Pend Oreille Water Festival

Celebrating 28 years!

An adult and children engaged in an educational activity with a watering can and materials on a table.

Outdoor Educational Event for the fifth grade students of Bonner County

2024 Pend Oreille Water Festival

The Pend Oreille Water Festival is an annual, comprehensive, hands-on, environmental education program for all fifth grade students in Bonner County, Idaho. The Water Festival includes an interactive in-class lesson presented by natural resource professionals followed by an Outdoor Field Trip.

The 2024 Water Festival Field Trip will be held at Riley Creek Campground in Laclede on Wednesday and Thursday, May 15th and 16th.

In-Class Natural Resource Education

A hand making ink prints and writing on fabric, surrounded by ink pads and print blocks. — Animal Prints

From late March through April, a natural resource professional will visit each classroom where students will view their watershed on a colorful 10’ X 10’ floor map and learn about concepts that they will explore in greater detail at the Water Festival Field Trip.

Outdoor Field Trip

Approximately 400 fifth graders (about 200 each day) from 15 public and private schools will engage with experts in their field and Sandpoint High School student mentors in multi-disciplinary activities that focus on our most precious resource- Water and the Clark Fork-Pend Oreille Watershed. Students will have the opportunity to touch, see, hear and creatively think about the dynamic world around them as they rotate through five different, inter-active, instructional stations: Fisheries, Watersheds, Water Quality, Animal Tracks, and Fur Trapping Era.

Our Sponsors!

A uniformed officer showing a fish to children with educational materials in the background.

We would like to give a big thank you to the businesses, agencies, and individuals who have supported the Water Festival over the years. Contributions are invaluable in keeping the Water Festival as a mainstay in the curriculum of our area's fifth-graders.

Thank you to 2023 Sponsors!

Please help support the Water Festival by sending your tax-deductible donation to:

Donation Form!

People inside a tent structure participating in an activity, with nature visible in the background.

Pend Oreille Water Festival
c/o Bonner SWCD
1224 Washington Ave., Ste. 101
Sandpoint, ID 83864

If you have any questions please contact:

Gail Bolin, Festival Coordinator
waterfestival.bonner@gmail.com
Phone: 208-627-3292

Website Accessibility Policy

Bonner Soil & Water Conservation District is fully committed to providing accessible facilities, elements and channels of communication to all members of the public. As part of this commitment, Bonner Soil & Water Conservation District has a policy of providing an accessible website compatible with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) and commercial screen reading software. All features of the website are coded to allow individuals with vision and other impairments to understand and use the website to the same degree as someone without disabilities. We welcome feedback and can often resolve issues in a timely manner if they arise.

If you need any special assistance or accommodations:

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Ongoing Compliance Information

Compliance Officer

Bonner Soil & Water Conservation District has designated a compliance officer for website disability-related accommodations. The compliance officer has received training in website accessibility and updates the site in accordance with those best practices. Contact our accessibility officer to report an issue.

Compliance Procedures and Reports

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