The Flathead Conservation District sponsors many educational initiatives to teach people of all ages about the importance of conserving our natural resources. Projects can be tailored for K-14 schools, after school groups or clubs. Adult workshops are produced in cooperation with other agencies and organizations. We are facilitators for Projects WET, Webfoot, Wild, and Learning Tree education materials. Call us if you are interested in training opportunities.
Contact us to meet your education needs.
School Grant Program
Our School Conservation Grant program helps teachers obtain materials and equipment for conservation related curricula. Over the years we have supported requests for water testing equipment, waders, weather instruments, soils study kits, field guides, field microscopes, ground water models, riparian plants, tools and many other things. Information and application forms are available on the Programs/Grants page.
The picture at left shows Bigfork High School students testing water quality on Flathead Lake with equipment purchased through our program.
Flathead Watershed Sourcebook
The Flathead Community of Resource Educators (CORE) Watershed Education Committee invites you to check out the new website of the Flathead Watershed Sourcebook: A Guide to an Extraordinary Place.
This book looks at the people and place of the Flathead watershed from a bioregional perspective. It contains great background information and a concise description of our local resources. It includes many vignettes from a variety of sources.
The full text can be found at Sourcebook.
Flood Awareness Day
Flood Awareness Day is devoted to teaching ninth graders about 3 concepts related to water: 1) water is powerful, 2) riparian areas work to protect people and streams and 3) if you live or travel in a floodplain, be prepared!
Students move through 6 stations to learn about these concepts, and finish with a sandbag levee building contest. Representatives of the Army Corps of Engineers judge the winners of the best levee.
Flathead Forestry Expo
Every year during the first week of May you will find us at the Riparian Area Station at Forestry Expo. Around 800 fifth graders come to learn about how streams are connected into systems, and those systems are part of the water cycle that moves water across the surface of the land. They get to experience what it is like to be a stream system at all times of the year.
Surrounding all surface water is a riparian area that works to keep the water clean. Students learn how a riparian area reduces erosion, acts as a filter, acts as a sponge and provides great habitat for us all.
Get Out!
Get Out(side) is a peer mentoring event that pairs high school students with elementary aged students. The project begins in the classroom where students learn about watersheds, birds and nature journaling. Everyone heads out for a day at the Owen Sowerwine Natural Area (OSNA).
OSNA is designated an Important Bird Area by the State of Montana. This 442 acre parcel located at the confluence of the Flathead and Stillwater Rivers is the first (and only) state natural area designated on school trust lands. High school students work to instruct and help the younger students. They spend time pulling noxious weeds, using binoculars to identify birds, and writing and drawing in their nature journals.
Montana Lake Book
No matter where you are in the watershed, what you do affects the lake. Find out actions you can take to protect the lake in the newly revised Montana Lake Book.