As we find ourselves half way through the 2019-2020 school year, teachers and educators are still reaching out to schedule classroom programs for their students. While this is a service that WCSWCD is privileged to provide, sometimes schedules do not align to physically bring an education specialist in. But do not fret! We are still here to help supplement your students' curriculum in a variety of ways.  One great resource we offer is our Program Loan Portal. We can provide many education tools including research and hand out materials, posters, and entire program kits available for loan free of charge to entities in Warren County.  Program materials must be requested in advance and may be borrowed for up to seven days. Materials can be picked up at the Warren County SWCD office located at 320 E. Silver St., Lebanon, OH.

These kits provide lesson instructions and materials to use in your classroom or with your student group.  Topics available for loan include fossils, water cycle game, water ecosystems, and more!

​For a full listing of available loan kits visit our education page!

There are so many connected issues in the realm of environmental science and stewardship. As so aptly addressed in a recent conference on climate and education, one way to engage students in this discipline is from the standpoint of solutions. As Katharine Wilkinson from Project Drawdown says, "The classroom is such a powerful place for bringing together the multiple dimensions of this topic." Schools, she adds, "are places where all of these different facets of human beings come into one place, and I think teachers have an incredible capacity for helping students grapple with and understand these dimensions."
To read full article from NPR, click image below

​In today's world, a complex myriad of environmental issues exist. From habitat and biodiversity loss, water and air pollution, climate change, and deforestation, the next generation will have multiple challenges to face. As youth activists organize strikes and demonstrations about current issues like climate change, we educators are poised to help give them the knowledge and tools to address these challenges with innovation and solutions. And there are many resources available to help us help them! Several different agencies and organizations have copious amounts of lessons and information to support  educational curriculum designed to educate our students about these issues.  Promoting scientific literacy in students strengthens their ability to problem-solve and address these global challenges.

Ohio Soil & Water Conservation Districts, like us here in Warren County, provide free educational programming to local schools to supplement teachers' lessons. Many environmental education curriculum exists to provide lessons and activities for all age levels. The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies has a series of curriculum called Project Wild. According to AFWA, Project WILD's mission is to help students learn how to think, not what to think, about wildlife and the environment. All curriculum materials are backed by sound educational practices and theory, and represent the work of many professionals within the fields of education and natural resource management from across the country.  Any educators interested in having or attending a Project Wild or Growing Up Wild workshop or Project WET workshop can contact our education staff at Warren County SWCD as we are certified facilitators of this training!  Other established curriculum include Project WET, Project Learning Tree, and Project Underground. 

"Believe it or not, you have a bee to thank
for every one in three bites of food you eat."

     Each day, pollinators are responsible for 1 out of 3 bites of food we intake on average.  Many pollinators are at a critical point in their own survival; there are various reasons contributing to their decline.  One thing is for certain, providing more pollen and nectar sources from native flowering vegetation will improve the health and numbers of our pollinators. Pollinator-friendly gardens and landscapes also revive the health of bees, butterflies, moths, birds, bats and other pollinators.

Milkweed for Monarchs

Monarch Joint Venture - Creating Habitats for Monarchs 

What is the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge (MPGC)?
The Million Pollinator Garden Challenge is a nationwide call to action to preserve and create gardens and landscapes that help revive the health of bees, butterflies, birds, bats and other pollinators across America. As we explore and enjoy the "great outdoors", take time to make connections between pollinators and the healthy food we eat.
​http://millionpollinatorgardens.org/partners/

Annual Milkweed Pod Collection:
  September 1st and goes until October 30th (pods accepted thru November 1st)​

The Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative is calling on all Ohioans for another year of Milkweed pod collections! This project started in 2015 as a 7 county pilot and since that time hundreds of Ohioans have worked together collecting thousands of pods across the state.

​Milkweed is the host plant for the Monarch butterfly for egg laying and caterpillar rearing. It also serves as a food source for Monarchs and many other pollinator species. . The disappearance of milkweed across the U.S. has contributed to the 80% decline of the eastern monarch butterfly population over the last 20 years. We are working hard in Ohio to change this, and you can help!

