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6th Annual Women’s Ag Night On April 14th, 2007 the Emmons County Soil Conservation District held its 6th Annual Women’s Ag Night in Strasburg. This year 221 women showed up to take part in the evenings festivities. The Emmons County Soil Conservation District started implementing this program six years ago to show appreciation to all of those farm wives that have helped support and foster agriculture in our county. This year’s keynote speaker was Polly Vander Vorst from Trail City, SD. Polly has done various speaking events were she is able to show off her talent of cowboy poetry pertaining to the everyday lives country women face while working on their ranches. Her trailer for the evening was speaking on “spending her time testing her husbands patience and endangering his life.” The meal consisted of baked chicken with a rice pilaf and glazed baby carrots which were prepared by Ross Leier and Geraldine Goldade. The Emmons County Soil Conservation also provided gift baskets throughout the evening from “A Touch of Honey” a local honey business owned by Christy LLerenas that just recently opened in Linton.
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PARTNERSHIPS FOR CONSERVATION |
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January-April 07 |
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Project Trees Program Traveling across the state this past year found Tom Gibson presenting conservation education programs to area schools. This marks the 17th year of providing educational programs to schools. This year Tom Gibson presented programs in the Strasburg, Linton, and Hazelton School Districts on April 3rd, 2007. The schools are given a variety of programs to choose from that Tom will perform to students in grades K-6. The programs
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PDA’S Producer Grants A new recorded keeping grant has been awarded the district for the use of PDA’s to local farmers who are interested in this product. The PDA program is being used to heighten the awareness of technology and for methods to address the BMP’s of a producers farming operation. For information contact Rhonda at 254-4653 Ext. 3. Miscellaneous Ag Calculations Grazing Records Cropland Spreadsheet Cow-Calf Spreadsheet |
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Soil Stewardship Week The Emmons County Soil Conservation District encourages you to think about your personal responsibility to be a good steward of natural resources, including energy during its annual Stewardship week celebration. The National Association of Soil Conservation Districts (NACD) has proclaimed April 29th to May 6th, 2007 as Stewardship Week with the theme Conservation’s Power. Think about the energy you use everyday. Does it come from renewable or nonrenewable energy sources? Over 92% of energy used today comes from nonrenewable resources such as petroleum, natural gas, coal, and uranium. Only a small fraction of the energy we use comes from renewable sources? Ask yourself this question, “Is this good stewardship?” What can we do? Take the time to learn about energy efficiency (using less energy to perform the same function), energy conservation, and renewable energy. Then put what you learn into practice. Efficiency and conservation are key components of energy sustainability. Simply, put we need to meet today’s energy needs while allowing our children to meet tomorrow’s. The Emmons County Soil Conservation District is a member of the National Association of Conservation Districts (www.nacdnet.org) which oversees the Stewardship Week program. Stewardship Week is one of the largest national annual programs to promote conservation. NACD represents the nations 3,000 conservation districts, which were established to encourage resource conservation across the country. “Conservation district leaders have been involved in these issues for a very long time,” said NACD President Bill Wilson. “We’re excited to see the general public’s support and enthusiasm growing for renewable sources of energy. Educating our youth and community about conservation and energy today will result in a more educated and conscientious consumer tomorrow.” The Emmons County Soil Conservation District has provided complimentary soil stewardship materials to the community churches where they can observe this important theme of “Conservation’s Power” during the week of April 29th to May 6th. Working together through various organizations, churches, and schools you can be a part of “Conservation’s Power.”
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Celebrating Earth Day Awareness Earth Day Awareness was observed April 16 through April 22 in the local communities. This year a placemat activity was done by students in the Strasburg, Hazelton, and Linton Schools in grades K-6. Each of the students were asked to design a placemat with an Earth Day activity on them. Upon completion the placemats were placed in local restaurants for them to use during the Earth Day Week Awareness. The students from Linton had theirs placed at Sister’s Restaurant, Strasburg showcased theirs at Sheila’s County Café, while the students at Hazelton had theirs placed at Big Joe’s. We hope this activity increased the awareness for the need to REDUCE, RECYCLE, & REUSE. The students each received complimentary water bottles after the project from the district.
