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Additional information on this topic provided below.
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A Festival of Water
By Kelly Meinhart, Producer
Information Provided by Heather Fowler, FCCD
ark your calendars for March 2004, and be sure to contact the
Fayette County Conservation District office because you won’t
want to miss their annual Children’s Water Festival! We’ve
just missed it for 2003, as the event was held on March 11th
at the Fayette Campus of Penn State. Over 800 children from
32 classes in 16 different schools were there to celebrate water
and to learn all about things like ‘Having fun with Ph’
or ‘Life in Vernal Pools.’
 his
was the second year of the event, which is sponsored by a number
of organizations including the County Conservation District
office, PA DEP, Mountain Water Association and others to be
listed at the end of this piece. The event is held free of charge,
thanks to generous grants and donations.
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featured a daylong celebration of watersheds and programs designed
to be as hands-on as possible. The students go through three
different types of programs throughout the day; classroom/laboratory
presentations, keynote presentations, and hands-on booths. Each
program is approximately 45 minutes long and the students move
from one to the next in groups. The programs run simultaneously
so a large number of volunteers are required to make it all
happen. This year the water festival had over 120 volunteers,
mostly local high school students and volunteers from local
watershed groups, not to mention the volunteers who presented
in the programs.
he
Carnegie Museum of Natural History sponsored the keynote presentations.
First up were Gina Campbell and Melanie Voss who presented materials
about biodiversity, while Michael List, also of the Carnegie
Museum, talked about the Rainforest.
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 rom
there students traveled on to the exhibit hall for hands-on
programs like: Reading and Using Maps, Reptiles and Amphibians
of Pennsylvania, and Restoring Altered Natural Environments.
A variety of volunteers came together to make this fun and exciting,
folks like the National Parks Service, Ohiopyle State Park,
PA DCNR and PA DEP, the Jacobs Creek Watershed Association,
and the Western PA Conservancy’s Watershed Assistance
Center, as well as the California University of Pa and so many
others.
 ut
that’s not all, the event also held classroom/laboratory
presentations, also very hands-on type of programming. Twenty-four
different classroom programs were held for groups of 30 students
at a time. Things like: Soil Erosion and the Effects on Water
Quality, Water pollution and Abandoned Coal Mines, Aquatic Macroinvertebrates
Environmental Indicators, and Oceans Away.
 ounds
like a lot of fun, doesn’t it? I will be marking my calendar
and looking forward to the third annual event next year, as
I missed it this year. Special thanks to Fran Koch of PA DEP
and Heather Fowler, the Watershed Specialist for the Fayette
County Conservation District office. Heather supplied the information
about the event as well as the photos. Hope to see you there
next year!
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estival
Partners Include: Fayette County Conservation District, Indian
Creek Valley Water Authority, Mountain Water Association, North
Fayette County Municipal Authority, Pennsylvania-American Water
Company, Georges Creek Clearwater Cooperative Initiative, Greater
Redstone Clearwater Initiative, Jacobs Creek Watershed Association,
Mountain Watershed Association, Inc., PA DEP, Ohiopyle State
Park, Laurel Highlands High School, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy,
Chestnut Ridge Chapter, Trout Unlimited.
estival
Contributors Include: Water Resources Education Network (WREN),
Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa, PA DEP, PA Association of
Conservation Districts, Penn’s Corner Conservancy Charitable
Trust, Mountain Water Association, Sheetz, Inc., Pennsylvania-American
Water Company, Froggy FM, Penn State University, Fayette Campus,
Uniontown Fireman’s Ambulance Corp., Laurel Highlands
School District, Connellsville School District, Albert Gallatin
School District, Wal-Mart, Frito-Lay, Snyder of Berlin.
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For More
information:
Festival
Contact Information
Pennsylvania
Association of Conservation Districts
Jacob’s
Creek Watershed Association
Penn State
Fayette Campus
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