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Conservation Education in the Classroom
The Stearns County Soil & Water Conservation District is available to come to your classroom. Possible topics include groundwater, stormwater, shoreland, urban conservation, soil, wetlands, and the environment. We have an Enviroscape and Groundwater Model to simulate what is happening in our environment.
Conservation Education in Action in Stearns County
The Stearns County SWCD encourages projects where implementation and education work together. As a result, the SWCD has partnered with a number of area schools to implement conservation practices that teach the students the environmental benefits of conservation, and enable students to participate in site preparation, planting and maintenance requirements. In the process, students learn the benefits of establishing native plants, which have deep root systems that provide storm water filtering, superior erosion control, and promote ground water recharge. In addition, native plants require less long-term maintenance, resist weed infestations, and offer excellent habitat for wildlife, fish, and pollinator species.
Students from Albany HS plant native grass and wildflowers to restore an area to native prairie adjacent to the north side of the athletic practice field. Cost-share assistance was provided through BWSR's Native Buffer Program administered by the Stearns County SWCD.
Scott Daninger, science teacher at Albany HS, and students from his ecology class, work to restore the landscape to native prairie. This area will also serve as an outdoor learning lab for the students.
Students from ROCORI Middle School restore native vegetation to the buffer area along Cold Spring Creek on the Assumption Campus property, which is adjacent to the school, and extends the buffer upstream from the restoration work the school completed a few years ago.
ROCORI Middle School science class students participated in the planting of native grass, wildflowers, trees and shrubs at the Assumption Campus property. Cost-share assistance was provided through the MN DNR Shoreland Habitat Program.