<p class="LgBody style178" style="text-align:justify; margin-bottom: 0;">Children turning a leaf, roaming through the woods, swimming with critters, learning how animals survive in the forest, how water ecology plays an important role on fish species are essential for a child’s development. The positive effects of involvement with nature can form a foundation for environmental stewardship.</p>
<p class="LgBody style178" style="text-align:justify;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;">The goal of the Big Sandy Water Institute program is to be purposeful and intentional; byovercoming some of children's barriers to nature such as overly structured children's time and excessive indoor electronic distracions. Offering environmental education programs will provide and can help inspire a societal shift in the cultural and behavioral patterns that isolate children from nature.</p>
<p align="justify" class="LgBody style178" style="margin-top: 0;">Youth need to learn the importance of being stewards of their own environment in which they live. Programs that focus on those needs and the impact it has on our environment will ensure future sustainability and enjoyment of our natural resources. Spending time helping youth become more mindful of the earth and in touch with nature will create behavior shifts in children. Recent studies prove the earlier children have exposure and are connected with nature the better they will be in terms of commitment and understanding. With this in mind Big Sandy Water Institute provides year round educational programs enabling students to learn experiential; giving them access to the abundant resources that surround them. What makes this hands-on learning approach that gives students an educational/recreational experience so successful in McGregor? The well established and sustained partnerships between McGregor Community Education and the Army Corps of Engineers, Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Minnesota DNR - Conservation and Fisheries, Savanna Portage State Park, Long Lake Conservation Center, Aitkin County Forestry Department, Big Sandy Area Lake Watershed Management Project and Aitkin County Water Planning Task Force.</p>
<p align="justify" class="SmBody style178" style="margin-bottom: 0;">"That in the end we will only conserve what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught." </p>
