KU Mobile Natural History Museum will make a splash at Douglas County Water Festival

LAWRENCE — More than 800 fifth-grade students from Douglas County will converge on the Bloomington Park area of Clinton Lake next week for the Douglas County Water Festival.

Make Every Drop Count, set for Sept. 28, is an event where students learn about the importance of water in Kansas, the science of water quality, critical supplies of fresh water, the ecology of aquatic environments and the impact of water throughout the history of Douglas County. Students will be actively engaged in discovery and hands-on science, including at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum's mobile site.

Known as Professor Dyche’s Biodiversity Emporium, the museum is housed in the KU MoCOLAB, a repurposed 1972 Airstream trailer designed by KU students. At the event, specimens on display will highlight connections to water systems, from streams and lakes to the vast ocean. Outside the mobile museum, students will learn about the diversity of fossilized organisms that once lived in the ancient of ocean waters of Kansas by digging for invertebrate fossils and then comparing their finds with known specimens at an identification station.

Presenters will include state and local conservation professionals as well as other University of Kansas students, staff and faculty.

This educational event is a collaborative effort led by the Douglas County Conservation District, funded in part by the Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council, and hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Sponsors of this event include the U.S. Geological Survey, Rural Water District No. 2, Rural Water District No. 5, Douglas County Farm Bureau, Bartlett and West, Kansas Alliance for Wetlands and Streams, and Frontier Farm Credit.

For more information about the event itself, please contact Sue Ann Funk, outreach & education coordinator for the Douglas County Conservation District, at 785-843-4260, Ext. 3, or sue.funk@ks.nacdnet.net. For more information about the mobile museum, please contact Eleanor Gardner, outreach & engagement coordinator for the KU Natural History Museum, at 785-864-2380 or eleanor.gardner@ku.edu.