 |
| OUR ADVENTURES |
|
| The West Allis Central Conservation Club has a variety of opportunities for students to explore the environment. We classify each activity in one of 3 ways: SERVICE, EDUCATIONAL, OR RECREATIONAL. As students find out, no matter which official designation is assigned to a given activity, they always seem to find some "educational" component within everything they take part in, and they find out that even "service" projects turn out to be fun, giving them some "recreational" value. So, essentially, all activities could be referred to as "ADVENTURES," even though we've listed them in the 3 classifications below. We hope that the descriptions of the CCC's various endeavors in recent years will give you a better idea about what we do in our organization! |
| SERVICE |
| EDUCATION |
| RECREATION |
| Weed Out Warriors |
| Prairie Planting |
| Nature Center Construction |
| Storm Sewer Stenciling |
| Kiwanis River Clean-Up |
| Recycling Program |
| Sturgeon Guard |
| Mural Painting |
| Pumpkin Delivery |
| Bluebird box Earth Day Project |
| School Clean-Up |
| Work Parties @ Lulu Lake |
| Haunts & Hikes Volunteers |
| Apple Harvest Festival Helpers |
| Bird Seed Sale Volunteers |
| Trail Chipping |
| School Prairie Maintenance |
| Timberwolf Preservation Society |
| Sturgeon Bowl at UW-Milwaukee |
| Orienteering |
| Timberwolf Preservation Society |
| Milwaukee County Zoo |
| Mitchell Park Domes |
| Trees for Tomorrow - Eagle River |
| Governor's Conference on the Environment |
| Careers in Forestry and Natural Resources Workshop |
| Treehaven - Tomahawk |
| Guest Speakers |
| GIS Community Atlas Project |
| Wildlife Corridor Monitoring |
| State Park Sticker Contest |
| Whitewater Rafting |
| Geocaching |
| Camping |
| Rock Climbing |
| Hiking |
| Canoeing |
| Bonfires |
| Horseback Riding |
| Ice Fishing |
| Ice Softball |
| Sledding / Tubing |
| Scavenger Hunts |
| Bowling |
| Capture the Flag |
| Great Outdoor Games |
| Picnic / Cookout |
| Cross-Country Skiing |
| Archery |
| Birdwatching |
| Snowshoeing |
| Fishing |
| SERVICE |
| Weed Out Warriors - Sponsored by the Park People; Students meet at local parks and help remove invasive plants from the understory within forested areas of the park. Buckthorn and honeysuckle are the primary targets for weed removal. |
| Prairie Planting - Over numerous visits and hours of service, members of the CCC went through the entire process of reestablishing a native prairie at a location within the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center. Students cleared out invasive and undesirable species, collected seed from other locations, burned the site, and then dispersed seeds throughout the area. |
| Land Use Planning Seminar at Riveredge Nature Center |
| Nature Center Construction- While the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center was building its new "green" building, the CCC assisted by doing a variety of tasks, including running phone and data cable through PVC pipes, building a brick patio, painting, and transporting rocks from the lake to the new building's foundation. |
| THE REMAINDER OF THIS PAGE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION - THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE! |
 |
| Storm Sewer Stenciling- In conjuction with the City of West Allis Public Works Department, members of the CCC, armed with spray paint, stencils, and safety vests, take to the streets and mark storm sewer drains to make the public aware that waste that winds up going into the sewer will drain into local waterways (DUMP NO WASTE, DRAINS TO RIVER is the stencil's message). The students also put fliers on citizen's front doors to help educate them about this important environmental issue. |
| Kiwanis River Clean-up- Coordinating a school-wide annual clean-up is the job of the Conservation Club members for this endeavor, as up to 300 students from West Allis Central have attended the Kiwanis River Clean-up in a single Saturday morning. Keeping track of student attendance and relaying information to science instructors who have agreed to give students extra credit for taking part in the cleanup is taken care of by members of the CCC. Club members also take part in the clean-up, which has numerous meeting sites around the city. The Kiwanis Club sponsors the cleanup and orchestrates the largescale efforts, setting up a station at each location and supplying citizens with gloves, bags, refreshments, and tshirts for their efforts. |
| Recycling Efforts- Students are putting together a plan to increase student awareness about recycling in the school, and are attempting to track recyclables to be sure that they end up where they belong! |
| Sturgeon Guard Program- When the lake sturgeon leave Lake Winnebago and make their way up river to the Shiocton area, the CCC is there to help protect them as they attempt to spawn. Working with the Department of Natural Resources, the kids, wearing "Sturgeon Patrol" hats, monitor sites of active spawning, making sure that nobody present at the site bothers or poaches these mighty fish. |
| Super Science Bowl at Point Beach Energy Center |
| Mural Painting- Over the years the CCC has brightened up the hallways at West Allis Central High School by creating numerous murals in the viscinity of the science rooms. Bald eagles, wolves, and many other creatures in beautiful settings adorn the hallways of the 2nd floor. |
| Pumpkin Delivery- Carving pumpkins and delivering them to a local senior assisted living center was a great way for CCC members to get out into the community and show that they care, as they used pumkins that were likely to be discarded by the farmer's stand for a great cause. |
| Bluebird Box Earthday Project- Using scrap wood supplied by the technical education department, students built bluebird houses in an effort to help increase nesting populations of bluebirds in the state. Upon completion of the construction process, school staff was called upon to identify suitable locations for the nest boxes, and finished boxes were distributed to those volunteers with the best chance to attract nesting pairs of bluebirds. |
