TWIN LAKES WRAPS (Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy)

2. TWIN LAKES WRAPS (Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy) Twin Lakes Water Festival is a project under the current Twin Lakes WRAPS Program. WRAPS stands for Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy, and clean water initiative through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. It is a grass-roots effort addressing water quality concerns on the local level, yet funded through EPA Section 19 funds, as well as State Water Plan Funds. Through the WRAPS project that I coordinate in the Neosho River Headwaters, a large portion of our goals and objectives are met through public education. The Twin Lakes WRAPS decided to initiate the TWIN LAKES WATER FESTIVAL in 2004, and provide this fantastic educational opportunity to area students who were not currently being serviced by a water festival. Listed are some of our main partners, sponsors, and supporters.

3. What IS the Twin Lakes Water Festival? Our event is an educational festival focusing on natural resources, with an emphasis on water quality and conservation. This day-long event allows students to explore our precious resources through a multi-sensory, hands-on learning approach. Presentations are led by natural resource professionals from across the state of Kansas, and are delivered in a fun, interactive way that encourages critical thinking, problem solving, and responsible decision making. We also stress the importance of holistic, watershed-based thinking.

4. 2005 SCHOOLS 633 students 28 classes 17 schools 4 counties: CHASE GEARY MORRIS WABAUNSEE PRESENTERS 41 natural resource professionals 26 agencies, organizations, and businesses from across KS VOLUNTEERS 126 local volunteers including: 30 high school students from White City and Council Grove High Schools 2008 SCHOOLS 1115 students 56 classes 29 schools 6 counties: CHASE GEARY MORRIS WABAUNSEE LYON DICKINSON PRESENTERS 70 natural resource professionals 44 agencies, organizations, and businesses from across KS VOLUNTEERS 164 local volunteers including: 140 high school students from Northern Heights, Council Grove, Chase County and White City High Schools

5. The Festival is held at the Council Grove Lake and is an incredible day of opportunity for all involved. All attending students are kept in their home-room classes and accompanied by their teachers and adult chaperones, and move to different 20-minute activity stations throughout the day. Our targeted students are in the 4th and 5th grades.

6. Activities Include: Just Passing Through By: Melvern WRAPS Project

7. Migration Headache By: Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks

8. Kansas Critters By: Ft. Riley Environmental Services

9. Muscle Mania By: The Watershed Institute

10. Graze Like a Cow By: Natural Resources Conservation Service

11. Crime Scene Investigation By: Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks

12. Macroinvertebrate Mayhem By: Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks

13. The Long Haul By: Farm Service Agency

14. Gooey Garbage By: Dickinson County Environmental Services

15. Herpetology By: Ft. Riley Environmental Services

16. Watersheds By: State Conservation Commission

17. Poetic Precipitation By: Diane Euler

18. Water Wheel By: Drew Switzer – WIBW TV

19. Coordinating 30 schools, 300 staff from across the state, and generating media and sponsor participation is no easy task. This year our team utilized over 160 high school students from Northern Heights High School, as well as Chase County, Council Grove and White City High School students, who served as tour guides for our attending classes. These high school students worked on an individual basis, allowing their incredible responsibility and leadership skills to shine through.

20. We also bring together volunteer staff from across the area including: a registered nurse and EMS on-location, lunch staff, and teams delivering ice and water to participants.

21. Herpetology By: Sternberg Museum, Hays Our 95 presenters came from all over the state of Kansas to share their expertise with our students, some from as far away as Pretty Prairie, Independence, and Hays.

22. US Army Corps of Engineers Park Rangers Through the years, our festival has maintained it’s top 3 priorities : 1, the safety of all participants. Our undisclosed location is second-to-none, and the area is closed to non-participants, as well as patrolled by Corps of Engineers staff and local law enforcement.

23. Our second priority is to provide an excellent learning opportunity for all participants, As long as our schools continue to participate in our festival, we will continue to offer a fantastic learning opportunity for their students. The majority of our activities that students participate in are correlated to the Kansas Core Curricular Standards, allowing teachers to meet their required standards and benchmarks by participating in our event.

24. And our third priority has been to make our festival accessible to all participants. Through sponsors and partners of our festival, we proud to offer a chauffeur service to any special-needs participants, and through generous donations of sponsors of our festival, we are able to have schools participate in our event Absolutely COST FREE.

25. As our festival continues to expand, our need for increased media and sponsorship participation is growing as well.

26. We have reimbursed attending school districts nearly $8000 in 4 years to cover their bussing and travel costs associated with attending our festival.

27. THANK YOU SPONSORS THANK YOU SPONSORS

28. In November of 2007, the Twin Lakes Water Festival was honored to receive the 2007 KACD Conservation District Educational/Activity Event of the Year Award in Wichita. The cooperative efforts of the counties actively involved n this program are truly what makes it a success.

29. 2007 KACD Conservation District Educational Activity/Event of the Year Award Denise Bentemann Linda Stewart JoBea Titus-Hutchinson Katie Miller Chase Co. CD Geary Co. CD Morris Co. Cons. District Twin Lakes Coordinator