The Austin Izaak Walton League will host a hog roast fundraiser at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Izaak Walton Cabin at Todd Park in Austin.

The menu includes heaping pulled pork sandwiches, and Piggy Blues will be cooking a whole hog on-site at the Izaak Walton League Cabin. Other items will include Sweet Corn from Honey Tree Farms. The event is open to the public, and tickets are $12 at the door.

Proceeds from the Hog Roast will benefit the Wetbugs Program, an environmental program that takes place at Ellis Middle School and the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center.

This will be the 21st year that Chapter 10 has supported the Wetbugs Program. Dr. Dean Hanson, an aquatic entomologist from Stillwater, brings his live wetbugs to the classroom. The wetbugs include mayflies, stoneflies, caddis flies, 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 will indicate the water quality of that stream.

About 300 seventh-grade students at Ellis will be involved in this two-day program in September, with Hanson’s presentation being given eleven separate times.

This is all part of the curriculum that helps the students understand the biology of a stream and the impact of non-point source and point source pollution.

This year, Austin Chapter 10 will contribute $900 and the Austin Public School District will contribute $400 toward Hanson’s presentations.