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The 2020 Fred B. Miller, Jr. Regional Envirothon will take place on March 5th at the Jacksonville Arboretum. The Envirothon is a problem-solving, natural resource education program for high school students. This annual competition is a field-oriented program in which student teams learn to use critical thinking skills to answer written questions or conduct hands-on investigations about environmental issues. The Envirothon competition is open to students from the 9th to 12th grade. Five students compete as a team and answer questions about forestry, soils, aquatics, wildlife, and a current issue. The 2020 Envirothon current environmental issue is "Water Resources Management: Local Control and Local Solutions". The winners of the local competitions compete at the Florida Envirothon, and the state winner competes at the National Envirothon. Training workshops for advisors and students will be offered on January 18 and February 15 at Frank H. Peterson Academy. Workshops are free. Registration for the competition is $5 per person, including advisers. Pay Online at www.duvalsoilandwater.com or make checks payable to Duval Soil & Water Conservation District, 260 US Highway 301 North, Baldwin, FL 32234-1440. DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION is February 5, 2020. Contact Joyce Miller, Coordinator, mjmhavingfun@yahoo.com 410-688-2365 (talk or text) with questions. Learn more at https://envirothon.org/. 
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We are excited to again host the annual Speech and Poster Contest! This local contest allows students to compete in the state, and even national contest under the same topic. The winners of the Duval County Speech Contest receives a cash prize, plus one student will get an invite to compete regionally and statewide for grades 6-12th. The poster contest is an additional way to compete in the competition for grades K-12. The topic for both competitions is "Where Would We BEE Without Pollinators?" and speeches are to be no more than 5-7 minutes. Independent research on the topic works to further educate students in conservation and natural resources, while public speaking provides a host of additional benefits. Artistic skills are called on for the poster contest, and all ages are encouraged to participate. Cash prizes for top winners. We hope that you, a friend, a relative, or a student you know will consider entering in the 2020 annual Joe B. Forshee, Jr. Speech Contest and Poster Contest for Duval County. Entry Deadline: February 19, 2020. All details and forms to complete will be posted to this event in the coming weeks. More details are available at www.tinyurl.com/duvalsoilandwater.  Congratulations to Casey Jones on winning our 1st annual conservation photo contest! He will be receiving a cash prize of $50 and his photos of sea turtle hatchlings will be entered in the National Association of Conservation Districts photo contest next month.  The Duval Soil and Water Conservation District was proud to host our 3rd annual Start Farming Panel on November 5th at the Duval County Agricultural Extension Office. Each year the event features panelists of local farmers and agency representatives that educate the community on ways in which they can get involved in farming. This year the panel discussion included Angela Tenbroeck of Foodery Farms, Nathan Ballentine of Man in Overalls and Jane Cant UF/IFAS Small Farms. The event also featured a farmers market where attendees were able to purchase locally grown produce and plants. Thank you to the Clay County Soil and Water Conservation District as well as the St. Johns County Soil and Water Conservation District for patterning with us to make this great event happen! The Duval Soil & Water Conservation District is excited to participate in the 2019 National Association of Conservation Districts Photo Contest. Our local contest is open to all Duval County residents. Winners are eligible for a cash prize and will go on to the national contest in December. Contestants are allowed to enter as many as five photos each year that each fit into one of the following four categories: Conservation Practices, Close-up Conservation, Conservation in Action, Agriculture and Conservation Across America. The deadline is October 20th, 2019. To enter please fill out the two forms below. You can submit your photo submission in two ways. 1. Email it to duvalswcd@gmail.com with the required forms. 2. Print your photo and two forms and submit it to our office location at 260 US-301 Baldwin, FL 32234 . Photos must be in a JPEG or TIFF file format. If you are submitting a photo in which a subject or model’s face is recognizable, you must also complete and attach this subject and model release with your photos. Minor digital enhancements for cropping, red-eye removal, filters and corrective functions are permitted; however, an image judged to be significantly altered may be disqualified. Contestants are not permitted to place borders, frames or backgrounds around their images or to place watermarks, dates, signatures or copyright images onto photos. Previously published photos are not eligible for the contest. The winners of this year's competition will be announced at our Start Farming Panel event on November 5th at 5:30 pm at the UF / IFAS Extension Duval County Agriculture at 1010 McDuff Ave N, Jacksonville, Florida 32254 (Click here for event details). The winners We look forward to seeing all of your great submissions! Questions? Please feel free to email duvalswcd@gmail.com with any questions you may have about the competition!  