Water Resources & Environmental Education

20th Annual Chisago County Children's Water Festival

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Special thanks to Jack Doepke, Coordinator of Chisago Lake Public TV, for producing the video of the 20th Annual Chisago County Children's Water Festival held on Thursday, September 22, 2022 at Wild Mountain Recreation Area in Taylors Falls, MN.  

LINK to view the 20th Annual Chisago County Children's Water Festival video on the Chisago Lakes TV YouTube channel.

Chisago County Children's Water Festival

Since 2003, Chisago County has sponsored a Children’s Water Festival to provide youth and classroom teachers with an innovative, quality, hands-on learning opportunity highlighting the relationship and interdependence of water to all living things.  The festival shows how our actions in Chisago County can directly impact the quality of our lakes and rivers, which are so very important to our heritage.

Click here for additional Water Festival Resources for educators and students to explore.

Each year, approximately 600 students from Chisago County attend the festival.  The Children’s Water Festival would not be possible without generous donations of time and resources from a variety of sources.  A Planning Committee with staff from Chisago County, the Chisago SWCD, DNR Project WET, University of Wisconsin, River Falls and Wild Mountain dedicate their time to plan the festival each year.   Please contact Susanna Wilson Witkowski at 651-213-8370 for more information about the event.

Chisago County Children's Virtual Water Festival Resources

On May 20 and September 23, 2021, Chisago County held a Virtual Children’s Water Festival, as the in-person festival for all Chisago County fifth graders had to be cancelled due to COVID-19.  The festival Planning Committee compiled videos and activities that support the festival mission to show how water relates to all living things.  

For the virtual festival, the festival Planning Committee found 30 learning videos and activities that are divided into five water categories:  Aquatic Invasive Species, Water and Wildlife, Watersheds, Water Quality and Weather.  The presentations and activities focus on weather, frogs and toads, the water cycle, aquatic invasive species, watersheds, drinking water, water pollution, and lakes and rivers.  

Each presentation or activity is summarized in an Information Sheet in the list below. You can watch the presentation video, or do an activity or lesson.  You can view one, two or all of the presentations that are part of each category.  If you want to dig deeper, you can look at the Other Resources category and find more water resources to explore.

We hope you enjoy the presentations and activities!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE INTRODUCTION VIDEO TO KICK-OFF THE VIRTUAL FESTIVAL - mp4!

Click here for more information on the format for the virtual festival.

Virtual Water Festival Presentations and Activities

AQUATIC INVASIVE SPECIES

  1. Aquatic Invasive Species - ID River Adventure - SCRA 9-23-21 (PDF)
  2. Aquatic Invasive Species - Into the Weeds Conclusion - SCRA 9-23-21 (PDF)
  3. Aquatic Invasive Species - Minnesota Waters At Risk - DNR 9-23-21 (PDF)
  4. Aquatic Invasive Species - Zebra Mussels in White Bear Lake - DNR 9-23-21 (PDF)

WATER AND WILDLIFE

  1. Water and Wildlife - Frogs and Toads - Wolf Ridge 9-23-21 (PDF)
  2. Water and Wildlife - EagleCam Feeding - DNR 9-23-21 (PDF)
  3. Water and Wildlife - Bugs and Water Quality - Big River Journey 9-23-21 (PDF)
  4. Water and Wildlife - Minnesota Native Fish - DNR 9-23-21 (PDF)
  5. Water and Wildlife - Otters and Ecosystems - Big River Journey 9-23-21 (PDF)
  6. Water and Wildlife - River Birds - Big River Journey 9-23-21 (PDF)
  7. Water and Wildlife - Welcome Aboard - Big River Journey 9-23-21 (PDF)

WATERSHEDS

  1. Watersheds - Watersheds - Wolf Ridge 9-23-21 (PDF)
  2. Watersheds - A Drop in a Bucket - 9-23-21 (PDF)
  3. Watersheds - The Water Cycle - NOAA 9-23-21 (PDF)
  4. Watersheds - Rainfall Simulator - NRCS 9-23-21 (PDF)

WATER QUALITY

  1. Water Quality - Our Groundwater Connection - AnokaSWCD 9-23-21 (PDF)
  2. Water Quality - Our Groundwater Connection Contamination - AnokaSWCD 9-23-21 (PDF)
  3. Water Quality - Hold the Salt to Protect MN Water - WCD 9-23-21 (PDF)
  4. Water Quality - How Groundwater Moves - MDA 9-23-21 (PDF)
  5. Water Quality - How Contaminants Move - MDA 9-23-21 (PDF)
  6. Water Quality - Studying Stream Health - Trout Unlimited 9-23-21 (PDF)
  7. Water Quality - Wonderful World of Macroinvertebrates - DNR 9-23-21 (PDF)
  8. Water Quality - Collecting Macroinvertebrates - DNR 9-23-21 (PDF)
  9. Water Quality - Mayflies and Dragonflys - DNR 9-23-21 (PDF)

WEATHER

  1. Weather - Weather - Wolf Ridge 9-23-21 (PDF)
  2. Weather - Science Trek - PBS 9-23-21 (PDF)
  3. Weather - Precipitation on Earth - PBS 9-23-21 (PDF)
  4. Weather - What is Climate - PBS 9-23-21 (PDF)
  5. Weather - Clouds in Weather Patterns - PBS 9-23-21 (PDF)

OTHER RESOURCES

  1. Other Resources 9-23-21 (PDF)

Chisago County

Chisago County staff provides outreach education and communicates with residents on a variety of water resource topics ranging from educating students at the Chisago County Children’s Water Festival to promoting using the Hook, Line and Sinker collection stations at public water accesses. Visit the links below for more information on water resource education topics.

Chisago Lakes Lake Improvement District

One of the goals of the Lake Improvement District is to promote environmental education, awareness and stewardship within the Chisago Lakes Watershed. Every resident lives in a watershed.

Whether knowingly or not, every resident of the Lake Improvement District and Chisago County may contribute to water pollution through everyday activities such as fertilizing farm fields, throwing litter down storm drains, or not cleaning up after pets. The resulting stormwater runoff from the surrounding watershed is one of the greatest threats to the lakes. Watershed education and stewardship is an important tool for protecting and restoring urban, rural, and agricultural watersheds.

Education Resources

  1. Chisago County - Adopt-a-Drain (PDF)
  2. Chisago County - Children's Water Festival (PDF)
  3. Chisago County - Water Resources Facebook Page (PDF)
  4. Chisago Lakes LID - Public Outreach and Awareness (PDF)
  5. Chisago Lakes LID - Hook, Line and Sinker Recycling Program (PDF)
  6. LID and Chisago Lakes Watershed Factsheet (PDF)
  7. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Thin Ice Brochure (PDF)
  8. DNR Water Use Habits (PDF)
  9. Watershed Hero Brochure (PDF)