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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.
2023/2024 Theme: "May the Forest Be With You"
Entries are DUE DECEMBER 22, 2023
2023 Poster Contest Brochure (PDF)All posters must be 14 inches by 22 inches or 12 inches by 18 inches and have the theme "May the Forest Be With You Always" 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 2023 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 December 22nd, 2023, 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, Teachers and Families
- 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
- Why Would Anyone Cut A Tree Down? A short story about the benefits of trees and forests from the US Forest Service.
Project Learning Tree - provides lots of free activities/lessons about forests, including some great ones below:
- The Forest of S.T. Shrew An activity that involves reading a fun, short story about a shrew living in the forest. Theme: forest floor ecosystems and microhabitats.
- The Fallen Log In this activity, kids become familiar with some of those organisms by observing fallen logs. They’ll gain an understanding of how decomposition takes place and a better appreciation for micro-habitats and communities.
- Name That Tree Provides resources, including phone apps to help identify trees you may find along a hike.
- Tree Cookies Examine tree cross-sections to determine their age and to infer environmental conditions during the tree’s life. In this activity, learners examine cross-sections of trees and infer from a tree’s growth rings what environmental conditions it might have experienced.
- Every Tree For Itself Through an active modeling exercise, learners explore how trees compete with each other for nutrients, sunlight, space, and water. In this activity, learners model how trees compete to meet their essential needs and describe how varying amounts of light, water, and nutrients affect tree growth.
- Nature's Skyscrapers Using simple tools, learners calculate the height of a tree and width of its trunk, and find out why foresters measure trees. In this activity, learner develop an understanding of tree measurements. and measure trees in a systematic, consistent way.
- Seeking Sustainability Sustainable forest management ensures attention to natural processes and goal-oriented decisions and actions to achieve a variety of desired outcomes, including ecological (e.g., wildlife habitat), economic (e.g., timber production) and social (e.g., recreation) outcomes. Many outcomes are interrelated and are often managed simultaneously.
- Who Works in This Forest The forest sector generates diverse employment opportunities including foresters, natural resource managers, scientists, harvesting professionals, truckers, factory workers, engineers, architects, wildland firefighters, carbon modelers, and many more.
- Trees in Trouble Healthy trees need sunlight, water, nutrients, and room to grow. Learners assess trees for signs of their health. In this activity, learners will recognize symptoms of unhealthy trees and assess possible causes of a tree’s poor health.
- What is a Forest?
- Why Forests Matter?
Past Themes and Resources
One Water - 2022
Northeast Wisconsin: Check out how you can make impacts with small changes at renewourwaters.org Every. Choice. Counts. For volunteer opportunities or to learn more about projects aimed at improving the waters of the Fox-Wolf Basin and Bay of Green Bay, head over to https://fwwa.org/.
Lakeshore Area: No matter where you live, you live in a watershed. The Lakehore Natural Resource Partnership's "We all live on the Water" programing focuses on how we all can make impacts on local water resources. Visit https://www.lnrp.org/ to find out more.
Milwaukee Area: MMSD began the "OneWaterOurWater" program in 2021. Learn more about water and how we live, play, and work with water. https://www.onewaterourwater.com/learn
Healthy Soils, Healthy Watersheds
What is Healthy Soil? Teacher Resource Presentation - A powerpoint that includes slides and resources for teachers. Please download after clicking on the link to open the file.
K-12 Appropriate
- Soil Biology: by Soil Science Society of America, website
- Berlese Funnel Experiment (PDF): by Soil Science Society of America, classroom experiment
Middle & High School Age Appropriate:
- The Science of Soil Health: Changing the way we think about Soil Microbes: by USDA NRSC, YouTube video.
Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities (2021 Theme)
Elementary School Age Appropriate:
- Why Would Anyone Cut Down a Tree?: A Book on Forestry Management - Ages 3 - 8 (or older)
K-12 Appropriate
- YouTube Video 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.
Where Would We Be Without Pollinators? (2020 Theme)
Elementary School Age Appropriate:
K-12 Appropriate
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.