The Mississippi Soil & Water Conservation Commission

Contact your local Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) for information on any of these programs.

EDUCATIONAL VIDEO TITLES FOR ADULTS

Conservation Tillage
Native Mississippi Wildflowers (brochure and slide program also available)
Scenic Rivers
Urban Nonpoint Source Pollution: A Citizen's Guide
Our Little River

WORKING MODELS

Enviroscape. A 24" x 30" table-top model to show both rural and urban nonpoint source pollution problems and solutions.
Aquifer Model. A table-top working model showing the flow of ground water and the science behind its conservation.

ACTIVITY BOOKLETS

Earthworms, recycling and composting in the classroom. The basics of vermicomposting and constructing a fun worm farm for classroom or home use. (Pre-K - Jr. High)
Sammy Soil. A coloring book story, teaches the basics of soil and water conservation. Mascot costumes are available at some SWCDs (Pre-K - 3).

Link to Sammy Soil.

Wendy Water. Coloring book, teaches basic water conservation and beginning exploration of water quality (Pre-K - 3).
Link to Wendy Water.

Please call your local Soil & Water Conservation District Office for more information on any of these programs.

SCHOLARSHIPS

The Mississippi Association of Conservation Districts Endowment fund awards scholarships each year to deserving students. Applications are available in all Soil & Water Conservation District offices. Check with your local SWCD office for deadlines and applications.

ANNUAL EVENTS

Tree Planting Week (February)

Soil & Water Stewardship Week (March)

Arbor Day (April)

Mississippi Envirothon Competition (March-May)

NEWSLETTERS

MSWCC Annual Report

MACD "Conservation Outlook"

Envirothon "EnviroUpdate"

(Contact us for current issues)

EDUCATIONAL VIDEOS, LESSON PLANS, TEACHER'S GUIDES

ADVENTURE WITH A TREE. A fun video teaching the importance of trees in our environment. (Pre-K - 3)
OH, GIVE ME A HOME. Video and 40 creative learning activities, glossary and resource guide teaching water quality and nonpoint source pollution awareness. (K - 5)
THE UNCLEAR FUTURE OF CLEAR CREEK. A nonpoint source pollution education video and 29 lesson plans. (Grades 5 - 12)

These awards are given yearly and recognized at the Annual Meeting of the Mississippi Association of Conservation Districts in January. They spotlight the Conservation Education efforts of individual teachers in local schools who integrate responsible conservation awareness into their everyday classroom curriculum. The Conservation Education Program District award is presented to the Soil and Water Conservation District that has shown innovative methods of delivering the conservation message to students as well as adults through a comprehensive education program. Each state winner is nominated for the national award sponsored by Zeneca and the National Association Conservation Districts.

Local SWCDs organize and conduct educational hands-on field days to provide school age students an opportunity to participate in conservation activities in various natural resource areas. Local and state resource professionals, as well as trained volunteers, conduct the stops and lead or guide the groups in the learning process. The event is often held at local parks or environmental sites, as well as at some schools. The age span varies from kindergarten to eighth grade, depending on the local SWCD. However, fifth grade is the most popular grade attending Carnivals.

A series of activity sheets and Conservation Kits for any adult to work with one or more children using simple, everyday materials to teach conservation awareness. Workshops can be scheduled by contacting Gail Spears at the MSWCC office.

The MSWCC works with a Soil & Water Conservation District and a local landowner to schedule a tour of installed conservation measures in the production agriculture environment. These tours not only demonstrate the reality of an installed Best Management Practice (BMP), but also give those observing the process a hands-on look at the results of using such a conservation practice. Touring these farms along with District personnelo and Commissioners are other farmers, the general public, local media representatives and local municipal or county officials.

Food, Land & People

FLP is a nonprofit, interdisciplinary, supplementary educational program emphasizing agriculture, the environment, people of the world, and their relaitonships. This nationwide PreK-12 agricultural-environmental education curriculum project provides hundreds of high-quality, objective and easily-integrated curriculum materials. The MSWCC participates and trains teachers and facilitators and is a co-sponsor of this program with USDA/NRCS, MS Farm Bureau, and other state and federal agencies and organizations.

A Conservation Education Poster / Essay Contest is held yearly. The poster contest is divided by grade levels, K-1, 2-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12. The rules and topic (which is usually the Soil Stewardship topic from NACD) are sent to local districts in the fall with the entries (posters or essays) due in the local SWCD office in the spring. The posters are judged on the local, area and state level with the state winners being entered in the national contest. The essay contest has the same theme but is conducted in grades 7-12 and is only judged on the local, area and state level. The awards on the state level are US Savings Bonds.

The Commission conducts teacher workshops on Conservation Education in the Classroom at local schools, state subject area conferences, Environmental Education conferences, and other educational meetings and summer workshops. These may be in support of the two curriculums we distribute or developed for the needs of the target audience. In addition, Education Specialists can assist is scheduling workshops for Project Learning Tree and Project Wet. Contact Susan Shedd.

The Mississippi Envirothon is a hands-on educational environmental competition for students in grades 9-12 who compete as five-member teams. They prepare in the areas of soils, aquatics, forestry, wildlife, and a current environmental issue that changes each year. They compete on the area level in March to earn the right to compete at the state contest in May. The state champions advance to the international contest Canon Envirothon in the summer as Mississippi's representative. The state program is funded by a grant from Chevron Mississippi. Contact Susan Shedd.

Soil & Water Conservation Youth Camp:

The Warren A. Hood Soil & Water Conservation Youth Camp is held at Hinds Community College in Raymond the first week of June, starting on Sunday evening and concluding at noon on Thursday. The camp is designed to make learning about conserving our natural resources fun as well as educational. Participants from high schools in each SWCD are exposed to all aspects of soil and water conservation including cropland, grassland, woodland, and wildlife. This is achieved through hands-on activities conducted by local and state resource professionals, field trips, and planned recreation. If you are a student or you know of one who is interested in attending, call your local SWCD.
Pearl River Clean-up Project