Gibson County Soil & Water, January 2015

The 68th Annual

Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2015 • 6:00 p.m.

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ibson County Soil & Water Conservation District’s (SWCD) 68th annual meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at the new Princeton Community High School Cafeteria, 1101 N Main Street, Princeton. The evening’s speaker will be Scott Ham, State Soil Conservation Board.

The SWCD will share 2014’s accomplishments and plans for 2015.

Award presentations for 2014 will include: Conservation Farmer, Greg Obert; Friend of Conservation, John Parke Excavating; River Friendly Farmer Joe Kissel; and Gibson Southern High School’s winning Soils Judging team.

Tickets cost $8. Call the SWCD at 385-5033, option 3, to reserve tickets or email Tabitha.anthis@in.nacdnet. net Across Indiana, SWCDs help Indiana residents conserve land, water, forests, wildlife and related natural resources that encompass the state’s 23 million acres.

2014 Gibson County SWCD Board of Supervisors, Staff Matt Michel was elected as a supervisor in 2010 after serving as an associate, and was then elected to a second term. Matt is a graduate of Gibson Southern High School and Purdue Matt Michel University. He is the District Sales Manager for AgriGold Hybrids. Matt serves as board chairman.

Dave Gress was elected in 2011 and is unopposed this year. Dave is a crop insurance agent and livestock/ grain farmer. He has previously

February 2015

served as an associate SWCD supervisor.

He and his wife Karen live in rural Princeton.

Dave Greubel is a farmer and school bus driver. He resides in Dave Gress rural Haubstadt with his wife Brenda. They are the parents of two grown children and have seven grandchildren.

Kenny Page was elected as a supervisor in 2014 and has served as a supervisor in the past. Kenny farms and lives in Oakland City with his wife, Judy. They have three grown children and Dave Greubel one granddaughter, with another grandchild on the way later this year.

Dave Weber is a new supervisor, appointed in 2014. He farms and lives in Francisco with his wife, Mary.

They have four grown children and two grandchildren.

Jim Buck (not picKenny Page tured) is a new associate supervisor, coming on the board in 2014. Jim lives in eastern Gibson County.

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Gibson County SWCD office staff (l-r): Tabitha Anthis, office manager; Matt Robinette, technician; Ann Ice, education coordinator.

Steve Doerner (not pictured) has been an associate supervisor for the past several years and has been a supervisor in the past.

He farms and lives in Elberfeld with his wife, Lita.

They have three grown sons and three grandchildren.

Cleoramae G Stunkel (not Dave Weber pictured) is currently an associate supervisor. She lives in rural Haubstadt on her family farm and has served as a supervisor in the past. She is a retired minister and has installed numerous conservation practices.

Greg Obert (not pictured) is currently an associate supervisor, but has been a supervisor in the past. He says he is semi-retired from farming, living in rural Fort Branch with his wife, Rose.

They have four grown children and nine grandchildren.

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Gibson County’s 2014 Conservation Farmer

G

reg Obert has been named the Conservation Farmer of the Year by the Gibson County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD)’s board of supervisors. Greg lives on a farm in rural Fort Branch where he raises corn and soybeans.

Greg and Rose Obert were married in 1978 and have four children: Lori, Elizabeth, Martthew and Sarah. They have nine grandchildren.

Since 1980, Greg has been an SWCD cooperator. At that time, Greg had quite a bit of erosion on his property and that of his landowners. He started working to help the erosion. Much of Greg’s farmland is highly-erodible ground.

In 1984, he started working on a large-scale with notill. In 1990, he had approximately 200 acres of no-till.

Today, though he says he is “semi-retired,” he no-tills about 440 acres.

Greg has installed several conservation practices, including WASCOB’s (water and sediment control basins) and filter strips.

The local NRCS/SWCD helped design many of these installations.

Greg serves as an associate supervisor on the Gibson County SWCD board.

