twin lakes wraps (watershed restoration and protection strategy)

TWIN LAKES WRAPS(Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy)

Twin Lakes Water Festival is a project under the current Twin Lakes WRAPS Program. WRAPS stands for Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy, and clean water initiative through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. It is a grass-roots effort

addressing water quality concerns on the local level, yet funded through EPA Section 19 funds, as well as State Water Plan Funds. Through the

WRAPS project that I coordinate in the Neosho River Headwaters, a large portion of our goals and objectives are met through public education. The Twin Lakes WRAPS decided to initiate the TWIN LAKES WATER

FESTIVAL in 2004, and provide this fantastic educational opportunity to area students who were not currently being serviced by a water festival.

Listed are some of our main partners, sponsors, and supporters.

What IS the Twin Lakes Water Festival?

Our event is an educational festival focusing on natural resources, with an emphasis on water quality and

conservation. This day-long event allows students to explore our precious resources through a multi-sensory, hands-on

learning approach. Presentations are led by natural resource professionals from across the state of Kansas, and are

delivered in a fun, interactive way that encourages critical thinking, problem solving, and responsible decision making. We also stress the importance of holistic, watershed-based

thinking.

2005SCHOOLS• 633 students• 28 classes• 17 schools • 4 counties:

CHASEGEARYMORRIS

WABAUNSEE

PRESENTERS• 41 natural resource professionals• 26 agencies, organizations, and

businesses from across KS

VOLUNTEERS• 126 local volunteers including:• 30 high school students from

White City and Council Grove High Schools

2008SCHOOLS• 1115 students• 56 classes• 29 schools • 6 counties:

CHASEGEARYMORRIS

WABAUNSEELYON

DICKINSON

PRESENTERS• 70 natural resource professionals• 44 agencies, organizations, and

businesses from across KS

VOLUNTEERS• 164 local volunteers including:• 140 high school students from

Northern Heights, Council Grove, Chase County and White City High Schools

The Festival is held at the Council Grove Lake and is an incredible day of opportunity for all involved. All attending students are kept in their home-room classes and accompanied by their teachers and adult chaperones, and move to different 20-minute activity stations throughout the day. Our targeted students are in the 4th and 5th grades.

Just Passing ThroughBy: Melvern WRAPS Project

Activities Include:

Migration HeadacheBy: Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks

Kansas Critters

By: Ft. Riley Environmental Services

Muscle Mania

By: The Watershed Institute

Graze Like a Cow

By: Natural Resources Conservation Service

Crime Scene InvestigationBy: Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks

Macroinvertebrate MayhemBy: Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks

The Long HaulBy: Farm Service Agency

Gooey GarbageBy: Dickinson County Environmental Services

Herpetology

By: Ft. Riley Environmental Services

Watersheds

By: State Conservation Commission

Poetic Precipitation

By: Diane Euler

Water Wheel

By: Drew Switzer – WIBW TV

Coordinating 30 schools, 300 staff from across the state, and generating media and sponsor participation is no easy task. This

year our team utilized over 160 high school students from Northern Heights High School, as well as Chase County, Council Grove and

White City High School students, who served as tour guides for our attending classes. These high school students worked on an individual basis, allowing their incredible responsibility and

leadership skills to shine through.

We also bring together volunteer staff from across the area including: a registered nurse and EMS on-location, lunch staff, and teams delivering ice and water to participants.

HerpetologyBy: Sternberg Museum,

Hays

Our 95 presenters came from all over the state of Kansas to share their expertise with our students, some from as far away as Pretty Prairie, Independence, and Hays.

US Army Corps of Engineers Park Rangers

Through the years, our festival has maintained it’s top 3 priorities : 1, the safety of all participants. Our undisclosed location is second-to-none, and the area is closed to non-participants, as well as patrolled by Corps of Engineers staff and local law enforcement.

Our second priority is to provide an excellent learning opportunity for all participants, As long as our schools continue to participate in our festival, we will continue to offer a fantastic learning opportunity for their students. The majority of our activities that students participate in are correlated to the Kansas Core Curricular Standards, allowing teachers to meet their required standards and benchmarks by participating in our event.

And our third priority has been to make our festival accessible to all participants. Through sponsors and partners of our festival, we proud to offer a chauffeur service to any special-needs participants, and through generous donations of sponsors of our festival, we are able to have schools participate in our event Absolutely COST FREE.

As our festival continues to expand, our need for increased media and sponsorship participation is growing as well.

We have reimbursed attending school districts nearly $8000 in 4 years to cover their bussing and travel costs associated with attending our festival.

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In November of 2007, the Twin Lakes

Water Festival was honored to receive the 2007 KACD Conservation District Educational/Activity Event of the Year Award in Wichita. The cooperative efforts of the counties actively involved n this program are truly what makes it a success.

2007 KACD Conservation District Educational Activity/Event of the Year Award

Denise Bentemann Linda Stewart JoBea Titus-Hutchinson Katie MillerChase Co. CD Geary Co. CD Morris Co. Cons. District Twin Lakes Coordinator