1

Planning your Project

Begin planning your project by considering an environmental issue that relates to one of our program’s focus areas:

• Marine debris and waste reduction: Marine debris or waste reduction projects may remove trash or litter from the environment, prevent marine debris or litter from entering the environment by reducing the use of plastic materials in the community, divert food or other waste from landfills through composting or other methods, or increase the adoption of recycling, composting, etc.
• Habitat conservation and restoration: These projects work to care for human communities and local, native habitats. Stewardship activities may include, but are not limited to, removing invasive vegetation, planting native flora, construction or installation of restoration infrastructure (reef balls or other structures), as well as nature-based solutions that make human communities more resilient to the impacts of flooding, drought, heat island effects, or other environmental challenges.

In your application, explain how the issue relates to your community to connect your local issue within a broader (regional, global) context.

Once you’ve identified an environmental issue, think about how you can address it by engaging the resources of your school, organization, and community, and how you would measure your project’s success. A successful project will make a substantive, measurable impact on the environmental issue you’ve identified. The impact of a Planet Stewards funded project must be quantitatively measured (e.g., acres of habitat protected or restored, pounds of waste diverted from the landfill). Educational/learning outcomes should be a part of, but not the primary measurement of the project’s success.

2

Formulate a Strategy

The next step is to formulate a strategy to address your chosen environmental issue. Look at the materials on the Focus Area Resources page. These can be very helpful at this stage. Projects do not need to be original in scope and may replicate previously funded projects. But, each project should deal with an environmental challenge local to the educator submitting an application.

• Who will be involved — students, other teachers, partnering institutions, etc.
• What activities your group will engage in to reach your desired goals.
• The order and timing for the project’s activities.
• What equipment and supplies you will need to complete your project.

Research or demonstration activities (including community science projects) may be included, but should not be the main activity for the project. The projects’ primary outcome(s) should focus on hands-on environmental stewardship with quantitative/measurable results.

Finally, begin to pull together a budget and gather support from necessary stakeholders (e.g., school administrators, organizational managers, partnering educators).

The following resources offer more detailed information and guidance related the project’s development, application and evaluation process:

• Project Development Guide — Recommendations for developing your project plan, garnering support and resources for your project’s implementation, and materials you’ll need to submit with your application.
• Application Walkthrough — This will help you frame your answers to each of the questions on your stewardship project application.
• Example Project Proposals — These project proposals (one for each stewardship project focus area) were highly rated and funded by NOAA Planet Stewards. We recommend you review them for the level of information they provide as well as its presentation.
  • Habitat Restoration & Conservation: Propagating Understory Restoration Plants for Longleaf Ecosystems
  • Marine Debris: Clean Up Crew: Empowering Future Changemakers

3

Ready to Apply for Funding?

NOAA Planet Stewards Project Applications are submitted via a Google Form. Because this form does not allow you to save your work and return, or to edit your application once it is submitted, we strongly recommend you prepare your answers in another document and then copy and paste into the online application form.

The deadline for applications and all supporting materials is typically in early June, with projects carried out during the academic year (August through the following June).