Conservation District Annual Poster Contest Winners Announced

The Yuma County Conservation District (YCCD) had students from 5th and 6th grade, at Idalia, Liberty and Wray, design posters and submit for the 2022 Conservation District Youth Poster Contest. The theme for this year is Healthy Soil, Healthy Life!

The poster contest is a national competition sponsored by the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD). The contest starts at the local level through the YCCD; winners advance to the Colorado state level, and then to the national level, where they receive recognition at NACD’s annual meeting.

The top three posters from each school in the YCCD will receive: first place $20; second place $15 and third place will receive $10. These awards will be distributed at the YCCD Annual Meeting in January. The 2022 YCCD local contest winners are as follows: Liberty 6th Graders: 1st place – Harley Vaughn 2nd place – Travis Wise 3rd place – Kilah Rojas Idalia 5th Graders: 1st place – Charliann Soehner – Grand Champion Overall 2nd place – Chloe Soehner 3rd place – Kimena Cordova Idalia 6th Graders: 1st place – Blake Hardwick – Reserve Grand Champion Overall 2nd place – Beckett Kite 3rd place – Bristol Weyerman Wray 5th Graders: 1st place – Kendree Reyna

The Grand and Reserve Grand Champions overall participated in the Colorado Association of Conservation District competition. Charliann Soehner’s poster was selected as the top poster for the State of Colorado and has been sent to participate at the annual NACD meeting that will be held in February.

The annual NACD and NACD Auxiliary Poster Contest provides students the chance to have their art displayed as part of a national conservation outreach initiative. Each year, the winning posters reflect NACD’s annual Stewardship theme and highlight the work of conservation districts and their state conservation associations, auxiliaries and agencies to protect and enhance natural resources.

Two Yuma County Youth Attend Camp Rocky to Learn Natural Resource Preservation and Conservation

Ashlyn Carpenter and Lydia Mekelburg both from Wray attended the 2022 Camp Rocky. This week-long educational camp for 14 through 19-year-olds was developed for youth who enjoy the outdoors and are interested in natural resources!

Ashlyn and Lydia had the opportunity to learn about the environment through hands-on experiences by working in teams focusing on specific resource areas: Rangeland Management, Forestry Management, Soil and Water Management and Fish and Wildlife Management. At the end of the week, they developed and used their group learning plan to complete a natural resource management project to better the Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp. The camp is located outside Divide, Colorado.

Carpenter and Mekelburg are both planning to attend the camp again next year. The Yuma County Conservation District awards a full camp scholarship to Cam

p Rocky annually to the winner of the 4-H Natural Resources division at the Yuma County Fair (Lydia Mekelburg was the 2021 winner). In addition, partial Camp Rocky Scholarships in the amount of $250 are available to all District Camp Rocky applicants.

Camp Rocky is Sponsored by the Colorado Association of Conservation Districts and strongly sponsored by the Colorado Conservation Districts; along with additional financial and volunteer help from Natural Resource Conservation Services (NRCS), Colorado State Conservation Board (CSCB) and staff and many other natural resource conservation partners from Colorado.

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Yuma County Conservation District 2021 Annual Report

The YCCD would like to share the 2021 Annual Report and are looking forward to many new programs in 2022.

Yuma County Conservation District 2021 Annual Report (6)

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