What is Greg’s advice to farmers just starting out in

Greg Obert conservation? “You can’t just no-till. You gotta do it right. You need a fertilizer program, a chemical program, and an insect program that works.”

Greg will be honored at the district’s 2015 Annual Meeting. Congratulations, Greg!

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February 2015

Gibson County’s 2014 Friend of Conservation John Parke Excavating of Oakland City has been named 2014 Friend of Conservation by the Gibson County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD)’s board of supervisors.

John has been a partner in hundreds of conservation practices both inside and outside of Gibson County.

These conservation practices include Water And Sediment Control Basins (WASCOB’s) to keep sediment and nutrients out of waterways to allow producers to farm

more efficiently, grassed waterways to control soil erosion, grade stabilization structures (rock chutes at the end of waterways), and tile work.

John does not advertise at all. He is known only by word-of-mouth and stays very busy with conservation practices. That alone speaks volumes about his work ethic and experience.

John will be honored at the district’s 2015 Annual Meeting. Congratulations to John Parke Excavating!

Gibson County’s 2014 River-Friendly Farmer Joe Kissel of Princeton has been selected as the 2014 River Friendly Farmer by the Gibson County SWCD board of supervisors.

Joe strives to conserve soil on his farming operation through filter strips, water and sediment control basins (WASCOB’s) to keep sediment and nutrients out of waterways, and some no-till. He raises corn and beans on 2,800 acres.Joe has served as a SWCD board supervisor in the past.Joe will be honored at the district’s 2015 Annual Meeting and receive a sign for his farm. Congratulations, Joe!

February 2015

The River-Friendly Farmer award was initiated in 1999 as a statewide initiative recognizing farmers who, through good production management, help keep Indiana’s rivers, lakes and streams clean.

This award is made possible by the Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Indiana’s ninety-two SWCDs, Indiana Farm Bureau, Indiana State Department of Agriculture, Division of Soil Conservation, Purdue Cooperative Extension Service, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

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Page 5

Farm Service Agency Implements New Farm Bill

By Janet Ault County Executive Director, Gibson County Farm Service Agency

The implementation of the 2014 Farm Bill is here and well underway in USDA Service Centers across the great state of Indiana and the rest of the country. As producers, you have many choices this year on FSA programs and there are plenty of places to seek advice. To help with some of those decisions, USDA has collaborated with universities and cooperative state extension services to develop online decision tools and other materials and train experts to educate producers about several key farm bill programs. Our FSA employees stand ready to serve you in our offices. With that being said, I’ll give you a brief overview of the new programs and some important deadlines that need to be met.

- The first programs to roll out under the new 2014 Farm Bill in the spring of 2014 were the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), the Livestock Forage Program (LFP), Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP), and the Tree Assistance Program (TAP). The LIP and LFP programs provide assistance for livestock deaths and grazing losses that have occurred since the expiration of the livestock

Page 6

disaster assistance programs in 2011. The ELAP program provides emergency assistance to eligible producers of livestock, honeybees, and farm-raised fish that have losses due to disease, adverse weather, or other conditions.

TAP provides financial assistance to qualifying orchardists and nursery tree growers to replant or rehabilitate eligible trees, bushes, and vines damaged by natural disasters.

- The Margin Protection Program (MPP) replaced the Milk Income Loss Coverage (MILC) program in the fall of 2014. This voluntary program provides financial assistance to participating farmers when the margin – the difference between the prices of milk and feed costs – falls below the coverage level selected by the farmer.

This allows our dairy producers to build a safety net and fits the need of their operation.

- The Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) are the new programs under the 2014 Farm Bill that have probably been one of the most significant reforms to U.S farm programs in decades.

