Education

Tom Meek, Clay Center, wins KWF Water Conservationist Award

Tom Meek, left, from Clay Center receives the 2012 Water Conservationist of the Year award from Troy Schroeder, Kansas Wildlife Federation President. The Kansas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society sponsored the Water Conservationist award.

The Kansas Wildlife Federation (KWF) proudly announces winners of the 2012 Conservation Achievement Program Awards (CAP). KWF honored thirteen recipients on February 23rd at a reception and banquet in their honor in Emporia.

For 49 years, the Federation has recognized Kansans who have devoted exceptional efforts for wildlife conservation in the state. Kansans, who wished to recognize the awardees for their contributions, supplied the nominations. 

The CAP awards are given in several categories including youth, land, water, wildlife, forest, education, farming and ranching. For 2012, 12 awards were given, along with the President’s special award for meritorious service to the KWF.

These are the most prestigious conservation-related awards given in Kansas and are patterned after similar awards in most other states through respective state affiliates of the National Wildlife Federation. Long-time professor of biology at Kansas State University, Robert Robel of Manhattan won the overall award, Conservationist of the Year. Dr. Robel passed away last month so his wife, Anise, accepted the award in his place. 

Award sponsors for these awards included Westar, Inc., Kansas State Chapters of the National Wild Turkey Federation, Kansas Chapter of the Wildlife Society, Kansas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, Geary County Fish and Game Association, the Watershed Institute, the Jim Ruder family of WaKeeney, Kansas Farmers Union and the Emporia Area Chapter of the Quail and Upland Wildlife Federation.

The 2012 Water Conservationist Award was presented to Tom Meek of Clay Center. Tom is the District Manager for the Clay County Conservation District in Clay Center. He administers the conservation district’s Water Resources and Nonpoint Source cost share programs. Tom assists the Clay County Natural Resources and Conservation Service (NRCS) staff with federal conservation programs such as the Environmental Quality Improvement Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

Tom actively participates in Milford and Smoky Hill Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) groups. He has administered $83,000 in cost share funds approved in Clay County for projects in Milford WRAPS targeted areas. Tom assisted with development of the district’s 5-year plan which includes new initiatives that will focus on water quality through nutrient management and flood mitigation.

Tom was instrumental in starting the Clay County Water Festival in 2004, with a grant from the Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education (KACEE). The first Water Festival was a community-wide event associated with the Piotique Fall Festival in Clay Center. Water Festivals since then have been for allClay County 4th Graders. He has continued the annual 6th Grade Environmental Education Day.

The Kansas Wildlife Federation has relied on Tom to provide presentations on water quality with the district’s stream trailer at our Outdoor Adventure Camp for 10-12 year-old students at Camp Washunga. He gives other educational presentations on request throughout Clay County. Tom coordinates the Conservation District’s poster contest for elementary students – this year’s theme is “Where Does Your Water Shed?”.

This year Tom serves as Vice-Chair of the Kansas Envirothon Committee. He attended the Canon National Envirothon with the Kansas Team in 2012. Tom has served as a facilitator and/or presenter at many regional Environthons. He has helped with fund-raising for numerous local Envirothon teams and has served as a judge for the scavenger hunt for the Milford Eco-meet many times.

Tom serves on the Kansas Crossroads Resource Conservation and Development Council (RC&D) and has helped that group coordinate water quality events for agriculture producers.

As a farm operator, Tom has implemented many water quality improvement practices including no-till crop production, filter strips and conservation buffers, and riparian forest improvement. He is conducting an on-farm research project on the use of cover crops for soil and water quality improvement in cooperation with the Kansas State University Extension and NRCS.

The Kansas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society sponsored the Water Conservationist of the Year award.

For all he does for water conservation, Tom Meek is the Kansas Wildlife Federation Water Conservationist of the Year for 2012.


Tom Meek, left, from Clay Center receives the 2012 Water Conservationist of the Year award from Troy Schroeder, Kansas Wildlife Federation President. The Kansas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society sponsored the Water Conservationist award.

