PHOTO BY JOHN FRYMAN/ THE VILLAGE REPORTER
PRESENTING REPORT … Williams County Soil and Water Conservation District data entry specialist Emily Miller (above) reported on the soil testing and crop rotation being done at the board meeting on Thursday, February 12.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
The Williams County Soil and Water Conservation District held its monthly board meeting on Thursday, February 12.
Board chairman Ed Nickolite called the meeting to order, followed by the approval of the meeting minutes, financial report, and payment of bills for January.
Outreach and Education Coordinator Anne Marie Michaels requested to offer two scholarships for two Williams County high school students (grades 9-12) to attend Ohio Camp Canopy at Camp Muskingum, located in Carroll County, from June 7-12.
The camp is sponsored by the Ohio Forestry Association. The purpose of the camp is to give high school students an opportunity to attend a forestry camp and learn about forestry, habitat, and wildlife.
Michaels told the board the camp fee is $500 per camper for early bird registration through the end of May. Otherwise, the cost of the camp is $550.
In addition to the scholarship offer, Michaels recommended each applicant email a 100-word essay to her stating why they would like to attend camp, along with the early bird registration turned in.
She requested to offer the two scholarships totaling $850. The board then approved the request for scholarship funding.
The district entered into a memorandum of understanding agreement with the Ohio Department of Agriculture Division of Soil and Water Conservation to implement the Department of Agriculture Pollution Abatement Program.
Its purpose is to assist the Ohio Department of Agriculture with the implementation of the program on a local level.
This will provide landowners, farm operators, and other parties with program information, technical assistance, advice, or expertise on management measures and conservation practices needed to achieve compliance with the APAP rules and standards.
District technician Emily Miller reported she had multiple people coming to her office, giving her the paperwork from their cover crops and manure reports.
Miller noted there have been 81 people who had their soil test and crop rotation done in their contract.
She also assisted with the recent manure workshop and went on a manure call with office staff on February 11.
District technician Matt Buchhop reported that he submitted final reports for both outstanding EPA grants, which are due on March 6.
He also received project sign quotes from Three Cord for nine signs (2 x 2 feet) at a cost of $40 each. The signs are used for SWCD project sites and will be paid for by one of the grants.
Buchhop recently met with a landowner about a proposed wetland that has been in the works for a while. He is hoping to set up a site visit sometime in March through the H2Ohio Wetlands Project.
He also received a couple of manure-related complaints regarding applications. They were both done as correctly as they can be done.
The recent Fulton and Williams County SWCD manure meeting held January 29 attracted 55 people. He recommended that Defiance and Henry County be involved in future meetings.
District technician Tamathy Stage reported that she recently attended the SWCD annual partnership meeting in Columbus.
Stage told the board she has registered for the Technician Development Program for online courses. The program is relevant to the job position or qualified field experience she already has.
Regarding the upcoming tree sales in March, Stage said that she’s continuing to obtain quotes and estimates for tree guard set components. She is also starting to accept orders from tree sales.
She is also working on a Clean Ohio grant for which she is requesting more data.
The board approved her attendance at the Wildlife Management Institute Annual Conference in Columbus on March 29-April 3.
Technician Steve Slattman reported that he’s talked to a few producers regarding H2Ohio. He and Miller have been doing the bulk of H2Ohio contracts and entering data in My Farms.
Slattman added that he’s checked out a couple of manure complaints with other office staff members. He also reported that he ordered a toolbox for the Great Plains drill. The drill has already arrived and needs to be installed.
In her Outdoor and Education report, Michaels recently gave two soil programs to Edgerton sixth graders.
She reminded the board of the upcoming Habitat Conservation Workshops. The first session will be on Thursday, February 19, with Craig Bonner, Division of Wildlife, on conservation on private lands.
The second workshop, on habitat tree planting and maintenance, is on Thursday, March 12, with Ed Nickolite and Tamathy Stage doing the presentation.
Letters have been sent to Williams County schools regarding Maple Syrup Education Day on Thursday, March 5. Michaels said there will be 319 students attending, along with a homeschool family with eight students attending.
Michaels will be doing a presentation in conjunction with Kayla Wyse of OSU Extension on Monday, February 23 at Northwest State. Her topic is what Soil and Water Conservation Districts do and her job role.
She noted the Williams County Health Department is hosting landowner septic meetings on Saturday, February 21 at 8:30 a.m. and on Thursday, February 26 at 9:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Michaels added that OSU Extension is hosting an animal mortality composting certification class on Thursday, February 24 at 6 p.m. at the extension office in Bryan.
She requested that the board provide financial support to provide a meal for the meeting. The board then approved $500 for the meal.
Planning is underway for the Tri-County Field Day to be held on Thursday, August 20 in Waldron, Michigan. It will involve Fulton and Williams Counties in Ohio and Hillsdale County, Michigan.
The board was reminded of the upcoming Northwest Ohio Ag Expo to be held at the Henry County Fairgrounds in Napoleon on March 6 at no cost.
Board member Bob Short recently noticed that the lighting in the canopy area of the SWCD building needed to be replaced. He suggested getting an estimate to improve it.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday, March 17 at 8 a.m.