute will locate and organize adult mentors to engage middle and high school youth into PHLOW - Potomac Headwaters Leaders of Watersheds. The PHLOW teams' youth will identify problems in local watersheds, formulate remedies and take action. They will reflect on their learning, review the challenges and write outcome reports to be published on Cacapon Institute's web page.

Friends of Deckers Creek (FODC)
Monongalia and Preston Counties
200 middle and high school students participating
Friends of Deckers Creek (FODC) will collaborate with Friends of the Cheat and several existing education programs to give elementary, middle and high school students in Monongalia and Preston counties watershed service-learning experiences through the Young Friends of Watersheds program. The program will collaborate with High School Health Science and Technology Academies (HSTA) in Monongalia and Preston counties, the Mountaineer Challenge Academy students at Camp Dawson, West Virginia University, the Mountaineer Boys and Girls Clubs and Rowlesburg Middle School in Preston county. The project will expand the FODC Youth Advisory Board.

West Virginia Ministry of Advocacy and Workcamps with McDowell County Wastewater Coalition
McDowell County
25 to 35 middle school students participating
The McDowell County Wastewater Coalition has developed a project called FLOW-UNITE - Future Leaders of Watersheds Understanding Needs in the Environment. FLOW UNITE will focus on the need for long-term baseline stream quality monitoring and youth and adult watershed education.

Potomac Valley Audubon Society
Berkeley and Jefferson Counties
More than 150 elementary school youth participating
The "Watershed Education Initiative" is currently reaching 550 4th grade children in Jefferson and Berkeley counties in five schools. With FLOW funding, the program will expand to include 5th grade students that participated previously as 4th graders to reinforce and build upon previously-learned watershed concepts. The program will provide students with hands-on science activities related to watersheds, including water quality testing on the Opequon/Potomac and completing a water quality improvement project at their school.