How Can Our Office Help You?

The Flathead Reservation Extension Office offers youth education in nutrition, food safety, horticulture, agriculture, natural resources, riparian education, and business education! If you would like to arrange an educational presentation for your small group or classroom, please contact our office.

Afterschool 4-H

Logo with a green clover that says Afterschool 4-H Extraordinary Learning Opportunities

We offer Afterschool 4-H in schools around the Flathead Reservation. Children participating in Afterschool 4-H enjoy lessons exploring diferent agricultural products such as dairy, fiber, meat, grains, and produce. Projects may include making playdough, cheese, paper, food products, and even plastic made from corn!

To bring Afterschool 4-H to your school, contact our office.

Riparian Education: River Honoring

a group of students peer into a truck bed next to two teepees during the River HonoringIn the spring, CSKT holds the annual River Honoring where 4th & 5th grade students from inside and outside the Flathead Indian Reservation gather to learn about the history and personal connection of the people with the Flathead River. Youth also learn about a variety of other environmental, health, and cultural topics during the two day event at different stations.

At the Flathead Reservation Extension station, students learn about the water cycle, stream and bank zone vegetation function, fish and wildlife habitat, and livestock and crop production in riparian areas. Using a riparian/erosion trailer as a teaching tool, students compare a well vegetated stream bank to a stream bank lacking in vegetation, and they witness erosion in progress. Students eagerly accept the challenge to create a healthy meandering stream with vegetation along the banks.

Weed Education - Binger Ranch

Lake County Conservation annually holds 4th Grade Ag Days at the Binger Ranch outside Polson where our Extension Agent, Rene explains the history of weeds on the Reservation, what makes a weed a "noxious weed", how weeds continue to expand their territory, and how we can control weeds through integrated weed management strategies. Students learn how each of them have the ability to reduce weed spread simply by understanding how seeds move from one place to another on items like fishing waders, shoelaces, and ATV equipment.

Ag & Dairy Education - Schrock Dairy

For the past few years, our office has been part of the 7th Grade student field trips to Schrock Diary in St. Ignatius. Students learn about land use management from a global, regional, and local perspective, and have the opportunity to calculate AUMs (animal units per month) on weedy versus weed free pastures and make land use decisions. The students may also learn about the process of making cheese at the dairy.

Natural Resource Immersion Activities

Students hike along a trailOccasionally we receive calls from local schools to assist with workshops, field trips, and other educational venues. For example, in spring 2008, our agent spent an afternoon in the classroom with 1st grade students followed by a hike in the wilderness the next day. Students learned to identify flowers, grasses, shrubs and trees. They studied mosses, lichens, and talked about decomposition in a climax community of Western Red Cedar trees.