25th Anniversary of the KWF Outdoor Adventure Camp

This summer the Kansas Wildlife Federation will host the 25th anniversary of the Outdoor Adventure Camp along with co-sponsor KSU Cooperative Extension Service. It is designed for boys & girls (10-12 years old). It is held at the WaShunGa area of Rock Springs Ranch, just south of Junction City. For more information click on the Outdoor Adventure Camp in the side menu of the KWF Homepage for the brochure and application materials <http://www.kswildlife.org/OutdoorAdventureCamp.php>

Nature Writers: Worthy of Our Thanks

by Andy and Tami McDaniels

Through the passionate wilderness writings of authors like Jaeger, Roosevelt, and Leopold, we have understood and felt the need to connect with the natural world. These writers, and many more like them, have inspired us to spend time in the great outdoors, become stewards of our environment, and contemplate our relationship with nature. They have taught us new outdoor techniques and provided us with information to improve upon tried and true methods. They have opened our minds to the possibility that the outdoors can motivate us to live better lives.

Given that November is a month of giving thanks, I thought it appropriate to take time to give thanks to a few of the writers who have given us books about the wild which have been inspirational and enlightening to all who have read them. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of reading a book by one of these authors, I hope what you read here will encourage you to do so.

Ellsworth Jaeger (1897-1962)

Perhaps not the most well-known of this category of writers, Ellsworth Jaeger was an editor, an author, and a curator of education at the Buffalo Science Museum. He wrote and illustrated seven books includingWildwood Wisdom, Nature Crafts, Tracks and Trailcraft, Council Fires, and Easy Crafts.

Jaeger traveled extensively throughout the wilderness areas of Canada, the United States and Mexico and dedicated his life to researching various Native American tribes, such as the Iroquois, Blackfoot, Apache,Pueblo, and Navajo. He was considered an authority on American Indian lore and camping.

The book jacket cover of Wildwood Wisdom includes a warning, “…the author’s enthusiasm for wildwood is so infectious that you will be lured away from suburb or city.” Indeed, you will be lured. It’s impossible to read this book without wanting to test some of the ideas and techniques in his 197 detailed illustrations. The comprehensive 491-page book, mainly addressed to campers, was originally published in 1945, and is not only a guide to every imaginable aspect of wilderness life, but also an enjoyable read and historical account of life in America in the 1800s.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

Our twenty-sixth president was a historian, an author, a statesman, a hunter, an orator, a rancher, and a naturalist. Reading and writing were two of his favorite pastimes. He often read an entire book in one day, and he authored over 35 books on many different subjects including hunting and wilderness pursuits. One such book, A Book Lover’s Holiday in the Open, gives Roosevelt’s advice about how man can get in touch with the natural world. Crack open the cover of the 1916 edition, and you will read:

The beauty and charm of the wilderness are his for the asking, for the edges of the wilderness lie close beside the beaten roads of present travel. He can see the red splendor of desert sunsets and the unearthly glory of the afterglow on the battlements of desolate mountains. In sapphire gulfs of ocean he can visit islets, above which the wings of myriads of sea-fowl make a kind of shifting cuneiform script in the air. He can ride along the brink of the stupendous cliff-walled canyon, where eagles soar below him, and cougars make their lairs on the ledges and harry the big-horned sheep. He can journey through the northern forests, the home of the giant moose, the forests of fragrant and murmuring life in summer, the iron-bound and melancholy forests of winter.

-Theodore Roosevelt, A Book Lover’s Holiday in the Open

This autobiographical collection of stories encourages us to step outside our comfort zone and discover the majesty of the outdoors. Each chapter describes a unique wilderness adventure, such as a cougar hunt, crossing the Navajo Desert, and a “curious experience” at a private game reserve in Quebec.

Aldo Leopold (1887-1948)

Aldo Leopold was an author, an ecologist, a forester, a scientist, and an environmentalist. He is acknowledged by many as the father of wildlife ecology. His book A Sand County Almanac is a classic of nature writing, cited as one of the most influential nature books ever published.

Leopold utilizes A Sand County Almanac and its call for a Land Ethic, a seminal work of the modern environmentalist movement, to articulate the true connection between people and the natural world, with the hope that the readers will begin to treat the land with the love and respect it deserves. (The Aldo Leopold Foundation)

There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot. These essays are the delights and dilemmas of one who cannot.

-Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

Each of the authors gave us a gift when they took time to share their love and knowledge of nature with us. Not just those that I’ve highlighted, but all the men and women that dedicate their lives to writing about the natural world are truly worthy of thanks.

You can find the above mentioned books at retailers that sell new, used, and collectible books, likeAbeBooks. The holiday season is a perfect time to catch up on reading and share your favorite books with others. What could be a better gift to give someone special than a gift that sparks a passion for the outdoors? 
123