Hillsider Winter 2014

The Hillsider
Conservation News in Lawrence County
WINTER 2014
LAWRENCE SOIL AND
WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT
P.O. Box 144 • Willow Wood, Ohio 45696
740-867-4737 • Fax only: 867-5513
HOURS: 8:00 a.m.- 4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: DISTRICT PERSONNEL:
David Kline
Peggy Reynolds, District Manager
Jim Mayberry
Matthew A. Capper, District Technician
Phillip Ellis
Carrie Yaniko, CFM, Urban/Education
Mike Carrico
Specialist
Steve Lambert
NRCS PERSONNEL:
Ralph Crawford,
Jim Rose,
District Conservationist Civil Engineering
Zach
Williams
Technician
Soil Conservation
Technician
The Lawrence Soil and Water Conservation District celebrated 66 years of service
at its annual meeting/field day on September 7, 2013 at the Lawrence County Fair
Grounds. Agencies/Organizations/Vendors set up displays about the services they
have available.
What’s Inside:
page 2…
• District Tree Sales
• Board Meeting Notice
• Benefits of Riparian
Areas
• Equipment Rental Rates
page 4...
• Healthy Soil
• Soils Testing
Newsletter Sponsors were presented a certificate of
recognition. The Outstanding Cooperator of the Year
was Dr. Mike Dyer, DVM. Mr. Rob Hamilton, ODNR
Program Specialist spoke about the importance of soil
health. An election of two supervisors was conducted.
Congratulations to David Kline and Mike Carrico who
were re-elected to serve three year terms on the Board
of Supervisors. We would like to thank Bill Flannery for
his interest in becoming a Board Supervisor. The banquet
concluded with the drawing of door prizes.
We would like to thank everyone who attended the 66th
annual meeting/field day. We would like to thank the
Lawrence County Fair Board. We would also like to
thank Dan Fulks and Keith Taylor for cooking the food.
And finally, we would also like to thank all of those who
donated a door prize for the annual meeting and banquet:
The Barker Shop
A Touch of Grace
AutoZone
Barb Cheek
Bob Clyse Chevrolet-Buick-GMC
Brian Pinkerman
Aaron Capper
Kaitlyn Capper
Amanda Capper
Matthew Capper
Peggy Capper
Capper’s Tax Service
Mark Capper
Citizens Deposit Bank
Cooke’s Farm Center
Giovanni’s of Coal Grove
Guy’s Floor Covering
Iron City Hardware
JD Armory
David & Theresa Kline
KMC Logging
Gary Leach – State Farm
Liberty Federal Savings and Loan
Jim & Sharon Mayberry
McCarty’s Greenhouse
McCauley Furniture
Motor Parts Wholesale
Paula’s Beauty Shop
Phillips Funeral Home
Pratt’s Greenhouse
R & R Grocery
Scottown Pizza
Sharon Smith Avon
Lawrence-Scioto Solid Waste
District
Southern States of Huntington
The Tackle Box
Union Stock Yards
Wade’s Western Wear
Phil Ellis
Carrie Yaniko
Gail Ash Avon
District Tree Sales
The Lawrence Soil and Water Conservation District will be taking orders on tree seedlings starting now and
ending Tuesday, March 4, 2014. You should find a separate brochure enclosed with this newsletter. If you
did not receive a brochure, please call the office at 740-867-4737 and we will send you a copy.
Board Meeting Notice
The Lawrence Soil and Water Conservation District will hold its regular monthly meetings on the last
Tuesday of the month at 10:00 a.m. at the District office in Willow Wood.
Benefits of Riparian Areas
Being a River community that has significant development along the Rivers and streams, it is important to
understand the impact of riparian areas to the flow of water. The definition of riparian is of, on, or relating
to the banks of a natural course of water. Water follows the path of least resistance. When there is increased
development, there is a change in the riparian area along streams, rivers and floodplains. Development
impacts the riparian areas by increasing sediment and surface runoff, increasing the magnitude and frequency
of flooding, and increasing stream bank erosion, just to name a few. By keeping riparian areas, there can
be many benefits, such as the following:
•
Reducing the intensity and frequency of flooding
•
Provide an area for storage of flood water
•
Reducing amount of sediment loads
•
Improve water quality by filtering nutrients and pollutants
•
Erosion control and protecting stream banks, stabilizing soils
•
Allow for groundwater recharge
As a community that regulates development in the floodplain, it is sometimes contradictory to allow certain
practices that are also detrimental to the resources we are trying to protect. While development is not
discouraged, it is extremely important to understand that development along a river or stream can alter the
benefits of the riparian area. Also it is not always development but stream maintenance activities that are
removing these riparian areas. When you remove all the vegetation from the stream bank, you are negatively
impacting the riparian areas and the stream.
Hopefully the message that is received is that while property owners have a reasonable right to do with
their land as they please, it is important to think of the impacts development along stream channels may
have on the riparian areas and water quality.
Equipment Rental Rates
The following is a list of equipment available from the District and rental rates for each:
• 1 - John Deere 1750 No-Till Corn Planter, at the rate of $8.00/acre, $25.00 minimum.
• 2 - Tye 7” No-Till Drill, at the rate of $7.00/acre, $25.00 minimum.
• 1 - Stoltzfus 2 ton Lime Spreader, at the rate of $2.00/ton, $25.00 minimum.
• 1 - Fertilizer Spreader, at the rate of $25.00/day.
