Hawarden, Iowa — The Sioux County Conservation Board has been presented with an education award.
According to Sunday Ford, the Assistant Director/Environmental Education Coordinator for the Sioux County Conservation Board, the Iowa Association of Naturalists (IAN) and the Iowa Conservation Education Coalition (ICEC) have given the Sioux County Conservation Board an Award for Excellence in Environmental Education.
She tells us the award is the Chris Holt Youth Environmental Education Award for outstanding environmental education program for youth or conducted by youth (preschool to grade 12).
According to Ford, the IAN/ICEC Awards for Excellence in Environmental Education are awarded annually to recognize incredible contributions to the advancement of environmental literacy in Iowa.
She says the Prairie Woods Nature Center Mural Project is a partnership between the Sioux County Schools and Sioux County Conservation, with partial funding through the Sioux County Conservation Foundation. Each Sioux County classroom, grades K-2, are invited to participate in the project which is displayed in the entrance of the Prairie Woods Nature Center at Oak Grove Park. Each classroom that chooses to participate, gets square cardstock tiles and strips of colored paper. The students are asked to use the numbers on the tiles and glue the corresponding colored paper to the tile design. The SCCB staff then adds the finished tiles to the 15-foot mural and visitors get to see the different stages of completion as the tiles arrive.
The mural picture is a secret until all tiles are returned by the end of the school year and remains in the entryway until the new mural tiles start to come in the following year. The 2022 mural design was digitally created by Sioux County Naturalist, Sarah Davelaar.
