..District Activities.....

Our Motto..... "Educate Don't Legislate"

Trees Against the Wind is a long-running project aimed at protecting Highway 46 between Gooding and Wendell where winter driving has taken lives. The Wendell Transfer Station is located in that stretch and has been the recipient of nearly a thousand trees planted in four different windbreaks - all by young conservationists, of course. Signs at the Transfer Station, Faulkner's sheep corrals, the Reed home, Miles, Pavkov and the Wartluft places all indicate that those windbreaks are part of the "Trees Against the Wind" program. In May 2005, two new windbreaks joined the others. Mrs. Koehler's 4th grade class from Wendell Elementary planted more than 300 trees and shrubs at the Dale Miles and Joe Pavkov properties along the highway hoping to slow the wind and improve winter driving conditions.

Bliss Nitrate Priority Area - a water well testing project by Idaho Department of Agriculture has determined there are high nitrate levels in groundwater in the Spring Cove area northwest of Bliss. The Gooding Soil Conservation District has applied for and received a grant from DEQ to first identify the pont souce of this contamination, and then to help landowners make the necessay changes that will lead to lower nitrates in the groundwater. A temporary part time employee was hired by the Distric through the grant and he has been gathering the baseline data necessary to identify the sources of the nitrate infusion. That data includes irrigation timings and quantities, chemical and organic soil ammendments, a history of crop rotations. Soil samples were taken on selected fields and moisture monitors were installed to record water movement. Surface water sampling was also done and this data will be compiled to compliment the data from the soil and crops as the project moves forward.

Little City of Rocks Workshop

Hunt like the Indians, Discover ancient bones, Uncover the Secrets of Water Pollution, Touch Wild Animals...Yes, it's all Possible at the Little City of Rocks Outdoor Workshop for Fifth Graders

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Mrs. Koehler's 5th grade class in Wendellwere willing participants, enjoying not only learning about groundwater and how it might become contaminated, but the actual hard work part was fun too. The students took turns cleaning, stenciling and flagging traffic for the project. The storm drains are scheduled for repainting every three years due to weathering.

Natural Resources Workshop

The Gooding SCD has long supported the University of Idaho sponsored Natural Resources Workshop where soils, wildlife, range and water are taught in a setting so sublime that the students think they are at summer camp. The students are tricked into absorbing science by using rapelling, hiking, target shooting, swimming and fishing to demonstrate how useful scientific knowledge can be. The camp is north of Ketchum in the beautiful Sawtooth Mountains at the 4-H Camp andwill take place this year the week before the 4th of July. The date has been pushed further into summer to improve the chancje of better weather - for too many years now it has snowed in June.

Throwing an atlatle like the Indians did is just part of the fun that goes along with the learning at the annual Little City of Rocks Workshop for 5th graders. In its 15th year, the workshop was held September 29th and is always scheduled for the fall when the weather is predictable and usually very beautiful. The students rotate through stations taught with fun activities in archaeology, paleontology, geology, hydrology, and wildlife.

Envirothon

After 12 years of competing, the Gooding High School 2005 team took first place and won the chance to go to nationals to compete against teams from all over the nation. Mrs. Willaims had taken a sabatical but Ms Petroch led the team on to victory as well as teaching the .Environmental Science classes at the high school. The students still operate the Office Recycling project that provides the Envirothon teams with travel money by selling paper to the Southern Idaho Solid Waste Recycling Program.