These programs are designed to help farmers better manage risk and ensure families don’t lose the farm because of events beyond their control. The two plans available

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Continued on page 7

February 2015

Farm Service Agency Continued from page 6

through the ARC program are the ARC-County and ARC-Individual. The ARC-County option estimates individual crop revenue based on countywide projections. Under the ARC-Individual option, farmers receive payments based on their own past revenues, on a whole farm basis. Under the PLC program, payments are made on a crop-by-crop basis if the national price of that commodity fall below the reference price established in the Farm Bill Legislation. It is a three-step process to elect and enroll in one of these programs. The first step and most critical deadline at the moment involving all of these options is February 27, 2015. This is the deadline for landowners to make the decision to reallocate bases and/or update yields on their farm. In addition to the tools developed by the universities, our FSA office may provide you with additional information on your bases and yields to assist with your decision. Once the landowner has made the base reallocation/yield update decision, then the second step of electing ARC or PLC can be completed. Producers receiving a share of the crop will need to decide if they want to elect PLC, ARC-County, or ARC-Individual by the deadline of March 31, 2015. The third and final step will be to actually enroll the farm for

Gibson County FSA staff the crop years of 2014 and 2015. This will be done from mid-April 2015 through the summer of 2015. The enrollment process will need to be completed annually through the duration of this farm bill. If you haven’t done so already, please contact the FSA office right away to get started on the process.

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Farm Service Agency Continued from page 7

- The Noninsured Crop Disaster Program (NAP) has undergone some positive changes under the new Farm Bill. The new options provide greater coverage for losses when natural disasters affect specialty crops such as vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, floriculture, ornamental nursery, aquaculture, turf grass, ginseng, honey, syrup, and energy crops. Similar to commodity crop insurance, specialty crop growers will be able to purchase similar levels of protection ensuring these farmers can adequately protect themselves from factors beyond their control and is also critical for consumers who enjoy these products.

- A few of our programs have continued under the new 2014 Farm Bill. The Continuous Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) CRP is a voluntary program that allows eligible landowners to receive annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to establish longterm, resource-conserving covers on eligible farmland throughout the duration of their 10 to 15 year contracts.

The Farm Storage Facility Loan Program (FSFL) offers low-interest loans to grain producers to build new or upgrade existing storage facilities and permanent drying and handling equipment.

Marketing Assistance Loans (MAL) are available to

eligible producers beginning with harvest/shearing season and extending through a specific commodity’s final loan availability date. Beginning Farmer Loans assist beginning farmers to finance eligible applicants through either direct or guaranteed loans. Acreage Reporting Dates are still on the agenda and are required to comply with FSA program eligibility.

The following acreage reporting dates are applicable for Indiana: December 15-fall mint and fall seeded small grains, January 15-apples, and July 15-all other crops.

And finally, Conservation Compliance continues to link eligibility for payments and benefits to compliance with restrictions on highly erodible land and wetlands.

Many producers have already received important benefits from the new programs under the 2014 Farm Bill. We anticipate a lot of activity in the FSA County Office over the next few weeks due to the tight timeline to help our producers with their elections and enrollments.

I plan to present additional information at the Farmers Meeting on February 9, 2015 at Gibson Southern High School, sponsored by the Gibson County Extension Service . If you have questions, please contact the Gibson County Farm Service Agency at 812-385-5033, ext. 2 or visit the office at 229 S 2nd Ave., Princeton, IN 47670.

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February 2015

SWCD/Purdue Extension partnerships successful

By Hans Schmitz Extension Educator

In 2014 Purdue Extension of Gibson County and the Gibson County Soil and Water Conservation District shared many experiences and programs together, especially as part of the Indiana Conservation Partnership.

In particular this year, • Purdue Extension and SWCD share newsletter space and newspaper article space to allow for more publicity for each of our programs. • Attending a Conservation Selling Skills workshop increased the ability of natural resource professional to promote on-farm conservation. Also, the workshops increased the diversity of different ways to use “soil healthâ€? in a sentence. • Purdue Extension educators and Master Gardeners are perennially present at the Fourth Grade Farm Fair, a great educational opportunity for county youth. • SWCD and Purdue Extension collaborated to promote Area Corn and Soybean Day, the Soil Health Expo, and the Oakland City Cover Crop Breakfast, among others, in 2014.

