In June 2022, the Valencia Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) in New Mexico hosted a Farm to Table Camp –  a week-long summer camp for 22 youth in the district. Planned and implemented with the help of a 2022 Friends of NACD District Grant, the camp introduced participants to the principles of soil health, regenerative agriculture, and nutrition. Each day’s activities presented a different perspective to answer the question, “Where does our food come from, and how can we grow our own food to better our health and ecosystem?”

Activities were designed to provide campers hands on experience with soil and food to teach them how their meals get to their plates. By getting their hands in the dirt with local farmers, the campers got a chance to see the whole picture. They were taught how to create healthy gardens at home, educate others about the importance of taking care of our ecosystem, and how growing healthy food leads to a healthy lifestyle.

The camp helped Valencia SWCD cultivate and leverage partnerships with community organizations and experts and provided the conservation district with a platform to tell the story of the important work the Valencia SWCD does.

Read more about this project in this blog post, and consider becoming a Friend of NACD today to help provide grant opportunities like this to conservation districts around the country! 

LOUSIANA HOSTS

NACD SOUTH CENTRAL

REGION MEETING 

The Louisiana Association of Conservation Districts hosted the NACD South Central Region Meeting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana from August 28-30, 2022. Over 120 producers, district directors, employees, and NRCS staff were in attendance from Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.

A keynote was given by Ag Commissioner Mike Strain of the Louisiana Department of Ag and Forestry highlighting the status of agriculture in the state. NACD Secretary Treasurer Gary Blair and South Central Region Representative Wesley Gibson also updated attendees on the upcoming opportunities available through NACD as well as a summary of last year’s successes and challenges. James E. Tillman, Sr. of NRCS also gave an update to the region of NRCS’s expectations for the following year and encouraged attendees to continue leading conservation at the local level.

The agenda included topics such as the Ducks Unlimited Rice Stewardship program, the Red River Compact, and a state by state overview of individual planning and implementation progress of feral swine control.

During the meeting awards and scholarships were also awarded, including the private Landowner Conservation Champion Award to Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Kieffer for their outstanding conservation management of their pine savannah tract in Louisiana. The South Central Region Auxiliary and Oklahoma Association of Conservation District Auxiliary scholarships were awarded to Kaylee Taylor of Guthrie, Oklahoma. The scholarship will support this class valedictorian as she continues to contribute to agriculture through her pursuit of higher education at Oklahoma State University.

For more information about the happenings of NACD's South Central region, visit our website.

UPPER ELK CREEK DAM IN OKLAHOMA REDEDICATED

On August 24, 2022, conservation partners were brought together for the rededication of the Upper Elk Creek Dam 23D near Elk City, OK. Among the officials participating in the service and site visit included U.S. Congressman Frank Lucas, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Chief Terry Cosby, Oklahoma Conservation Commission Executive Director Trey Lam, NRCS State Conservationist Gary O’Neill, NRCS Oklahoma State Conservation Engineer Chris Stoner, newly elected State Representative Nick Archer and Watershed project sponsor, North Fork of Red River Conservation District. NACD Director of Education Keith Owen and NACD South Central Region Representative Wesley Gibson were also present to represent NACD and support the re-dedication.

Constructed in 1976 at a cost of $102,401 and classified as a significant hazard dam, the Upper Elk Creek Damn is now a high hazard dam. An increase in risk of loss of life and property damage due to a potential breach of the dam during an extreme flood event is the reason site 23D has recently undergone this rehabilitation. This flood control dam is located east of Elk City, OK and provides an estimated $1 million dollars per year of benefit for downstream farms, homes, and infrastructure. Highway 40 runs downstream of the structure and is traveled by nearly 14,000 people per day. If not for the maintenance of this structure that infrastructure would be at risk.

“The thing we do today is we complete a commitment to extend the life of these important structures, not just by 50 years, the initial plan, but I personally believe with the change in the materials we are using, the design technology adjustments the upstream sediment control programs that we use in many places, these structures should last a century," said Congressman Lucas. 

Oklahoma has 2,107 flood control structures, the most of any state in the nation, that enumerate to about $2 billion in infrastructure. A structure like Upper Elk Creek Dam costs about $4 million to rehab but contributes to a combined benefit of $96 million yearly from these structures across the state. These flood control structures protect 2,756 bridges, reduce flooding of 41,744 farms and ranches, trap 19 million tons of sediment each year, and enhance 90,979 acres of wetlands, as well as water for livestock, irrigation, and wildlife habitat. Of the 2,107 structures in the state, 42 of them are multipurpose, meaning they provide municipal and rural water supplies and recreational areas for local communities. 

Jeff Rice is a Soil Health Champion from Utica, KY. After graduating from Western Kentucky University, Rice worked at a variety of agri-businesses such as manager and certified crop advisor for USS Agrichem, ICI Americas, and Miles Farm Supply/Big Rivers Ag Companies. But in 2010, Rice began his family business Rice Agri-Marketing which serves Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee growers. Rice Agri-Marketing sells NuTech/Stewart/Partners brands of corn, beans, wheat, canola, and cover crop seed; is a Premier Precision Planting Dealer; and offers processor marketing and production/genetics research plots and recommendations.

Rice isn’t just a businessman, he’s also a farmer. He and his wife farm 518 acres of mostly row crops which include corn, soybeans, wheat, and canola. Rice has always been passionate about agriculture and caring for the land, so when he first bought his farm in the late 1980s, he quickly realized he needed to make conservation a priority or the land, water and other natural resources wouldn’t be around for future generations.

From the beginning, Rice’s operation was 100 percent no-till, but he employs additional conservation practices in his operation such as cover crops, grass waterways, filter strips, water drop structures, and more. The addition of these practices have helped Rice to see higher organic matter in his soil, better drainage in his soil, higher yields, and greater profits. Rice says it’s also a bonus that these practices have saved him time, cut his expenses, enhanced wildlife habitat on his operation and improved the farm’s long-term sustainability.

At the encouragement of his father and other conservation leaders, Rice became involved with his local conservation district and NACD. To date, he has served as vice president and president of the Kentucky Association of Conservation Districts (KACD), the NACD board member for Kentucky, and currently serves on the Daviess County Conservation District Board – advocating for locally-led conservation at all levels.

For more information on Jeff Rice and his operation, please visit the NACD website to read his Soil Health Champion profile. And if you or someone you know would like to become an NACD Soil Health Champion, please contact Beth Mason at beth-mason@nacdnet.org or visit the NACD website for more information.