PDF Breathitt County final report09[1]

Kentucky River Authority Grant Final Report ? Breathitt County Extension

Martha Yount, Contact

Dates of Project Activities began on March 1, 2009 with the purchase of supplies, and was completed on May 17, 2010 with the final Watershed Art Show.

Project Summary ? Agencies and Groups Involved

4-H/Afterschool Program This project began with our first meeting on March 16, 2009 to introduce the

concept of watershed quality, describe the planned activities, and distribute permission forms for the field trips. Field trips to monitor a local stream were held March 30, April 13, and April 27. Art projects with additional students began on April 16, and a water quality themed art show was displayed to the public on May 18. It included watercolor paintings, pencil drawings, photography and 3 dimensional "trash" sculptures. Student docents guided the guests through the exhibit and served "pond punch" and goldfish crackers for refreshments.

Field trips resumed in the fall, and were held on September 21 and 28, October 26, and November 2. The last trip was a tour of the local water treatment plant. Spring 2010 field trips were held April 12, 19 and May 10, and the final art show was held May 17. A comparison of student artwork from Spring of 2009 to Spring of 2010 showed that students included more indicators of a healthy stream (i.e. trees along the banks) in the second year.

In all, 127 students participated in the field trips and related classroom activities. An estimated 60 students participated in water themed art activities for the exhibit, and the art shows were viewed by 77 people from the community.

On Earth Day, April 22, 2010, an additional after school program was presented at Marie Roberts Caney Elementary school, with 35 students participating in water education activities relating to the water cycle and ground water.

Girl Scout Overnights The first Girl Scout overnight was held May 15 ? 17, 2009. This was the

weekend following devastating floods in Breathitt County that destroyed the homes of 2 of the scout leaders, along with many other families. Since only 29 scouts were able to attend, the physical activity/water cycle events were postponed until April of 2010. Girls attending still participated in water quality badge activities, water themed games, and developed and presented water quality educational skits. A second Girl Scout overnight was held on April 16 ? 18, 2010, to complete the event as originally planned. 6 troops from Breathitt County attended, with a total of 52 scouts. Adventure activity stations were selected to represent surface water, ground water, transpiration, evaporation, precipitation, and storm water runoff. Each troop planned and presented a skit on water quality, with topics ranging from pollution to the water cycle.

Resource Library and Teacher Training The teacher training, which was originally planned to be offered only to local

teachers, was expanded as an official professional development opportunity not only for local teachers, but also for Extension Agents, Extension Assistants, and 4-H Volunteers. I attended training January 13 ? 15 to become a Project WET facilitator, so we used the Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) curriculum as the foundation for this training. It was held March 29 and 30, 2010 at Robinson Forest. 10 people attended the training, which included both classroom and hands on instruction. The participants completed the requirements necessary to become certified to use the Project WET curriculum, and each received a copy of the educational materials. In addition, a researcher at Robinson Forest gave an overview of current trials at the forest on streamside management zones for the logging industry, and led a field trip to visit one of the sites. One of the teachers was able to implement the Project WET materials in her classroom immediately, and others have plans in place to use them for either summer programs or in their classrooms in the fall. A list of water quality and other environmental themed educational materials that are available for check out was given to the participants. Several of the items have already been checked out for use.

On February 12, I presented a session at the Kentucky 4-H Volunteer Forum in Lexington to share 10 water education activities to 4-H volunteers across the state. 25 participants had an opportunity to try the activities and then received instructions to take home to use with their 4-H groups.

Final Budget Report

See attached.

Photos and samples of products

See attached pages.

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