Published: May 22, 2008 01:38 am      

EDUCATION: Students enjoy, learn from Conservation Field Days

KNOWLESVILLE — The wind and rain held off long enough Wednesday morning for sixth-graders from Holley, Medina and those who are homeschooled to enjoy the 40th annual Orleans County Conservation Field Days at the Orleans County 4H Fairgrounds.

Each year, Conservation Field Days is set up for students throughout the county to attend. The day helps them learn about different environmental topics such as recycling, zone tilling and erosion, retriever training and how to determine the health of a stream by using aquatic invertebrates.

Shelby Kunker, from Holley, said her favorite station was the “aquatic insects” one, where she was able to look at different bugs that are found in water. “Some of them were preserved,” she said.

The day is meant to be fun for the children, and Kunker’s classmate, Dustin Hendrickson said he was able to “learn a lot of stuff.” Hendrickson not only learned about conservation, he’s also taking some of that new knowledge home with him after choosing his favorite station — Composting.

“I can do that at home. It actually will help my mom in the garden,” he said.

During the day, students go to approximately nine stations out of 15 that are set up and manned by volunteers. Medina sixth-grade teacher John Vogt said each class spends about 15 minutes at the stations before moving on to the next.

“Many of the activities are hands-on. Others, it’s a lecture style,” Vogt said. He has been bringing his class to Conservation Field Days for about the past 15 years he said. The annual event has been going strong for 40 years.

Anthony Pane, a student in Vogt’s class, said he enjoyed being able to attend the field day event because he was able to learn many things about the conservation field.

“I like the soil one. It talked about erosion. They told about how it effects the farmers. It takes away the minerals in the soil,” Pane said. To help reduce the effects of erosion, he and his classmates were taught about zone tilling — when crops are planted in alternating rows and grass is grown in the rows between the crop.

This year, each school in the district was able to attend to program. On Tuesday, Albion, Kendall and Lyndonville sixth-graders were at the fairgrounds to go through the stations.

This year, Ted Osborne, director of recycling with Modern Disposal Services based in Model City, was able to attend and teach the children about recycling and why everyone should do it.

“They learn why we recycle. They learn what is recyclable. They learn the value of recycling,” Osborne said, adding that he also teaches them what happens to recycled materials and the products that can be made out of them.

The future of recycling though is in composting and “electronic recycling,” he said.

“All the stuff is related to green house gas,” Osborne said. “You don’t have to cut down trees to make new products.”

Contact reporter Miranda Vagg at 798-1400, ext. 2225.