Wisconsin

Program: Center for Land Use Education

Institution: University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point

Category: Food, Water

Range: Wisconsin statewide

Description: Helping people learn about how our food choices affect our health, our kids’ health, and the drinking water of the community.

Helping Wisconsin communities who want to protect lakes, streams and drinking water by providing research-based information, examples from other communities and policy options.

Program Offerings: Face-to-face trainings, Website, Information

Program: St. Croix/Red Cedar River Basin Farmer-Led Watershed Council

Institution: University of Wisconsin and partners

Category: Land, Food, Water

Range: Dunn, Pierce, Polk, and St. Croix Counties

Description: The Farmer-Led Watershed Council strives to improve water quality in the Red Cedar and St. Croix River basins through reduced phosphorus and sediment loading; to increase farmer knowledge on, and engagement with, water quality issues, including the adoption of conservation practices; to develop leadership around water quality among farmers in the selected sub-watersheds; and to develop a unique collaborative model of water quality improvement through farmer engagement that can be replicated in watersheds throughout the Upper Mississippi River Basin and nationwide.

Program Offerings: Information, Policy development, Other

Program: Useful to Usable: Transforming Climate Variability and Change Information for Cereal Crop Producers

Institution: University of Wisconsin- Extension

Category: Climate Change, Food, Land

Range: Regional

Description: Weather and climate patterns are a driving force behind the success or failure of Corn Belt cropping systems. Useful to Usable (U2U): Transforming Climate Variability and Change Information for Cereal Crop Producers is an integrated research and extension project, led by Purdue University and funded by USDA, working to improve farm resilience and profitability in the North Central U.S. by transforming existing climate data into usable products for the agricultural community. The initiative’s goal is to help producers make better long-term plans on what, when and where to plant, and also how to manage crops for maximum yields and minimum environmental damage.

There are over 50 faculty, staff and students from nine Midwestern universities working together and with members of the agricultural community to develop decision support tools, resource materials and training methods that lead to more effective decision-making and the adoption of climate-resilient practices. ERC teams are leading the evaluation and marketing components of the project.

Program Offerings: Face-to-face trainings, Information

Program: “Gikinoo’wizhiwe Onji Waaban (Guiding for Tomorrow) Changing Climate, Changing Culture or “G-WOW” Initiative

Institution: University of Wisconsin- Extension

Category: Air Quality/ Climate Change, Water

Range: Nationwide; Because the G-WOW climate literacy model is applicable to all cultures and because the G-WOW initiative includes web-based distance learning, it is applicable nation-wide and beyond.

Description: “Gikinoo’wizhiwe Onji Waaban (Guiding for Tomorrow) Changing Climate, Changing Culture or “G-WOW” Initiative is a unique model for increasing climate change literacy for middle school to adult learners based on the sustainability of species and habitats that support cultural practices that we value. G-WOW integrates the latest scientific research with traditional ecological knowledge and place-based evidence of how climate change is affecting traditional “lifeways” of the Lake Superior Ojibwe, to demonstrate how climate is affecting people of all cultures. G-WOW is infused with Ojibwe language and cultural perspectives. The project’s service learning approach promotes community level action to fight changing climate. The G-WOW model can be adapted to other cultures and locations. G-WOW outreach includes the G-WOW online service learning curriculum and supporting resources, G-WOW professional development institutes for formal and informal educators, and the G-WOW Discovery Center located at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center in Ashland, WI.

Program Offerings: Face-to-face trainings, Website, Information, Educator professional development institute, student “climate camps” interactive exhibit and kiosk.

Program: Wisconsin Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program

Institution: University of Wisconsin- Madison (regional office at University of Minnesota)

Category: Land, Air Quality/ Climate Change, Food, Water, Energy

Range: Wisconsin statewide

Description: The Wisconsin Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Program offers information and support to educators seeking to expand their knowledge about and outreach in sustainable agriculture.

Program Offerings: Face-to-face trainings, Website, Information