The 33rd Fifth Grade Field Days
Whitley County Soil and Water Conservation District hosted the 33rd Annual Conservation Field Days for the Fifth Grade students from Mary Raber, Little Turtle, Northern Heights and Coesse schools at the Whitley County 4-H Fairgrounds on September 16 and 17, 2015.
This year seven different topics were featured to give the fifth grade students a better understanding of soil conservation, wildlife, water safety, water quality, forestry and the various types of things that could be a 4-H projects.
The event takes two days to get all two hundred and forty fifth grade students through the program and this is done with the assistance of the Columbia City FFA Chapter members. The FFA members serve as guides for the teachers to help with getting the fifth grade classes from stop to stop and then assist with serving the hot dog and chips lunch to everyone. The second day of the field days, after all the presentations are done and lunch is over, the FFA members also put all the tables and chairs away and sweep the 4-H building clean.
Joe Huntsman demonstrated to the students on the importance of having ground cover such as grass to keep your soil from eroding away. He discussed the different soil layers with the students. He also explained how some erosion problems can be corrected and why it is so important our top soil in place and not in our streams and rivers.
Clay Geiger brought with him a collection of animals’ skins, bones, and stuffed animals some native to Indiana and some not. He explained to the students what a number of animals need to survive, such as types of food and habitat. He explained why some wildlife animals are beneficial and why some are not. One example he used was how wild turkey will just go down a row of newly planted corn and eat the corn seed which farmers hate to see happen.
Darren Reed and Levi Knach, who are Conservation Officers for Whitley County, brought one of the boats and different types of life vests. They explained how the importance of having a properly fitting vest would save someone life rather than one that was too large for a person, who might slip out of it once they were in the water. And they also brought the chocolate lab with them. He has been trained to search for people, drugs, any number of things. Such as if you have shot more geese than your legal limit and have some hid in the back of your truck or boat, the dog can locate them for the Conservation Officers in the matter of a few minutes.
John Woodmansee, who is with the Purdue Cooperative Extension Service, had a collection of 4-H projects and posters that the students could see to spark ideas for them if they would like to join 4-H and have a project at fair time. Not everyone has a place for sheep, pigs, or cattle to use as a fair project as many people think of as 4-H projects.
Jon Gotz, who is with the Whitley County Soil and Water Conservation District explained to the students the importance of keeping the water we have clean. He began with a globe show to how much water is out there on planet earth, but much of it is salt water or locked up in the frozen polar caps in ice that we can’t use. Then he continued to explain how little is really useable water that we need to survive.
Fay Earnhart handled the forestry stop. He brought with him examples of the different types of leaves from the different trees.