• Purdue Extension promoted SWCD events including cost-shares, grant projects, the SWCD Annual Meeting, and other exciting opportunities. • SWCD annually sponsors the Soil and Water Conservation 4-H Project Special Awards. • SWCD board meetings are attended by the Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) Extension Educator when possible. • A member of the SWCD board serves on the Purdue Extension ANR Educator’s advisory council. • SWCD, ISDA, NRCS, and Purdue Extension are working together in Southwest Indiana to offer the OnFarm Network, an opportunity for watershed farmers to analyze their nutrient management. • The Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative Regional Hubs include collaboration within the entire Indiana Conservation Partnership, of which IASWCD and Purdue Extension are members. There were multiple educational opportunities in the past year through this initiative.

As we look forward into 2015, many more opportunities will exist for collaboration in serving the citizens of Gibson County. May the partnerships between our community organizations continue, and continue to be productive, in the coming year and years to follow.

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Area Students Participate in Soils Contest

By Ann Ice Gibson County SWCD Education Coordinator

The Southwest Soils Judging Evaluation was recently held with 50 students competing in Beuligman Brothers’ pasture near Poseyville. Gibson County teams attending were Gibson Southern High School FFA members with sponsor Richard Ritter, and the Arrow True 4-H Club with sponsor Julie Loehr. Other area teams were: Castle, Mount Vernon, and North Posey high schools. This was Castle’s first year in our contest and we welcome them!

In the contest, students tested their knowledge of the area soils. Four soil pits were dug and questions were answered on the soil profile at each site. There were two sites designated as home-sites where students determined if it would be a good site to build a house. The other two holes had questions related to agricultural sites.

Contest winners were determined by the sum of the top four individual scores from each school. Gibson Southern won with a score of 1509; second place was North Posey with 1364, and Mt. Vernon was third with 1201. The individual top four scores for winning Gibson Southern

Soils Contest participants were: Caleb Ziliak, 399, Sinda Simmers, 374, Collin Reinbrecht, 372 and Mark Naas, 364.

The contest’s format changed this year. Students visited and evaluated holes at their convenience in the evening. Thank you to soil contest volunteers! The event was planned and sponsored by the Gibson, Posey, Vanderburgh, and Warrick County SWCD’s, and rotates through the counties each year. The 2015 contest will be held on September 1 in Warrick County.

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Southwest SWCD Contractor Workshop is a Huge Success

By Erica Burkemper-Fischer Pike County SWCD District Coordinator

F

ive area Soil and Water Conservation Districts teamed up with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to host a free Contractor’s Workshop and Breakfast for area excavating contractors.

This workshop was held January 23 at the Wirth Park Community Building in Oakland City.

Over 60 contractors representing 19 companies, agency partners and others interested in the technical side of conservation were in attendance, coming from as far east as Spencer County, Indiana and as far west as Lawrenceville, Illinois.

The morning kicked off with introductions of the hosts:

Gibson, Pike, Posey, Vanderburgh and Warrick County SWCDs, and NRCS technicians.

Wes Bryan, NRCS Area Ag Engineer, took the reins and discussed the future of the NRCS Tech team and gave updates on the survey, design and layout of projects in the near future.

After breakfast by the Oakland City Lions Club, NRCS Area Engineer Trevor Shepard gave another presentation on material specs and drainage flow during conservation construction.

IDEM representative David Carr followed Shepard with a presentation on IDEM Permitting 101 and answered several questions on issues about this topic.

The morning ended with ten attendees receiving door prizes of shirts from the Gibson, Pike, and Posey County SWCD’s, and also free equipment rental tickets from the Warrick County SWCD.

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February 2015

2014 SWCD Poster Contest Winners

By Tabitha Anthis Gibson County SWCD Office Manager

Gibson County SWCD held their annual Poster Contest for all Gibson County 5th Grade students. This year’s poster theme was “Dig Deeper into the Mysteries of the Soil”.

