Fox-Wolf Programs NEWSC and Winnebago Waterways Help Engage Students with Water Issues
For the 8th year in a row, the Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance has lent a hand at the Outagamie County’s Conservation Field Days, an event the County has coordinated for the past 54 years!
Three hundred and fifty students from schools in Appleton, Black Creek, New London, Seymour, and Shiocton participated in the event held September 18th and 19th.
The event was held on a beautiful farm on the county’s west side and features nine stations; Woods, Recycling, Pond and Wildlife, Food Production, Gardens/Composts, Soils, Conservation Jeopardy, Quarry, and Water. FWWA hosted the Water Station and part of the Pond and Wildlife Station. 
At the Water Station, 5th and 6th grade students were educated on the Fox-Wolf River Basin, how water moves throughout our watersheds, and discussed pollutants that get carried by stormwater into our lakes and rivers. After learning about our water resources, the students “became raindrops” in the Runoff Races game that showed how water moves across different landscapes and how fewer pollutants are able to enter our lakes and rivers when water is able to slow down and soak into the ground.
At the Pond and Wildlife Station, students learned about different wildlife that lives in and around ponds from the Mosquito Hill Nature Center. Afterwords, students learned about aquatic invasive species (AIS) from our Winnebago Waterways Program AIS Coordinator Chris Acy. Students worked together to form a definition of AIS and then worked to identify different pathways of how AIS get into our lakes and rivers. Aquascopes were then used by the students to help search the local pond for AIS.
While the Outagamie County Conservation Field Day event is held over three days, Mother Nature had other plans. Heavy rains and swarms of mosquitoes did their best to thwart our education attempts but the students were very excited and refused to let the conditions ruin their days!
