Earth Festival 2008
by Kris Quinn
May 08, 2008
Earth Festival 2008
How many species of snakes live in Nebraska? How many are poisonous? Why should farmers "no till" their fields? Why should we mulch our gardens? What happens when towns and farmers pump water from the ground?
These and many other questions were answered by 5th graders from Crete Elementary on April 23rd when they attended the 18th annual Earth Festival at Camp Jefferson in Fairbury. This two day event educates about 250 fifth graders from Saline, Jefferson, and Gage counties each day. It is sponsored by the University of Nebraska Extension Service and the Big Blue Natural Resources District. The students rotate through 7 half hour sessions learning and doing activities designed to help them to understand how and why we need to conserve our resources and learn to use them wisely. Next year when they attend 6th grade campout they can check on the trees that they planted next to the Big Blue River. The Wild and Wacky World of Pests presenters scared a few with hissing cockroaches, stuffed mice, and a snake. An electronic Jeopardy game reviewed facts about water in Nebraska. Some lucky teams remembered the final jeopardy answer - Nebraska means "flat water". Using individual "clickers" to answer multiple choice questions made learning about renewable energy more fun.
Here are the answers to the opening questions: There are 29 species of snakes but only 5 are poisonous. Farmers should no till their fields to leave last year's debris as mulch on the soil to stop rain drop impact and erosion as well as using less fuel for the tractor. Mulching our gardens with straw or grass clippings lessens the amount of watering needed by keeping soil moisture, rain soaks in better instead of forming a crust on the soil, it keeps weed growth down, and you can walk on the soil without getting your feet muddy!!