Here are helpful and simple collection tips:
• Before you collect seed pods, become familiar with the common milkweed to avoid harvesting pods from similar plants such as hemp dogbane (a poisonous herb)​ or swamp milkweed.
• It is best to collect the pods when they are dry, grey, or brown. THIS is IMPORTANT! Pod collection starts Sept 1 and runs through Oct 31… please use September as the benchmark time to locate milkweed plants and to keep an eye on the pods while they ripen; then pick them once they look like the picture shown below.
• If the center seam pops with gentle pressure, they can be harvested.
• Store the pods in paper bags (vs. plastic bags collect unwanted moisture).
• Place the date and county collected on the bag when you turn them in.
• Keep the pods in a cool, dry area until you deliver them to the nearest collection site as with Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District located in Lebanon, Ohio or you can find the nearest collection site at:
www.agri.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/oda/divisions/soil-and-water-conservation/find-a-local-swcd/swcd-list

​​http://www.ophi.info/

​Save the Bees!

Numerous pollinator species are at risk; many are listed as federally endangered or threatened. Disturbances such as habitat loss, climate change and application of pesticides contribute greatly to diminishing populations and disrupting ecological interactions.

Become a Bee Spotter...The Cincinnati Zoo has teamed up with Bee Spotter to learn more about the bees in the greater Cincinnati area, and we need your help! Simply snap pictures of bees that you see and submit it with a date and location to beespotter.org/cincinnatizoo. An expert will identify the species and add it to the database.

Native & Local Plant Sale:
​Visit the Zoo’s EcOhio Farm and Wetland in Warren County, Saturday September 29th, 2019

Learn more about native local plants and about the group "Pollen Nation" that supports pollinator conservation. Multiple beehives on EcOhio Farm are home to thousands of honeybees that help pollinate the entire ecosystem. Observe honeybees up close through an observation frame, and learn how these busy creatures keep people, and their hives, fed.

​EcOhio Farm is located at 2210 north  Mason-Montgomery Road, Lebanon, OH 45036.

National Geographic - Honeybee  Apis mellifera:
​  animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/honeybee/



Field Guide - Common Bees and Wasps of Ohio ODNR

Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District wishes to thank our Earth Team Volunteers, Staff, Interns, Partnerships and OCVN's for assisting with Bat Acoustic Surveys this past July. We will highlight some of our results at a "Tech Free Tuesday" Event held on August 6th at Landen Deerfield Park. Come learn about our beautiful, native bats, real bat biofacts and build a batty craft! ​These programs are FREE to the public! Programming starts at 10:00 am.  Address:  Deerfield Township 2258 W. St. Rt. 22/3, Maineville, Ohio 45039

​In 2007, Biologists first noted bats were sick and dying from white-nose syndrome in caves near Albany, New York. Cave explorers had taken a photo of bats with a white powder on their noses the year before in this same area. Thus, white-nose syndrome has been in North America  since at least 2006.

WCSWCD Volunteer Opportunities:
​ https://www.warrenswcd.com/volunteer-opportunities.html

Discover the history of wolves in Yellowstone, including what happened to the ecosystem when they were eradicated and when they were reintroduced Jan 12, 1995:
https://www.yellowstonepark.com/park/yellowstone-wolves-reintroduction

​The loss of a breeding wolf can affect the fate of the pack:  In 2012, biologists at Denali National Park and Preserve noted a drop in wolf sightings following the death of a breeding female from a pack that lived along the Denali Park Road. This was one of several instances where the death of an individual wolf from legal trapping or hunting sparked widespread attention. "The death of a breeding wolf could harm the packs that provide the greatest opportunities for park visitors to see a wolf in the wild, either through a lack of reproduction or the loss of the entire pack."
​www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140708103107.htm

Earth is the only known planet in our solar system that humans can live on. ​No other planet has oceans, Earth is also our only known planet to have bodies of liquid water on its surface and enough oxygen to comfortably breathe. Because we have so much water, Earth is is also referred to as the Blue Planet.​ The oceans combined with the atmosphere makes our planet look blue from outer space.

​An estimated 780 million people live without clean, accessible drinking water. Drinking contaminated water can lead to a host of life threatening diseases. Although this may seem like a third world problem, Flint, Michigan showed us that water problems even plague the United States.

Our wildlife also require access to clean water. Every year, countless animals die as a result of water pollution. Pollution can occur in many ways, from physical litter to wastewater and chemical runoff, which causes the water to become toxic to the animals that depend on it for drinking and habitation.

