American Wetlands Month Celebration Ideas

Each year during May, conservation districts, grassroots organizations, and government agencies join individuals and educators across the country to celebrate the importance of wetlands. Celebration activities may be a tour, demonstration, field day, educational activity, seminar, workshop, or whatever is appropriate in your community. You may use the suggestions presented here or think up your own special ways to celebrate wetland restoration, protection, and enhancement.
 

Suggested Activities

Appreciation events
Plan an open house at a wetland restoration site. Establish a special wetland education day at a park. Support a wetlands appreciation event at a local college. Colleges also provide receptive audiences for exhibits and open mike talks.

Exhibits
Design an educational exhibit for a community center or mall. Develop a display of photos, explanations, and handouts—or use a canoe or wading pool to display local wetland plants that could represent a small local wetland. Meet with local librarians and encourage them to set up a display of wetland books during May.

Presentations
Prepare presentations on the values of wetlands for schools. Give a presentation about wetlands to the local chapter of the Rotary Club, League of Women Voters, Junior League, Ducks Unlimited, or other community organization.

Tours, workshops
Plan a tour of local wetlands. Organize a wetland tour that visits both urban and rural sites. Invite legislators, district cooperators, state conservation agency representatives, and others to attend. Host a wetland restoration workshop. This could be at a planned restoration site or at one that is already restored.

Contests
Hold a wetland-trivia contest featuring local celebrities (like Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit). Many districts hold poster or essay contests for youth. Another idea is to hold a contest for local businesses that participate in wetlands restoration projects. You might create special awards for landowners who have restored wetlands on their property. Note: Holding a successful contest depends on good contest design, clear judging criteria, credible judges, and lots of publicity to promote entries and announce winners.

Forums, town hall meetings
Schedule a forum on wetland issues at a community center. Host local or multi-community town hall meetings to discuss wetland issues. Invite legislators to participate in an open mike session to discuss proposed wetland legislation.


Educational Opportunities
Teachers, special education instructors, and youth group leaders are always looking for exciting ways to help their students learn. They appreciate supplementary curriculum materials and local “real-life” examples that make what students learn in the classroom more meaningful when applied to the real world in which they live.
 

• Implement an “adopt-a-wetland” program to monitor, protect, and promote local wetlands. There are many degraded and trashed wetlands around urban areas and small communities that need tender loving care to become areas of interest and education.
• Track and monitor a local wetland restoration project through construction and maintenance to assess the changes on the land and evaluate the functions and values of the wetland.
• Set up a “wetlands classroom” at a school. Restore or construct a wetland on the school site; successful ones have been done in school courtyards with water from the outdoor faucet. Many wetlands are wet only during the school year.
  Hold a wetland education workshop for teachers using Project WET or the Wonders of Wetlands materials. In addition to learning to use these guides, the workshop could include a tour of local wetlands where students are welcome and introductions to local wetland professionals.

Other Ideas

Billboard
Consider sponsoring a billboard in your community during May or use outdoor advertising as a way to say thanks to area farmers and ranchers for restoring wetlands.

Run or walk-a-thon
Sponsor a 5K or 10K run or walk-a-thon for wetlands restoration on private lands.

Community dinner
Hold a barbecue, cookout, soup supper or pancake breakfast for the community. Use the event as an opportunity to promote wetlands restoration. This is a good event for both rural and urban audiences.

These are just a few ideas for ways to celebrate American Wetlands Month. These and other events are educational for the community and provide important information on how to take positive actions for wetlands. Sponsoring events also offers you and your district or organization a special opportunity to be seen by the community as a group that takes a leadership role in this sensitive issue.