The Lawrence Soil and Water Conservation District is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
Lawrence
County
Farm Bureau
231 Broadway Street, Jackson, Ohio 45640
Phone: 1-800-777-9226
Org. Dir. Jessica Miller - Pres. Margaret Reid
ASHLAND
MILLING CO., INC.
P.O. Box 1627 • 110 Ninth Street
Ashland, KY 41101
IDEAL FEEDS, Grain, Seeds & Hardware
Family owned
and operated
Phone: 606-324-6148
1-800-891-4097
The Union Stock Yards Co.
P.O. Box 129, Hillsboro, OH 45133
Office: 937-393-1958
Home: 937-393-2393
Thursday Auction
Daily Hog Market
William R. Butler, Manager
Kelley Med Care
210 Center Street in Ironton
208 4th Street in South Point
Home Medical Equipment & Oxygen
Background Checks
(740) 533-0526
FAX (740) 533-0003
HECLA WATER
ASSOCIATION, INC.
Serving Rural Lawrence County, Ohio Since 1969
RAY E. HOWARD
CEO
3190 State Route 141
Ironton, Ohio 45638
DOUG HORNE
STORE MANAGER
Southern States Cooperative, Inc.
SOUTHERN STATES
HUNTINGTON COOP.
1329 7TH AVENUE
HUNTINGTON, WV 25701
Phone (304) 525-8685
[email protected]
Fax
(304) 529-1423
www.SouthernStates.com
Lawrence County’s Bank Since 1896
REID’S APIARY
HONEY • BEESWAX
BEE SUPPLIES
Bill & Margaret Reid
15754 S.R. 775
(740) 643-2925
Willow Wood, OH 45696
E-mail: [email protected]
These are PAID
advertisements in
The Hillsider, and
do not constitute
endorsement from the
SWCD.
314 Park Avenue
7510 County Road 107
Ironton, Ohio 45638
Proctorville, Ohio 45669
740-532-2856
740-886-9491
www.libertyfed.com
181 State Route 728
P.O. Box 609
Lucasville, OH 45648
Tel.: (740) 259-5515
Fax: (740) 259-3775
YO U R F I N A N C I A L
C O R N E R S TO N E
MEMBER
FDIC
Visit www.cdbt.com, or call 866-226-1762.
Stephens
& Son
Insurance Agency, Inc.
Jerry M. Stephens, Agent
Mary C. Stephens, Agent
Dianna K. Bragg, Agent
Susan R. White, Agent
Hilda B. Stephens, Agent
Jason C. Stephens, CFP, Agent
Auto Home Business Farm Life Health
P.O. Box 309
Proctorville, OH 45669
Phone (740) 886-6144
Fax (740) 886-5692
520 Solida Road
South Point, OH 45680
Phone (740) 377-3327
Fax (740) 377-2087
Many People Don’t Realize That Soil,
Especially Healthy Soil, Is Full Of Life
Many people don’t realize that soil, especially healthy soil, is full of life. Millions of species and billions
of organisms make up a complex and diverse mix of microscopic and macroscopic life that represents the
greatest concentration of biomass anywhere on the planet.
Bacteria, algae, microscopic insects, earthworms, beetles, ants, mites, and fungi are among them. All
together, their value has been estimated at $1.5 trillion a year worldwide.
Estimates vary, but if you could weigh all the organisms in the top six inches of soil on an acre of land, you’d
find they would weigh between 2,500 pounds to more than 5,000 pounds, depending on how healthy the soil
is. That is a LOT of life.
What these low-lying creatures lack in size, they make up for in numbers. Consider bacteria, the soil
microbes with the highest numbers, for example. You can fit 40 million of them on the end of one pin. In
fact, there are more soil microorganisms (microbes for short) in a teaspoonful of soil than there are people
on the earth.
These microbes, which make up only one-half of one percent of the total soil mass, are the yeasts, algae,
protozoa, bacteria, nematodes, and fungi that process soil into rich, dark, stable humus.
Like other living creatures, the organisms in the soil also need food and shelter. Some feed on dead organic
matter, and some eat other microbes. As a group, they cycle nutrients, build the soil and give it structure.
The healthiest soils are those with a diversity and abundance of life. Farmers with the healthiest soils
nurture that life by creating a diversity of plant life above the soil surface, with year-round ground cover,
no tillage, and judicious pesticide use. For those producers, farming centers around feeding the organisms
that build healthy soils.
These farmers understand that tillage, the turning of the soil that has been the standard for growing crops
for years and years, is disruptive to soil microbes and destructive to the soil system.
Instead, they disturb the soil as little as possible. And, they grow a diversity of living plants in the soil as
much of the time as practical, covering the soil and offering food to soil microbes through living roots. Those
soil organisms, in turn, cycle nutrients back to the plant, allowing it to grow and flourish.
It’s a natural, symbiotic system that leads to healthy soils and more sustainable and profitable agriculture.
Source: This article is from a series of Healthy Soils Are…….. Fact Sheets located on NRCS’s website at
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov
Quick Fact:
14 million acres of prime farmland were lost to development in the United States between 1982
and 2007.
Soils Testing
The District offers soil testing at a cost of $10/sample for a field test and $11/sample for a yard/garden
test. The samples are sent to a third party company for testing and results could take up to 10 days. For
information on the proper way to collect a soil sample, please contact the SWCD office at 740-867-4737 or
visit the following link:
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detailfull/national/people/?cid=stelprdb1167242#Soil
USDA/NRCS is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or
call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), 800-877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), 866-367-8642 (Relay voice users).