Education Fund

The mission of the Whiteside County Soil & Water Education Fund is to provide educational programs that encourage conservation of the environment while raising environmental awareness in the minds of everyone.  The Whiteside County Soil and Water Conservation District is actively involved in educating the public, teachers, and students K-12 regarding the conservation of natural resources.  We provide workshops, seminars, field trips, contests, teacher grants, and classroom activities.  If your school or group is interested in any of our educational support please contact our office at 815.772.2124 ext 3 or whitesidecountyswcd@hotmail.com  

     The Whiteside County Soil and Water Conservation Education Fund is in the very beginning stages of planning the: Whiteside County Conservation Education Center. The location of the Education Center and prairie will be the Northwest corner of Whiteside County.  

     The benefits of the center will include: tours, field trips, a nursery for propagation of Illinois native and rare plant species, workshops/seminars, prairie acreage with hands-on experience of on-site prairie management and more. 

     The mission of the center is: To provide a public facility welcoming individuals and groups to promote research, education and inspiration regarding the importance of conservation and restoration of the environment. 

     The facility will be solely operated on donations and this will not become a reality without the support of the public. In addition to assets already pledged, we hope to establish a $5 million endowment fund, for future operating costs of the facility. If you would like to offer a donation to help our dream become a reality, but have questions before doing so, we are more than happy to meet with you one on one or have a phone conversation to discuss this. Donations may be tax deductible as we are a 501(c)(3), Non-Profit organization, but please check with your tax advisor before making your donation. Donations may be sent to: Whiteside County SWCD Education Fund - 400 Wilkens Drive, Morrison, IL 61270. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at 815-772-2124 ext. 3. 

Please see below for the Conservation Education Center Logo Contest rules and guidelines.                                                            

The Whiteside County Soil & Water Conservation District’s Education Program is sponsoring an education grant available to all schools in Whiteside County, grade levels Pre-K through 12th. Below is the criteria/process to follow:  

Grant Criteria:   

1. Grant requests are to promote and support natural resource or environmental education. 
2. Grant funding requests may include, but are not limited to: tools, books, software, lab equipment, and field trips. Costs of development of natural resource areas will be considered, such as: a wildlife habitat garden, nature trail, or prairie site. 
3. Previous recipients of SWCD grants do qualify for this educational funding. 
4. Grantees are required to submit a follow-up report to the Whiteside County SWCD’s Education Program Board within 3 months of receiving the grant money or notification if the money is not used within that time period. 

Proposal Format:  Typed, double spaced, single sided 8-1/2” x 11” stationary. 

Proposal Content:  Outline of Age-Level Activity or Purchase, Learning Objectives, Dates of Funding Use, Grade Level, Total # of Students and Budget. 

Please send grant requests to: 

Whiteside SWCD Education Program 

Attention: Education Coordinator     

400 Wilkens Drive     

Morrison, IL 61270  

The Whiteside County Soil & Water Conservation District reserves the right to reject applications.

Past projects for the Education Fund include: 

• Beehive at the Andresen Nature Center in Fulton, IL
• An educational Butterfly Garden at the Whiteside County Fairgrounds
• Instructional technology equipment for River Bend School District. 
• Provided funding for a private school's field trip to the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque, IA
• Provided a taxidermy grant to the Andresen Nature Center in Fulton, IL
• Provided several education grants for numerous school projects in the county 
• Other varieties of activities funded by the Education Fund are: Kindergarten coloring contest, 1st grade Native flower bulbs, 2nd grade Circle of Life Bracelets, 3rd grade Native Dogwood shrubs, 4th grade's Conservation day in Savanna IL, 9-12th grades annual Envirothon, and all grades are offered a poster and photo contest. If there are any other activities, programs, etc. that you would like to see offered, please contact us.  

You can email whitesidecountyswcd@hotmail.com, phone 815-772-2124 ext 3 or just stop by the office.                                                          

The SWCD / WQUD-FM 107.7FM / KROS 1340AM-105.9FM Radio Shows

Our radio shows are on WQUD Vintage Radio, 107.7-FM, Erie IL., hosted by Aaron Dail of WQUD Vintage Radio and Meghan Pettit of the SWCD and also KROS 1340AM/105.9FM, Clinton IA, hosted by Greg Naftzger and Meghan Pettit of the SWCD. These radio shows are a way for our office to educate the public about different conservation subjects. If you have a subject that you would like to hear, please let our office know and listen to our shows on the radio.

If you have any questions during the shows please call in. The contact info for WQUD 107.7FM is 1-309-659-7608, website is www.wqudfm.com, and their Facebook page is WQUD 107.7 Vintage Radio. The contact info for KROS 1390AM/105.9FM is 1-563-242-1252, fax –563-242-4825, email contactus@krosradio.com and the website is www.krosradio.com  

The Radio Show is also made possible by you, the listeners, by sending in donations to cover the cost of the show. If you would like to help out and send in a donation to help keep the show alive, please feel free to do so. You may mail your donations to: WCSWCD 400 Wilkens Drive, Morrison, IL 61270 or feel free to stop in the office Monday through Friday 7:30am - 4:00pm. Thank you.

WQUD radio show will be held the 1st Monday of each month at 2:00pm, unless other wise noted. KROS radio show will be held the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 9:15am, unless other wise noted. 

The Whiteside County Soil & Water Education Foundation is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization and accepts donations.  Your generous gift may be tax deductible.