The District works to provide technical, financial, and educational services to help Hancock County land users conserve soil, water, and related natural resources.

Hancock County Soil & Water Conservation District’s 54^th Annual Meeting

The Hancock County Soil and Water Conservation District’s 54th Annual Meeting was held on March 4, 2008 at the Central Indiana Power Facility. Even with the Ice Storm – we had 55 attendees. Go Green  was our theme for this year – handing out recycled “One Bag at a Time” Bags, http://www.onebagatatime.com and Compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) bulbs to everyone. Door prizes were $10.00 off our tree sale and wildflower seeds.

In Indiana, a Soil and Water Conservation District is a subdivision of state government responsible for soil and water conservation programs within its boundaries. The purposes of the SWCD is to provide information about soil, water, and related natural resource conservation; identify and prioritize local soil and water resource concerns; and connect land users to sources of educational, technical, and financial assistance to implement conservation practices and technologies.

Our current Board of Supervisors are:
Tom Nigh, Chair, Burl Carmichael, Vice-Chair, Junior Burton, Steve Lewis, Ray Helms
and Associate Supervisors are: Jim Cherry, John Moran, Alice Bogemann, Tom Roney, Todd Stephenson

Our Guest Speaker for the evening was Mr.  Greg Wagoner, Wabash Valley: Central Indiana Power and spoke to us about Renewable Resources. Scott Brejcha and Ed Belmonte of V3 Companies gave an update presentation on our Sugar Creek Watershed. The Business meeting agenda consisted of a presentation of the Annual Report including the Annual Financial Report, holding the election of a new SWCD Board Supervisor; with Burl Carmichael winning the election, the presentation of the County MS4 Stormwater Report. Tom Nigh, as the Appointed Supervisor, and Burl Carmichael were sworn in to office by Tara Wesseler Henry, ISDA at the SWCD Monthly Meeting on March 11^th.

4th Grade Students at J.B Stephens Elementary School participated in the GO GREEN Placemat Contest
Conservation Placemats Contest Winners – l to r;
Zach Franklin, Ethan Knoblock, Makayla Troxel, Olivia Madison, Paige Cecil (absent) and Luke Cope.

    

2007 River Friendly Farmer Award presented to Kenny and Jeff Phares by Cindy Newkirk, SWCD.

2007 Conservation Farm Award presented to Tom Tucker of Double T Farms (unable to attend due to the weather)
and Greg Kleiman of Kleiman Farms by Jim Cherry, State Soil Conservation Board.

     

Natural Resource Stewardship Award presented to Susan Bodkin by Tom Nigh, Supervisor.

And our Specialty Award was to be presented to Mary Jo Woodruff, former District Conservationist for 5 years of Excellence Service to the District by Tom Nigh, Supervisor, Chair – Mary Jo was unable to attend due to the weather. She was presented the award at the March 11^th Board Meeting.

In 2004 when the Hancock County Tillage Transect was completed - Hancock County ranked 89th in the State for Corn Percentage of No-Till acres and 73rd in the State for Soybeans Percentage of No-Till acres. 
In 2007 Hancock County Tillage Transect gave us a different picture.
In 2007, we ranked 31st in the State for Corn Percentage and 1st in the State for Soybeans Percentage!!!

The FY 2007 financial summary of obligated contracts for voluntary implementation of conservation practices in Hancock County through 2002 Farm Bill programs attributes to $207,737.72 EQIP and WHIP funds to apply conservation practices which address resource concerns.  Although the technical assistance and conservation planning efforts are more difficult to capture as a monetary format, this summary report documents that the NRCS involvement in the conservation partnership is putting conservation on the land in Hancock County.  The progress summary reported in the NRCS Performance Reporting System (PRS) includes:

3347 acres Conservation Plans written for Cropland
            363 acres Conservation Plans written for grazing land
            129 acres Land Treated for Fish and Wildlife Habitat
            3206 acres Cropland with conservation applied to address soil quality
            3303 acres of land with conservation applied to address water quality

Hopefully, land owners will continue to take advantage of these partnering efforts and stop in at the USDA Greenfield Service Center to discuss the development of a conservation plan for their land that addresses resource concerns and protects all natural resources.  We look forward to the New Farm Bill programs, visit the Indiana NRCS website at: www.in.nrcs.usda.gov/ for more information or visit our office at: USDA Service Center, 1101 W. Main St., Greenfield, IN  46140.  317/462-2283 ext. 3.                              

NRCS Statewide Conservation Accomplishments:
Completed thanks to the close working relationship with partnership employees & agencies

☼  Wrote conservation plans for over 300,000 acres

☼  Applied conservation on over 391,000 acres of cropland to improve soil quality

☼  Applied conservation on over 441,000 acres to improve water quality

☼  Applied conservation on almost 48,000 acres of grazing and forest land

☼  Applied almost 69,000 acres of conservation on non-federal land to  improve fish and wildlife habitat quality

☼  Created, restored or enhanced almost 6,000 acres of wetlands

☼  Put 49 additional Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans in place

☼  Applied over 55 new Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans

☼  7,540 conservation practices applied to the land

Conservation For You!

2008 Upcoming Meeting and Workshop Dates

January 8	11:00 AM	Board Meeting
February 12	11:00 AM	Board Meeting
March 4	6:00 PM	Annual Meeting
March 4 and 5		AG Day Festival
March 11	7:30 PM	Board Meeting
April 8	4:00 PM	Sugar Creek Meeting
April 12		Burn Day
April  15	7:30 PM	Board Meeting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         Webmaster: Cindy Beckner-Newkirk    cindy.beckner@in.nacdnet.net

"As you drink the water, remember the stream from which it flowed" ~ Charles Dickens

   Since August 2003

Send mail to cindy.beckner@in.nacdnet.net  with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: 05/01/08