Missouri History

Project WET came to Missouri in 1995 when it gained support from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Joe Pitts from DNR was the first State Coordinator and played an important role in getting Missouri Project WET started, as well as building the program. He was also part of the team that wrote the first Project WET guide. One teacher, Herb Turner from Waynesville High School, field tested the activities from the WET activities and provided input before the final edition was sent to press. Missouri Project WET has seen growth in terms of numbers of facilitators trained to conduct workshops. These facilitators do workshops to train teachers and other educators, who in turn use the activities within the formal classroom with students or with other groups at state parks, educational facilities and programs.

Currently, Missouri Project WET is supported by several groups in Southwest Missouri, who are all involved with water issues. Missouri State University, the City of Springfield, Greene County, the Watershed Committee of the Ozarks and the James River Basin Partnership all support Missouri Project WET, with the office housed at Missouri State University.  

Missouri Project WET will continue to serve the needs of all educators and provide resources to help students understand the importance of water.

National History

Project WET is a nonprofit water education program for educators and young people, grades K-12, located n the Montana State University campus in Bozeman, Montana.

The original WET program was established in 1984 by the North Dakota State Water Commission. in 1989, the director of Project WET was invited by Montana State University--with the funding from the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation--to duplicate the original North Dakota program in Montana, Idaho, and later, Arizona. The success of this pilot multi-state initiative led to a decision to develop a national Project WET program.

In 1990, the Council for Environmental Education, (formerly the Western Regional Environmental Education Council) became an official cosponsor, in partnership with The Watercourse, of Project WET. The Council for Environmental Education (CEE) is a national leader in the field of environmental education, and its cosponsored programs--Project WILD and Project Learning Tree--are among the most long-lived and successful national efforts in environmental education.