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The Soil Survey information is now on the web. You may access With the WSS it allows one to define an area of interest, view, and print reports, and then explore soil information desired from the area identified. For more information regarding the Web Soil Survey, contact your local NRCS field office. |
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Beaver Creek Watershed On February 23rd , 2007 the Beaver Creek Watershed held an informational AFO-CAFO meeting to address some of the key issues and deadlines some producers may be facing with their operations. Speakers that were down included: Karl Rockeman-Animal Feeding Coordinator from the ND Dept of Health, Teresa Dvorak-NDSU Extension Specialist on Livestock Nutrient Management, Scott Ressler-ND Stockman’s Association, and Doug Bichler –NDSU Agent with an Ag Waste System under construction. If any producer has any questions regarding the AFO-CAFO rules please feel free to contact the office. This May, the directors of the Beaver Creek Watershed Project decided to expand the Project’s Priority area from 1 mile to 5 miles. This means that land located within 5 miles of Beaver Creek and it’s main tributaries will now be considered for cost-share contracts under the watershed project. These main tributaries are the South Branch Beaver Creek, Clear Creek, Spring Creek, and Sand Creek. This priority area had formerly been set at a 1 mile concentrate on producers and land units that were in direct contact with the water. With fewer producers from that area now coming in to sign up for |
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Options for Expiring CRP Acres and Compliance with the Food Security Act Erin Busscher – District Conservationist NRCS If you have a Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contract set to expire in 2007, now is the time to plan for the future of those acres! With high corn prices, you may believe that bringing those acres back into crop production is the best option. This may or may not be the case. I encourage you to explore all of your options for these acres and consider the potential limitations those acres may have. Compliance with the Food Security Act and the Highly Erodible Land (HEL) provisions in that act is particularly important. Options for Expiring CRP Acres: Maintain the existing grass stand and utilize the acreage as hay land or grazing land. This option may be the most economical way to use these acres, especially if you utilize existing cost share programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to add fences or livestock water developments. This option works well for producers that have an existing grazing system. Manage or enhance the acres for wildlife. Cost share programs like the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) can provide dollars to enhance these areas for wildlife purposes. Your local NRCS office or Emmons County SCD employees can assist you with developing a plan for these acres and provide you with recommendations to enhance these acres for wildlife. Return the acreage to crop production. Bringing a field back into crop production that has been in grass for many years can be costly. High fuel costs and high fertilizer costs are a consideration. It is also important to understand that CRP acreage may have soils that are not ideal for row crop production and the crop yields from these fields may be less than what you expect. Compliance with the Food Security Act and the Highly Erodible Land (HEL) Provisions: Land that has been enrolled in CRP for ten years, fifteen years, or more may have changed hands over the years. The current landowner or operator may not know what is required for compliance with the Food Security Act if these acres are returned to crop production. Now is the time to review existing conservation plans on acres coming out of CRP to avoid future compliance issues! Before land was enrolled into CRP, a conservation plan was written for those acres if the land was considered Highly Erodible Land (HEL). Once these acres come out of CRP, it is important to remember that if these acres are returned to crop production, the landowner(s) and/or operators are required to follow a conservation plan to remain in compliance. These conservation plans require specific crop rotations and a minimum amount of crop residue that is needed to prevent excessive soil erosion from water and wind. |
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Tree Planting Season The Emmons County Soil Conservation has completed its tree planting season and have concluded with their surplus handplant day. With the adequate rain we have received and at the right time we are hoping the little seedlings will flourish this year. It is important to maintain proper weed control and watch the fabric openings as the seedlings take on new growth. If any landowners are interested in planting in 2008 please notify the office to see what your options maybe, many plantings can received cost share assistance is applications are written early enough for funding allocations. Feel free to call or stop in and talk to Scott Kelsch at 254-4653 Ext. 3 |
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STAFF AND BOARD OF SUPEVISORS
Erin Busscher– District Conservationist Brian Leier—Chairman Jamie Palczewski—Soil Conservationist Leo Kiefer—Vice Chairman Dave Jangula-NRCS Technician James Vander Vorst—Treasurer Rhonda Vetsch– Secretary Glenn McCrory—Supervisor Scott Kelsch—District Technician Rodney Grenz—Supervisor Ben Erickson—Watershed Coordinator |
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Informational Meetings The Emmons County Soil Conservation District held once again their annual No-Till meetings. One meeting was held in conjunction with the Crop Improvement Association where Jon Stika, NRCS Area Agronomist spoke on the importance of choosing the proper crop rotations in your farming operation. Another meeting was held on March 26th, 2007 at the Kem Electric Building where a round table discussion was had on the 2006 crop season. Here producers have a chance to learn from each other while they discussed the crops they raised, how they turned out, what they see for next year, and how they handled the drought situation last year. Connie, Sova was also down from the ND Farmers Union to discuss the Carbon Credit Program that is being promoted. Connie spoke on the sign up process and why the Carbon Credit Program has been implemented. More information can be obtained from there website at www.ndfu.org. The district this year has also provided financial assistance to several producers to the SD Down Under No-Till Conference in Huron and the ND-Mandak No-Till Meeting which was held in Canada.
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“The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD).
To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.” |
