The Allamakee SWCD sponsored the 36^th annual Conservation Education Day on May 3, 2012 for the county sixth-grade students.  The event was once again held at the Waukon City Park.  The rain stayed away and the day was sunny and humid.  The students had a lot of fun learning about different aspects of conservation through hands-on activities.  We would like to thank all of the presenters, teachers, and students for making the day enjoyable while also being educational. We would also like to thank the park staff, the park board, and JaDecc’s for their help. At the end of the day, each student received a tree to take home and plant from the Allamakee SWCD.

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Tree Planting Dave Asche, an Iowa DNR District Forester, talked to the students about how to plant trees and then the students planted close to 100 trees (oaks and pines) throughout the park.	Native Animals Retired Waukon 6th grade teacher, Larry Stott, once again brought many of his taxidermied animals to show the students some of the animals that are (or were) native to Iowa.
Fur Bearers Bill Collins from the Iowa DNR talked to the students about many of the fur bearing animals in Iowa and gave them the opportunity to feel the pelts.	Fish Identification Theresa Shay from the Iowa DNR Fisheries provided the students with some hands-on education about fish life and fish ID.  The students even got to touch teh fish and put their fingers in a fish’s mouth.
Conservation Station New to Conservation Education Day this year was the Conservation Station from Iowa Learning Farms. Aaron Andrews and Nathan Stevenson talked to the students about water quality and demonstrated sources of pollution.	Rainfall Simulator Part of the conservation station included a rainfall simulator so that the kids could see how different amounts of crop resude and different types of vegetation can impact soil erosion.
Watersheds/Water Quality The Allamakee SWCD talked to the students about water quality, sources of pollution, and watersheds. In the above photo, Watershed Technician Michelle Elliott helps a student play the role of a thunderstorm that carries pollutants to the pond in our model watershed.	How to tell if water quality is good or bad? The students also used IOWATER test kits to test some aspects of water quality. We looked at water transparency by using a secchi disc, as shown above with Watershed Coordinator Sara Berges.
The students also sampled the Indian Springs pond for benthic macroinvertebrates (insects) using nets.	The students used ID cards to try to determine which insects they had caught.