Youth Conservation Poster Contest

Calumet County sponsors an annual Conservation Poster Contest. Students in grades K through 12 can participate. The contest provides an opportunity for young people to become more aware of the conservation of our natural resources through artistic design. Winners receive an award and a chance to compete at the Lake Winnebago Land and Water Conservation Association, and possibly the state-wide competition held in March.

2021 Theme: "Healthy Forest, Healthy Communities"

Entries are DUE JANUARY 15, 2021. 

2021 Entry Form (PDF) 
2021 Poster Contest Brochure (PDF)
All posters must be 14 inches by 22 inches or 12 inches by 18 inches and have the theme "Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities" on the Poster. Posters will be judged on conservation message, visual effectiveness, originality and visual appeal.  To learn more about forestry health, please used the resources found further down. Each entry must include an entry form attached to the pack of the poster. Please complete and print off the 2021 entry form (PDF).

For Parents/ Guardians

If your student wishes to participate in the local contest, please email Dani Santry as soon as possible. Entries are due January 15th, 2021, and can be mailed or dropped off to our office:
Land & Water Conservation Department
206 Court Street
Room 227
Chilton, WI 53014

Posters should be packaged so they remain flat while sent to our office.

For Teachers

If you wish to incorporate the poster contest into your classroom curriculum, you may have each student complete a poster. Email Dani Santry for more details and arrange for staff to pick up the posters. While this is a free event, please contact our office if supply cost is an issue but you have students who would like to participate. Posters should be packaged so they remain flat while sent to our office.

Resources for Students

Elementary School Age Appropriate:

• Why Would Anyone Cut Down a Tree?:  A Book on Forestry Management - Ages 3 - 8 (or older)

K-12 Appropriate

• Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities: A powerpoint slide presentation produced by the National Association of Conservation Districts, the poster contest's national sponsor.  For slides with NOTES:  Slide with Notes
• A Forest Story  A video on how a forest becomes unhealthy and how managers are working to improve the health of forests again through selective cutting.  www.healthyforests.org
• What A Tree Can Do: A Video that describes how we are looking to trees as the renewable resource of the future.   www.healthyforests.org 
• US Forest Service: Trees Webpage with information on trees and the 4 major threats to trees.

Past Themes and Resources 

Where Would We Be Without Pollinators? (2020 Theme)

Elementary School Age Appropriate:

• Kids Growing Strong website

• Cool Kid Facts website

K-12 Appropriate

• Pollinator Partnership website
• Fish and Wildlife Services website
• Bringing Nature Home website

Soils: Dig Deeper (2019 Theme)

K-12 Appropriate

• Soil Biology: by Soil Science Society of America, website
• Berlese Funnel Experiment (PDF): by Soil Science Society of America, classroom experiment

Elementary School Age Appropriate:

• What is Soil: by Bureau of Land Management
• Adopt a Soil Critter: by Bureau of Land Management

Middle & High School Age Appropriate:

• The Science of Soil Health: Changing the way we think about Soil Microbes: by USDA NRSC, YouTube video.

What is a Watershed (2018 Theme)

• USGS website - provides a cool interactive cartoon map of a watershed
• Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance website - students can choose to take the pledge to protect local waterways.

Elementary School Age Appropriate:

• What is a Watershed: by Battle River Watershed
• Freddy the Fish Teaches About Stormwater: by NCTCOG E&D

Middle & High School Age Appropriate:

• What is a Watershed: by Battle River Watershed
• Watersheds, Runoff, & Pollution: By Smarty Pants News

The posters will be judged by local conservation professionals and county supervisors.