| School Clean-Ups- Periodically throughout the year, students will patrol the grounds around the school and remove litter that has accumulated outside the building and in the parking lot. School clean-ups generally take place after CCC meetings and don't take too long, as the students realize how much can be accomplished in a short time if everyone pitches in! |
| Work Parties at Lulu Lake - Sponsored by the Nature Conservancy; Students meet at Lulu Lake Nature Conservancy and help with projects within the property. Buckthorn and honeysuckle are the primary targets for weed removal, and some species of trees or other foliage will be removed oftentimes in an attempt to return the landscape to its indigenous makeup. Prescribed burning is also part of the maintenance during the winter months. |
| Haunts & Hikes Volunteers - CCC volunteers become workers and guides to assist groups touring the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center over the Halloween weekend looking for some evening thrills and chills throughout the property. Students attend a training seminar earlier in the week to prepare themselves as guides for the festivities. |
| Candy Cane Lane Volunteers |
| Apple Harvest Festival Helpers - From being parking lot attendants to carmel apple distributors, the CCC assists the Retzer Nature Center in a variety of ways during their festive fall weekend.. |
| Bird Seed Sale Volunteers - Patrons of the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center stock up on their backyard bird supplies by ordering bags of seed through the facility, and when they come to the center to pick up their orders, the CCC members are waiting for them. From the trailer loaded with seed to the back seats and trunks of vehicles, the students assist the customers with transporting their orders. |
| Trail Chipping - By spreading shredded wood chips over established trails, CCC members help make sure that the trails at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center are in tip-top shape, ready to be used by hikers, nature-lovers, and cross-country skiiers. |
| School Prairie Maintenance - Club members grab shovels, rakes, and other equipment and get a little dirty keeping West Allis Central's prairie in order throughout the course of the year. Plantings and prescribed burns are also part of the health of our urban grass, weed, and wildflower wonderland. |
| Timberwolf Preservation Society- Surviving on private donations and volunteers alone, this educational facility, a short drive from West Allis, has been an organization that the students of the CCC have supported throughout the years. Ranging from fundraising efforts to support and adopt wolves on an annual basis, to direct service hours at the facility ranging from land maintenance to guiding tours, students from the club have found a special interest in an animal who has made a tremendous comeback in the northern and central parts of Wisconsin, the Timberwolf. |
| Candy Cane Lane Volunteers- West Allis is well known for a quaint community not far from the high school which has pulled together to give folks who drive through the neighborhood an impressive display of Christmas decorations. When cars filter through the streets, they oftentimes choose to make donations to a local charity called the MACC Fund (Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer). Students from the CCC assist in the collection of these funds through the month of December, braving some pretty cold temperatures to help a great cause. Some students even volunteered on Christmas Eve and the night of Christmas Day! |
| EDUCATION |
| Sturgeon Bowl at UW-Milwaukee - A select group of CCC members are chosen to compete in the "Sturgeon Bowl," an academic knowledge competition held at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in February. The students selected learn college-level oceanography after school on their own time, and use the knowledge gained to compete against other schools in a team-based buzz-in format with multiple choice, short answer, and calculation-based questions. In our rookie season, the team took 2nd place in the "silver" division, and we have been competing in the elite "gold" division ever since. |
| Orienteering - Students learn how to use map & compass, and use their new found skills to find hidden targets in a wooded location about a 1/2 hour drive from school. They find "punches" at each location with different designs. They perforate cards with each punch they find to show that they officially located each of the markers. Some groups take longer than others, and anyone who gets lost calls in on a walkie-talkie for assistance. We haven't lost anyone yet! |
| Project CANOE |
| Nature Investigators Elementary Program |
| Whitewater Ecological Footprint Earth Day Conference |
| Timberwolf Preservation Society - Timberwolves in the city? That's right! Just south of Southridge Mall on 76th Street is the sight of a facility dedicated to educating the public about wolves. The volunteers who run the facility have been kind enough to give our group numerous tours of the property, which is home to over a dozen captive wolves which have been raised by TWPS personnel. One of the wolves (who has passed away), "Shy Boy," is the wolf that you oftentimes see on the Wisconsin Endangered Resources license plates. We "adopt" wolves each year with funds from the club...and one of our toughest decisions each year is deciding which ones to sponsor! |
| Milwaukee County Zoo - The zoo is full of opportunities for education, with a variety of activities scheduled year round for CCC members to take part in. Whether attending a presentation about the successes of the reintroduction of Timberwolves in Wisconsin at Wolf Woods, getting a behind-the-scenes tour of Lake Wisconsin in the Aquatic & Reptile Center, or just walking the property for a self-guided tour, students love to see all that the zoo has to offer. The CCC has included the Milwaukee County Zoo in its sponsorship efforts as well, and has contributed to be part of the Timberwolf Pack adoption recently. |
| Mitchell Park Domes - The Domes have been a part of Milwaukee for many years, and part of the CCC's agenda as well. Touring the Domes to see the various fauna and flora of a variety of different ecosystems helps students learn about climatic differences worldwide and how the Temperate Deciduous Forest where we live fits into the global vegetative scheme. We love plants! |
| Trees for Tomorrow - Eagle River - |