The St. Johns River Water Management District is once again offering their successful Blue School Grant Program! The St. Johns River Water Management District plans to offer up to $20,000 during the third year of this program. Up to $2,000 per teacher, per school will be awarded to middle and high school teachers to enhance student knowledge of Florida’s water resources. Public and charter school teachers within the district’s boundaries are eligible to apply. The application deadline is Sept. 6, 2019, at 5 p.m. The winners will be announced Oct. 1, 2019. Three types of grants will be available — freshwater resources field study, water conserving landscape projects or water conservation community/school awareness campaigns. Examples of successful grant applications include:
Would you like to become more involved with the Duval Soil and Water Conservation District? If so, we have the perfect opportunity for you! The DSWCD is currently accepting applications for new Affiliate members. Our affiliate members play a crucial role within the District by advising our supervisors as well as assisting them in their duties and responsibilities. If you are interested, please fill out our Affiliate Member application (Click Here to view) and submit to our Chairman, Allen L. Moore at 260 U.S. 301 North , Baldwin, FL 32340. If you have any questions or comments you can reach Allen at (904)465-0678 or at amooresr3@gmail.com.   What is Stewardship Week? NACD Stewardship Week is one of the largest national programs to promote natural resource conservation. Celebrated annually since 1955 between the last Sunday in April and the first Sunday in May, NACD Stewardship Week reminds us of our individual responsibilities to care for natural resources. 2019 marks the 64th year to celebrate NACD Stewardship Week. Why Stewardship Week? Each spring, NACD and thousands of dedicated conservationists organize a multitude of outreach events and educational learning experiences for students and adults in order to increase awareness about the importance of natural resource conservation. During Stewardship Week, local conservation districts and their state associations educate the public on the importance of soil health, water quality, pollinator habitat and other conservation topics. Different classroom activities, field visits and community events are hosted to honor and recognize efforts in conservation at the local level. The Duval Soil and Water Conservation District will be hosting a special screening of the documentary film, Living Soil. The screening will be held this Wednesday, May 1 at 3:30 p.m. at UF / IFAS Extension Duval County Agriculture.This informative documentary is about U.S. conservation and the agricultural heroes who nurture our soil. The screening will be followed by a brief discussion of stewardship efforts in Duval County. Thank you to the Jacksonville City Council for adopting a resolution to recognize Stewardship Week from the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in May. (Click to view) Jacksonville City Council member Sam Newby attended our April Regular meeting to recognize the District's 2019 Stewardship Week. We were pleased to host our "Life in the Soil: Dig Deeper" Speech & Poster Contest in March. Congratulations to our winners! Poster Contest 1st (Grades 2-3) - Colton Gokey, Seacoast Charter Academy 1st (Grades 4-6) - Shonday Dominique, The Foundation Academy 1st (Grades 7-9) - Mallory Smith, Father's H.a.r.b.o.r. Academy Speech Contest 1st - Anyse-Leanna Martin, The Foundation Academy 2nd - Shye Tapley, The Foundation Academy 3rd - Nichol Scott, The Foundation Academy Our 1st place winner, Anyse-Leanna Martin, represented Duval County at the Area II level of competition this month. She took home second place! Thank you to our judges, Shelton Hull and Brett Waller, and to our presenting sponsor, Allen Skinner of Soil Life Organics.  Over 125 high school students from Duval and Nassau counties competed on March 7th at the Fred B. Miller, Jr. Regional Envirothon 2019 hosted by the Duval Soil and Water Conservation District! They used critical thinking skills to answer written questions and conduct hands-on investigations about a range of environmental issues. Team Dasher from Darnell Cookman Middle/High School took home 1st place overall. As a result, Team Dasher was our representative at the Florida Envirothon this past month. They won the current issue oral presentation speech on ways to mitigate nutrient pollution from agricultural runoff. Congratulations, Team Dasher! We look forward to beginning preparations for next year's competition! |
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