Conservation Field Day
Our Conservation Field Day is held yearly at the Norbert Rich School Forest. The Norbert Rich School Forest is a 43.5 acre tree farm/forest willed to the Winneconne Community School District by Mr. Rich who passed away in 2012. He designed a stewardship forestry plan and was very much involved with natural resource conservation. Mr. Rich created a wildlife sanctuary on his property which is surrounded by farmland. This ideal habitat found on the property supports a large deer and turkey population along with a variety of other wildlife species.
The Norbert Rich School Forest provides an amazing outdoor classroom experience for our Conservation Field Day. Fourth grade students from the Winneconne Community School District are brought together in one place to learn at four different stations about forestry, wildlife, soils, and water quality. These four stations, hosted by agencies from the Winnebago County Land and Water Conservation Department, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, provided students an opportunity to learn about conservation related topics first hand in a natural setting. Our objective of the outdoor classroom experience is for students to have a better understanding of the importance of our natural resources and what people can do to help improve and protect them.
We are expecting this event to grow in the future as we continue to partner with the Winneconne Community School District.
Fish Hotel Teaching Kits
What's a fish hotel? It's a tree that's fallen in a lake or stream. It's like a hotel for fish because it provides what they need to survive: food and shelter. Large submerged trees can host entire fish communities!
The Fish Hotel Kit is designed to help students learn about the benefits of leaving trees in lakes. The kits are intended to be a Wisconsin fish-focused option for grades 1-5. The teaching guide provides discussion questions, activities and a list of the Wisconsin Science and English Language Arts standards that are met. The kid includes both a fiction and nonfiction book on this topic.
The Winnebago LWCD has 3 Fish Hotel Teaching Kits available for local educators to check-out for use in their classroom. Contact Jody at 920-232-1950 or jbezio@winnebagocountywi.gov for more information.
The Fish Hotels Kit includes:
- Fish Hotels, non-fiction (20 student copies) - Full-color, 20 page companion booklet *
- Fish Cards - Color photos of 19 Wisconsin fish
- Fish Hotel Lesson Plans
- Fish Hotel Poster
- A Second Life for Trees Poster
- How to Help Fish & Wildlife Poster
- Video links to short videos of real fish swimming through swimming
- though fallen trees
- Video link of Fish Hotel (picture book) being read.
- Educator Resources:
- Impervious Surfaces: How They Impact Fish, Wildlife and Waterfront Property Values
- Water's Edge
- Field Journal
- Wisconsin Wildcards - Fish**
* This booklet is tailored to the Wisconsin standards for science for grades 3-5 (Standards SCILS1 and SCI.LS2), but have been used with a wide variety of audiences including camps and special education classrooms.
** Wisconsin Fish Wildcards are provided by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The Fish Hotel Teaching Kits were created by the Center for Land Use Education College of Natural Resources, UW-Stevens Point in partnership with the Division of Extension, UW-Madison.
Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC) Career Tour
The Winnebago County Land and Water Conservation Department yearly coordinates spring and fall educational tours with students from the Fox Valley Technical College. The tours show students various projects that have been installed by the department's technical staff. The tours also help students with a path to the right career selection.
Land Conservation Committee (LCC) Educational Tour
Nitrogen Optimization Pilot Program (NOPP)
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) provides grant funding for Commercial Nitrogen Optimization Pilot Program (NOPP). These grants aim to refine and enhance the understanding of new methods that optimize commercial nitrogen applied to agricultural fields, helping to protect vital soil and water resources. The NOPP was designed to encourage agricultural producers to develop innovative approaches to optimize the application of commercial nitrogen for a duration of at least two growing seasons. The selected producers must collaborate with a University of Wisconsin (UW) System institution, which will monitor the grant project on-site and conduct commercial nitrogen optimization field studies.
The Winnebago County LWCD is the collaborator on four farms participating in two-year NOPP grants received from DATCP.
Nutrient Management Plan Training
Poster Contest
Each year, Winnebago County participates in the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) Poster Contest. The Conservation Awareness Poster Contest is open to K5 through 12th-grade students. Posters hand-created by local students compete at County and Area Contests in December & January with the opportunity to continue advancing to the WI Land + Water State Contest in March and to the NACD National Contest later in the year.
The contest theme and entry materials are available annually in September. Visit our Contest Website for more information or contact us:
Jody Bezio, Administrative Assistant
625 E County Road Y, Suite 100, Oshkosh, WI 54901
jbezio@winnebagocountywi.gov
(920) 232-1950
Producer-Led Watershed Group (PLWG), The Muddy Bottom Farmers
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) provides funding to producer-led groups that focus on nonpoint source pollution abatement activities through the Producer-Led Watershed Protection Grant Program (PLWPG). PLWGs play an important role in advancing conservation farming systems across Wisconsin to improve water and soil quality.
The Muddy Bottom Farmers PLWG was established in Winnebago County in 2023 and have received two DATCP grants to support their work promoting and implementing soil health practices in the Rat River Watershed.
- Follow the Muddy Bottom Farmers on Facebook for our current activities
- Check out our 2024 MBF Annual Report
- 2024 DATCP Conservation Progress Report
Upper-Fox Wolf Demonstration Farm Network (UFW DFN)
Winnebago County has been a partner in the UFW DFN since 2020. This collaboration includes nine LWCDs, the Green Lake Association, and the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) in the Upper Fox River and Wolf River Watersheds. UFW DFN is funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The Demonstration Farms represent a wide range of farm types working together to test and demonstrate conservation practices to reduce nonpoint source pollution entering the Great Lakes Basin. The conservation knowledge learned on their farms is shared by hosting educational field days to help other farmers implement soil health practices. Currently, the UFW DFN is comprised of 14 farms, with three located in Winnebago County.