Soil and Water Stewardship Materials

Soil and Water Stewardship Week is an educational outreach program of the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD). It has been in existence since the early 1950’s. The 2008 NACD Stewardship theme is “Water is Life”. The booklets are designed around National Education Standards. The booklets will cover the following topics:

Beginner (Kindergarten-1st Grade)

• Water as a resource used in everyday life
• States of water – solid, liquid, and gas

Intermediate (2nd-3rd Grade)

• Water Cycle
• Groundwater
• Sources of drinking water

Advanced (4th Grade and Above)

• Amount of water on the Earth
• Watersheds
• Stormwater Run-off
• Drought/Floods

Additional materials:  Placemat/Activity sheet, Poster, Bookmarks, Program inserts, Program blanks, Litany, PowerPoint’s for Youth, Adults, and Churches along with promotion of poster contest, Educator’s guide, and Church Leader’s guide.

For more information visit www.nacdnet.org/stewardship on how to order material directly from the NACD Marketplace or contact the District for availability of materials. A limited supply will be available directly from the District office. Materials should be available from the NACD website by late October 2007.

Backyard Conservation Materials

Several booklets dealing with conservation in your backyard and community are available. These include:

“Backyard Conservation” booklet – a 28-page, full-color booklet dealing with planting trees, wildlife habitat, backyard ponds, backyard wetlands, composting, mulching, nutrient management, terracing, water conservation, and pest management. NRCS’s Backyard Conservation website can be visited at www.nrcs.usda.gov/feature/backyard.

Audubon at Home - a series of color brochures dealing with creating habitat for birds, bats, and butterflies. A series of five brochures are available:

• “An Invitation to a Healthy Neighborhood”
• “An Invitation to a Healthy Yard”
• “An Invitation to a Healthy Apartment”
• “An Invitation to a Healthy Country Home”
• “An Invitation to a Healthy Schoolyard”

The Audubon at Home website contains information and downloadable resources to help you plan and develop your property in a wildlife-friendly way. Visit www.audubonathome.org.

Other Educational Materials

• “Water Cycle” poster
• “Backyard Conservation” poster (cardinal in winter eating berries from shrub)
• “Greenwich Soil” poster (The Greenwich Soil Series is the State Soil of Delaware)
• “In the Time it Took to Form One Inch of Soil” poster (a historical time-line)

Various conservation themed activity booklets, activity sheets and bookmarks are available in limited quantities or may be photo-copied for use in the classroom. These materials deal with water, soil, habitat, conservation, trees and other topics. Please contact the District office for availability.

Contact Rick.Mickowski@state.de.us