​Many of the environmental problems we are coping with are intertwined — such as climate change and ecosystem degradation are related to and sometimes direct causes of water pollution, floods and droughts. — https://nationaltoday.com/world-water-day/

2019 Caesar Creek Lake Calendar of Events:
​parks.ohiodnr.gov/portals/parks/PDFs/things_to_do/naturalists/USACECaesarCreek2019.pdf

​"Glacier National Park continues to lose its glaciers as global temperatures rise. Initially, this park had about 150 glaciers when it was founded in 1910. "Today, only 26 still meet the 25-acre threshold to be called a glacier." Credit: Jinrui Qu/CC-BY-SA-2.0

Five Thousand Miles of Wild; "It's More than a River, it's our way of life."
https://www.5000miles.org/      #5000 Miles of Wild
In 2018, we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act. We continue this celebration in 2019 as tribute to the 50th Anniversary of the Little Miami River being named a State and National Scenic River.
http://watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/Portals/watercraft/pdfs/maps/srLittleMiami.pdf

​​#MountainsMatters for Disaster Risk Reduction as climatic variations are triggering disasters. Avalanches, mudflows and landslides are tumbling downstream, stripping bare forests, flooding communities and populations.

​Seasons in the Smokies: ​ https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery.htm?id=28D901AE-1DD8-B71C-078D04CCD4FBAFBC

​Winter at Yellowstone National Park indicates fewer crowds, frigid temperatures, and steaming geyser basins, hibernation or even migration. Skis, snowshoes and snowmobiles are often the primary modes of transportation as roads close, rivers and lakes freeze and snowstorms transform the park. One of the most amazing winter sights at the park is the ice dam at Lower Falls. Often growing over 100 feet tall, it’s known as an "astounding natural spectacle".

Starry Night:  ​The Milky Way glows in the sky over a geologic formation known as Monument Rocks in Gove County, Kansas. The Milky Way is best viewed on moonless summer nights, far from the light pollution created by cities and towns.  Astronomers believe our galaxy contains about 200 billion stars.

Geologists create a basic unit called a formation to classify and map layers of rock. Thus, a formation is a rock unit that is distinctive enough in appearance that a geologic mapper can tell it apart from the surrounding rock layers; also, the rock formation must be thick enough and extensive enough to plot on a map.

​"Formations are given names that include the geographic name of a permanent feature near the location where the rocks are well exposed. If the formation consists of a single or dominant rock type, such as shale or sandstone, then the rock type is included in the name." - By Christine Wilkerson, Utah Geological Survey "What is A Formation?"

​Encompassing a 1,500-mile system of winter trails, the Iditarod National Historic Trail  initially connected ancient Alaska Native villages and opened up Alaska for the gold rush; it continues to play a vital role for travel and recreation. This trail is maintained by the Bureau of Land Management and it is often identified with the famous annual Iditarod - sled dog race. This annual race starts each year in March. There are upmost challenges the racer and the 21-dog team face given harsh conditions across rugged but beautiful Alaskan terrain. Meanwhile, dog mushing is the traditional Alaska winter transportation. Dogsledding, or the practice of a musher guiding a team of dogs pulling a sled over ice and snow, may serve multiple purposes. "Whether it’s a casual run along public recreational trails, racing against competitors, or hauling supplies, public lands have much to offer." -https://www.blm.gov/programs/recreation/recreation-activities/alaska

Find local recycling information:  https://berecycled.org/ 
 ​​https://earth911.com/

​Little Miami is the first school district in the state of Ohio to use a StyroGenie machine to create a closed-loop recycling system for the foam trays used in some of the district’s cafeterias. Findings included that this machine presented a possible cost effective path to reduce the schools’ foam tray footprint by more than 90%, reducing trash volume and waste disposal costs.

Other StryoGenies in the news - Lake Hills Elementary School, Michigan City,

​"The school's trash output in the cafeteria has gone down from 52 to 15 bags a day."

​The cost of the StyroGenie for Lake Hills Elementary was $12,000, "but it should pay for itself in two years from refuse disposal savings." Plus, "It's the right thing to do," - STEM coordinator at the school said,

Bricks were painted and placed in the school garden for decorative purposes and for a walkway incentive. The city's street department was contacted for additional use for the bricks.

"In addition to promoting a safe environment, the Styro-Genie shows students what is possible if they open up their minds." Lake Hills Elementary is also preparing kids to be problem solvers and creative thinkers as to solve some of the problems the world might have in the future.