The top three winners were from Barton Elementary School. First place was Mavren Heavrin and second place was Anthony Siekman (both pictured at right).

Third place was Trinity Taylor (not available for photo). Honorable mentions were: TaraKate Thompson of Bethel School, and Elizabeth Richardt of Barton Elementary School.

Posters were judged on conservation message, visual effectiveness, originality, and universal appeal.

Staff, supervisors, and others in the conservation partnership judged the

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SWCD Grant Update Clean Water Indiana (CWI) Grants from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture In 2012 Pike County was awarded $30,000 to partner with Gibson County for a part-time technician for three years. In 2015 Pike and Gibson Counties were awarded $75,000 to extend the technician position full-time thru 2017. This technician checks fields for residue management, cover crops and no-till planting, assists with transect studies, produces maps, enters data to generate reports, and performs many other helpful task for the districts, ISDA and NRCS. In 2013 Gibson County was awarded a grant for $25,000 to partner with Pike County to cost share with landowners on fall cover crops and spring no-till planting. All these funds have been spent to cost share on 1,557 acres in Gibson County and 1,285 in Pike County.

In 2014 Gibson County was awarded a $75,000 grant to partner with Pike County to cost share with landowners for planting fall cover crops and spring no-till planting. All grant funds have been spent on fall cover crops or allocated for spring no-till planting. Gibson has cost shared on 1,374 acres and Pike has cost shared on 1,664 acres.

In 2014 Posey County SWCD received a CWI grant for $51,000 for cover crops and no-till planting.

Continued on page 15

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SWCD Grant Update Continued from page 14

This grant is nearly completed. This was a joint grant between Posey, Gibson, Pike, Vanderburgh, and Warrick counties.A three-year 2015 CWI grant is $75,000 for an additional agronomic technician to assist NRCS in Pike, Gibson, Posey, Vanderburgh, and Warrick counties.

This new person will be announced in the near future.

The Dubois County SWCD received a 2015 CWI grant for $75,000 and will be partnering with Gibson, Pike and Posey County SWCDs. The purpose of this grant is to reduce sediment and nutrients from non-point sources and improve water quality by encouraging producers to utilize soil testing, no-till, and cover crops. Details to qualify for this grant will be available in the spring.

With funds from the CWI grants, many educational events have been held such as a contractor’s workshop, women in agriculture evening, conservation breakfast, soil health workshop, and other events.

The Southwest Indiana districts also partnered with the Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative (CCSI) and Southwest Purdue Extensions for some events.

Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) 319 Grant A grant was awarded by IDEM in 2006 to develop a Watershed Management Plan for the Patoka River watershed in Gibson County.

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The plan was completed September of 2008. Gibson County SWCD was awarded an implementation grant in 2013 and moved forward with implementation in 2014.

The grant for $236,950 allows $118,500 to be used for Best Management Practices in the target sub-watersheds of Yellow/Goose Creek, Houchins Cutoff/Indiana Creek and Trippett Ditch. Julie Loehr was hired in 2014 as the Watershed Coordinator to oversee the implementation of the conservation practices and Ann Ice is the grant manager.

LARE awarded by Dept. of Natural Resources The Gibson County SWCD was awarded $13,500 for conservation practices in the Scott and Loeffler watersheds near Owensville. There is currently $7,200 available for landowners to cost share on practices that would reduce sediment and nutrients from non-point sources and improve water quality. This grant will end in 2015.

For grant information, contact the Gibson County SWCD at 812-385-5033 extension 3. Contact Julie Loehr for cost share information on the IDEM Patoka River grant.

For CWI and LARE grants, contact Ann Ice. Gibson County has acquired, assisted, and partnered in managing $656,450 in grants for conservation practices since 2012. Ann Ice also acquired funding grants from Toyota Motor Manufacturing and Duke Energy to bring the World Bird Sanctuary’s Birds of Prey program to all Gibson County third grade students.

