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Target Populations Our target population s are : Grades K - 2 whose programs r each approximately 17 50 students; Grade 3 - 5 programs reach ing approximately 19 50 students; Grades 6 - 8 programs that r each approximately 12 50 students; while the Grade 9 - 12 pr ogram reaches (approximately 1,250 students). Our college p rogram reaches between 150 - 250 biology and environmental science students, and the San Luis Valley c ommunity group s with an expected outreach of approximately 4 ,500 people total . Grant Objective Though most of these people (approx . 6 2 %) have grown up in the San Luis Valley very few understand the natural resources that surround them and how they are used and con served to sustain the economic growth of this vital farming area. It is our belief that through continuing education we can impact the level of understanding of the citizenry and thereby augment the decisions of the change makers in our communities. Our goals are to develop educational materials and programs centered on conservation practice s that can be presented to the SLV Community (adults and youth) that include; lead ing conservation activities for youth and adults, develop project learning opportunities, provide assistance to conservation di stricts, facilitate meeting for environmental, conservation and education groups and provide conservation presentations. The objective of the Education program is to teach about real life conservation practices and empower our learners with know ledge so t hat they can be come proactive community members. New and Ongoing Activities The Rio Grande Watershed has maintained the education position for Nineteen years and over that time period has established numerous conservation education programs that include t he following hands - on educational activities : performing snow surveys and water f orecasting ; river and r iparian study center; the 6th Gr ade Conse rvation Poster contest; ground water m odeling; and project l earning. We a ation tours, river studies and water quality trips, organic farm tours, w indbreak and living snow fence p lanting, and the Beaver Creek Junior Natural Resource Conservation Camp. We have maintained our participation level from schools and have created a va lley wide following and community programs are continually sought after for local events. Timetable The education position operates on a year - round basis, we currently have the program divided into four basic sections : I n the s ummer we look at noxious wee ds a nd their control and management; in the autumn , soil and erosion ; winter brings d water forecasting and in the spring of the year we offer rivers and water resources. We offer field tours throughout the year and tailor our presentation s to the needs of the group, we also bring our river trailer and riparian study center to many schools and organizational facilities for presentations. Partner Organizations T he partners for this project will be the five San Luis Valley Conservation Distr icts, those being the Center Conservation District, Conejos Conservation District, Costilla Conservation District, Mosca - Hooper Conservation District and the Rio Grande Conservation District, the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, the San Luis Valley Area Conservation Districts , the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) , Colorado Potato Administrative Committee , San Luis Water Conservancy Distrct and four area County Commissioners (Costilla, Conejos and Saguache and Mineral) .