More than 150 Lewis County fifth-grade students attended the inaugural Jackson's Mill Water Festival on Tuesday, September 15, according to WVU Jackson's Mill's official event report.
The school-participant program was organized through West Virginia Project WET. Students rotated through seven hands-on stations addressing aquatic organisms, water movement, acid rain, watershed models, trout and invasive species. WVU Jackson's Mill said the lessons were designed to connect water-resource and conservation concepts with streams, rivers and watersheds familiar to the students.
Staff and volunteers from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, West Virginia Forestry, the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, the Youth Environmental Program, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Capitol Conservation District, Stewards Individual Placements and WVU Extension helped lead the activities.
Earlier reporting placed the program from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at WVU Jackson's Mill. The official Jackson's Mill post confirms that it occurred and calls it an inaugural program that organizers hope to continue annually. That statement is not a confirmed date or public invitation for a future festival.
The reviewed sources identify this as a program for participating Lewis County fifth graders; they do not establish general-public attendance or registration.