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Page 15

Gibson SWCD Hires Watershed Coordinator

By Ann Ice Gibson County SWCD Education Coordinator

Gibson County SWCD hired Julie Loehr as the Watershed Coordinator to implement the requirements of the Districts 319 grant awarded by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) in 2014.

The position involves meeting with landowners, evaluating their land use issues and coordinating educational outreach programs to promote implementation of practices to improve and conserve natural resources within the Patoka River Watershed.

Landowners in the Lower Patoka River watershed can contact Loehr to discuss the cost-share program and Best Management Practices offered to help improve water quality in the critical areas. Implementation will be in the critical areas of Houchins Cutoff/Indian Creek, Yellow/Goose Creek and Trippett Ditch. Cost share projects currently being designed and considered for implementation are: cover crops, stream crossings, WASCoB systems, and grassed waterways.

If you are a landowner in the Patoka River watershed in Gibson County and have land use concerns, contact

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Fourth Grade Farm Fair More Than Animals

By Ann Ice Gibson County SWCD Education Coordinator

Gibson County SWCD held their 28th annual Fourth Grade Farm Fair at the Gibson County Fairgrounds Pavilion in April 2014. There were 21 sessions of various topics for students. All Gibson County fourth grade students were invited to attend the presentations given by tri-state volunteers. Over 350 students, teachers and school assistants visited the 21 stations. Ann Ice coordinated the event.

Farm Fair sponsors were Farm Bureau of Princeton and Superior Ag Resources of Gibson County. Funds were also contributed by Duke Energy and Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Indiana. Door prizes for presenters were donated by Taco Tierra, F&M Hardware, Dick Clark’s Family Restaurant, Gibson County SWCD and First Place Trophies, all in Princeton; and White River Valley Honey, Matt Collins.

New presenters for 2014 were: Megan Hoffherr, Purdue Extension, providing information on the cycle milk takes from farm to store shelf; Bill Tuley, Gibson County Health Department, food safety; and SWCD Watershed Coordinator Julie Loehr and her son Joe gave an interactive session on water quality. Master Gardeners June

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G

Neyhouse and Judi Miller did a backyard conservation session. New this year with animals were: Chris and Jennifer MacKay with different breeds of chickens; and Cindy Titzer with her hog, Miss Charlotte, with help from Deann Gress and Kenny Page. After helping his mother for many years with the horse presentation, Colt Hadley had his own session on donkeys. We were glad to have c the addition of these presenters this year.

A We appreciate returning presenters: Jamen Frederick, e wildlife; Darlene Cromer, laundry of the past; Kanda a Walden, recycling; Pat Sauer, quilting; Chuck Froehle, conserving currents; Stanley Madison and Krista Hadley, a Lyle Station School; Debi Tomassetti, wool and spinning; v Tim Jones, farm safety; CJ Sauer, blacksmithing; Matt Robinette, pollution; and Dave Kunkel, antique tractors. H w Master Gardeners helping during the day-long event were Joe Padgett, Judy Dossett, Charlie Miller and Doris a Glover. s Returning animal presenters were: Matt, Larry and Emma Robling, fainting goats; Diane Hadley, horses; and t John Feutz, DVM, and Lisa Bloodworth, bovine provided G P

by Henry Rexing. Teams and wagons for horse-drawn wagon rides were furnished by Mike Ice, and Rodney and t b Shawna Weems. Wagon helpers were Luke, Drew, and Continued on page 19w c s

Free Hoosier Riverwatch f Training Scheduled

By Julie Loehr Gibson County SWCD Watershed Coordinator

Middle Patoka River Watershed Coordinator Julie Loehr announces a free Hoosier Riverwatch Training on Wednesday, March 4th, 2015 at Sugar Ridge Fish and Wildlife Area (2310 E SR 364, Winslow).

Gibson County SWCD District Educator Ann Ice will lead the workshop.

