To help support environmental programming, the Izaak Walton League will be hosting a hog roast fundraiser on Wednesday.

The hog roast will be held on Sept. 12 at 5:30 p.m. at the Izaak Walton Cabin in Todd Park. The proceeds from the hog roast benefits the “Wetbugs Program” which takes place at Ellis Middle School and the Hormel Nature Center. This will be the 23rd year that Chapter 10 would be supporting the program.

Menu items include pulled pork sandwiches from Piggy Blues, all-you-can-eat sweet corn from Honey Tree Farms and cole slaw and apple crisp from Super Fresh Produce. The event is open to the public and tickets are $12 and available at the door.

Dean Hanson, an aquatic entomologist from Stillwater, brings his live wetbugs to the classroom, which include: mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies, hellgrammites, damsel flies, and mosquito hawks. This provides students hands-on identification before their field trip to the stream. The ability of a stream to support these insects indicate water quality of the stream.

Around 300 seventh graders from Ellis will be involved in the two-day program in September, with Hanson’s presentation being given eleven separate times as part of the curriculum that helps students understand biology of a stream, and the impact of non-point source and point source pollution.

This year, Austin Chapter 10 will contribute $1,000 and the the Austin Public School District will contribute $400 toward Hanson’s presentations.