Conservation Day at Crex Meadows
Written By: Brooke Wolf, Webster Middle School Fifth Grader
The 5th grade went on a field trip to Crex Meadows on September 16th, 2018. We had a blast! Some things we got to do were centers, a scavenger hunt, and some fun games. The whole time we were there, we talked about what conservation is. Conservation is the wise use of natural resources.
The first center was “The Water Games!” It was a Jeopardy game, but was related to water conservation and lakes. It was an exciting game that went back and forth. Next was “Wisconsin Wildlife”. We learned lots about wild animals. We learned about what a habitat is made of, and what types of animals live in certain habitats. There was also the soil station. In this station we learned about what is in soil and what types of soil there are. You probably don’t know this, but soil is made out of rock, pink granite, limestone, sandstone, pine needles, worms, millipedes, centipedes, acorns, weather, sand, silt, and clay. Then we learned that there are layers of soil. The layers are Horizon A, Horizon B, and Horizon C. In the Forestry station, we learned the steps on how to do forestry. First is to prep a site (get it ready for planting trees), then to seed the prepped site, plant the trees, and then protect them from other animals so they don’t eat the tops off. They do that by putting bud caps on the tops of them. Finally, the foresters harvest the trees when they are bigger and have more wood, and load the trees onto a truck to go to a mill that will produce paper and wrappers.
Another station was “Rocks, Gems, and minerals.” This station had very pretty rocks and agates that we had never seen before. The man that lead this station talked about where and how he got them and how they form. The Invasives Species Station was very interesting as well. What are invasive species, you might ask? An invasive species is a living thing that is introduced to a new environment and commonly causes damage to their new ecosystem. We learned that you have to make sure that when you take out your boat that you get all the weeds and animals off, so that if you go to a different lake you don’t have the living thing taking over the lake.
A DNR officer taught us that backyard fires are usually started by burning leaves and garbage. We learned what firefighters use to protect themselves from fires as well. They use a helmet for their head, a fire suit made out of special material for their bodies, and gloves that are made out of special material (nomex) for their hands. We learned what some of the tricks, tools, and machines they use to put out fires.
In conclusion of the day, the fifth graders took a test on what they did that day. Then we had a scavenger hunt! We competed against the other schools that were there. Webster worked as a school to try and get all the items on the list. We got a whole grocery bag of candy for participating!
The 5th grade thanks the School District of Webster for giving us the opportunity to go on our trip to Crex Meadows. It was a very fun-filled and educational day!