At the training, attendees will learn to assess a stream’s water quality by spending the morning session in a classroom and the afternoon session in a wadeable stream.

Volunteers will learn accurate testing methods for habitat, chemical and biological assessment, and quality control for accuracy.

All workshop materials are free, but will need to be ordered for attendees. Pre-registration is required due to limited space. To register call Julie Loehr at 812-779-7924 or e-mail: jloehr@inh2o.org.

After completing the training you will have information to enter data on the Hoosier Riverwatch website and receive your Hoosier Riverwatch training card.

Princeton Daily Clarion

February 2015

Gibson Homeschool Team Wins State Envirothon

By Julie Loehr Gibson County SWCD Watershed Coordinator

The Gibson County Homeschool Envirothon team competed in the State Envirothon contest on Wednesday, April 30that the Beck Ag Center on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus. They won first place in oral presentation and first place team overall.

With this win, they earned the right to represent Indiana at the Regional Stewardship Challenge at Loyola University, Woodstock, Illinois.

The team consists of: Colson and Kanaan Doyle, Ivy Heldt, Rebekah Munro, and Tyler Pressley. Jacob Loehr was the alternate. The team is coached by Julie Loehr and is partial supported by the Gibson County SWCD. Seventeen teams throughout Indiana qualified for the state competition by placing at state regional competitions. Several SWCD employees, including Ann Ice from Gibson, Jeri Ziliak from Posey, and Erica Fischer from Pike, were assisted by other southwest district staff at the local regional contest held at Hornady Park in Petersburg. Gibson Homeschool team placed first at this contest with Washington High School finishing second and Vincennes Rivet third. All three teams were invited to the state competition at Purdue.

The Envirothon is a competitive learning event for high schoolers that tests students’ knowledge of

environmental resources including: soils, aquatics, forestry, wildlife, and a current topic. This year’s current topic is Sustainable Local Agriculture.

At Envirothon competitions, teams consisting of five students take written tests and then use teamwork to develop creative solutions to environmental problems which are presented orally before a panel of judges.

The Indiana Academic Standards are taken into consideration in the structure of Indiana’s Envirothon Competition and are covered in part or fully at each contest.

Gibson County SWCD will pay the registration fees for up to three county high school teams to attend.

The first place Gibson County team will receive $150 and the second place team $50.

Fourth Grade Farm Fair Continued from page 18

Jim Ice. Dan Lashbrook, and Darrell, Becky and Kiersten Rexing also helped with animals. Presenters are happy to be part of this educational experience and look forward to returning each year. Some take time from work and from their busy schedules to assist. It takes many willing individuals cooperating to make the farm fair a success.

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February 2015

Thank you to the Princeton FFA for help with facilities and to everyone who assisted. Anyone interested in helping with or participating in next year’s farm fair should call Ann Ice at 812-385-5033, extension 110, or email ann. ice@in.nacdnet.net. To keep up with SWCD events and activities, like us on Facebook or visit www.gibsonswcd. org.

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Princeton Daily Clarion

Page 19

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Southwest Indiana Soil & Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) sponsored a Boy Scout merit badge workshop on Soil and Water Conservation on May 17th at Camp Reveal. Twenty boys from Gibson, Pike, Posey, Vanderburgh, and Dubois counties participated, including: Mark Abell, Alex Allen, Maxwell Braselton, Ben Hausmann, Ben Hess, Logan Hunter, Ian Kyle, Eric Loveless, William Mast, Ryan Maynard, Tensei Nakamaura, Gabe Pfeffer, Thomas Rapp, Jacob Schneider, Caleb Sholtz, Michael Simutus, Cameron Smith, Michael Smith, Braden Tucker, and Alex Ward.

The boys spent the morning learning about soil formation, erosion, best management practices, water pollution, and wastewater treatment. In the afternoon, they planted 100 black walnut and 100 tulip poplar trees to replace trees that had been blown down during a storm at Camp Reveal. Congratulations to the boys who completed the badge!

The event was coordinated by Carrie Parmenter, with help from Gibson County SWCD Education Coordinator Ann Ice and Vanderburgh County SWCD Secretary Erin Shoup. Assistance was also provided by retired NRCS Engineering Tech Chuck Froehle, John Smith, and Jeff Loveless.

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Page 20

Princeton Daily Clarion

February 2015

Birds Soar for Local Students

By Tabitha Anthis Gibson County SWCD Office Manager

On May 19-20, third grade students enjoyed World Bird Sanctuary’s “Birds of Prey” educational bird program at public and private schools in North, South, and East Gibson School Corporations.

The birds visited North Gibson’s Princeton Community Intermediate School gymnasium, East Gibson Oakland City Elementary School and South Gibson’s Fort Branch Elementary School. Presenters were naturalist Sarah Oliver from St. Louis, Missouri, and intern Sarah Cambron from Oxford, England. Diurnal birds (birds awake during the day) were: Wyatt, a Harris hawk; Flip, a red-shoulder hawk; Desi, a hooded vulture; and Detour, an American kestrel. Nocturnal birds (birds awake at night) were: Junior, a 28-year-old great horned owl; Timber, a tiny Eastern screech owl; Silo, a barn owl; and Sanibel, a bald eagle. To the audience’s amazement, many birds flew from handler to handler, and a breeze could be felt when the birds flew overhead. Children saw the birds up close and were able to ask questions.

These programs, made possible by generous grants from Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana and Duke Energy, were also supported by the Mt. Olympus Community Center. Programs were coordinated by Gibson County SWCD Education Coordinator Ann Ice. For more information, visit www.WorldBirdSanctuary.org.

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August 6 Soil Expo involves 5 SWCDs

By Ann Ice Gibson County SWCD Education Coordinator

The five Southwest Soil and Water Conservation Districts of Gibson, Pike, Posey, Vanderburgh and Warrick, hosted a Soil Health Expo on Precision Ag. Featured speakers were Mike Shuter, a Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative (CCSI) hub farmer; Paul Gordon, Gordon Ag Group; and Dr. Randall Reeder, Ohio State University Faculty Emeritus.

The day started with Mike Shuter speaking on VR A N with High-Clearance Sprayer Modifications. He spoke on his experience developing a high clearance seeding machine to seed cover crops in standing corn and soybeans to get these crops off to a faster, earlier start.

He was followed by Paul Gordon who assists producers to lower production costs while maintaining and improving yields through crop monitoring and soil plant analysis using Geo-referenced (GPS tagged) Data.

Jon Neufelder of Posey County Purdue Extension gave updates for producers earning PARP credits.

Lisa Holscher, Indiana Association of Soil and Water

Conservation Districts, CCSI, and Meg Leader, Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) spoke on using precision ag, On-Farm Trials, and the On-Farm Network guided stalk nitrate testing that is continuing in Southwest Indiana fields by the Districts and other conservation partners.

Dr Reeder, considered one of the leading research and education advocates for conservation tillage and no-till, spoke on using technology to avoid soil compaction and how continuous living cover plus long-term continuous no-till reduces soil compaction and achieves soil quality, chemical quality, physical and biological soil health.

The day’s final speaker was PrecisionHawk on using drones for crop scouting to collect data, surveying, collecting images, and visual thermo in high resolution for up to a 300 acre field.

Sponsors were: Precision Farming Solutions, Rick Applegate; Baker Seed of West Salem, IL; Elberfeld State Bank; Daylight Farm Supply, Evansville; Koetter & Smith animal bedding, Borden; Gene Hagadorn and Kurt Karch, Beck’s Seed; and Goedde Oil of Haubstadt. Donations were also made by Rural King and Walmart.

Caren Richeson - Agent • Native Grass Seeds • Wildlife Food Plots • Erosion Control Blankets • Hydroseed Mulch & Supplies

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Princeton Daily Clarion

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Princeton Daily Clarion

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February 2015