101 N Market St * St Clairsville, OH 43950 ~ 740-526-0027 ~ belmontswcd.org

COOPERATOR Belmont Soil and Water Conservation District

Winter 2016

Equipment Rentals

7 1/2 ft. No-Till Drill—$10.00 per acre

2 Row Corn Planter—$10.00 per acre

5 Ton Lime Spreader—$2.00 per ton

All equipment has a $50.00 minimum charge.

Geotextile Fabric available at $1.25 / linear foot.

Live Traps are available $5.00 for 2 weeks.

Belmont SWCD

101 N Market St

St Clairsville OH 43950

NON-PROFIT US POSTAGE PAID

ST.CLAIRSVILLE OH PERMIT NO 147

Thank You! We would like to send a HUGE thank you to Nicole Turner for

her service as a supervisor for the Belmont SWCD. We all wish

you and your family the best. You were a major asset to Bel-

mont County SWCD and you will be missed.

Belmont SWCD 70th Annual Meeting

On October 8, 2015, The Belmont Soil and Water Conservation District held their 70th Annual Meeting at the Belmont County Fairgrounds. Events that took place were voting to elect one new supervisor, Con-servation Field Days Program certificates, Cooperator of the Year Award, Big Tree Contest Award, Captina Creek Photo Contest Award, recognition to the local 4-H Grand and Reserve Champion winners, recognition of past and present Belmont SWCD Supervisors, recogni-tion of Envirothon Winner Olney Friends School, Representative Jack Cera presentation on County Conservation Efforts, and square dancing

by Deep Down Country.

The Cooperator award was given to Bob and Tina Greenwood who live just outside of Barnesville. The Greenwoods have applied conserva-tion practices through the installation of watering facilities, fencing, and prescribed grazing. The big tree contest award for Black Gum went to Olney Friends School. The Captina photo contest 1st place award

went to Daniel Caron and 2nd place went to Jerry Witmer.

The newly elected supervisor that was voted in is Ron Duvall. Ron is a lifelong resident of Belmont County. He grew up on his family’s farm in Jacobsburg, Ohio. When he was young, his family had a dairy farm and later raised sheep. He currently lives in Barnesville, Ohio with his wife and 2 children. They raise sheep on their farm and try to be good stew-ards of the land by developing springs, practicing rotational grazing, keeping fences maintained, and ensuring the well being of all animals on their farm. Ron is employed by American Energy Corporation and has welcomed the opportunity to serve on the Board of Supervisors at

Belmont SWCD.

DID YOU KNOW….

The Cooperator is available to you via email? If you

would like to receive your copy electronically send us

an email and let us know at belmontswcd@att.net

Upcoming Events

February

8-Board Meeting

22-23-OFSWCD Annual

Meeting

March

1-Soil Health Workshop

14-Board Meeting

Pond Clinic-TBA

April

5-Fish Sale

11-Board Meeting

11-Pollinator Workshop

21-22-Tree Seedling and

Wildlife Seed Sale

25-CFD’s Parent Meeting

27-Envirothon

30-Captina Creek Birding

Kickoff Event

SUPERVISORS

Don Giffin, Chairman

Brian Murphy, Vice Chairman

Jason Mayberry, Fiscal Agent

Dan Freund, Secretary

Ron Duvall, Public Relations

SWCD EMPLOYEES

Liza Butler, Administrator/ Wildlife &

Forestry Specialist

Kim Lawson, Captina Watershed

Coordinator

Samantha Ackerman, Ag. Technician

NRCS EMPLOYEES

Dave Bauerbach, District

Conservationist

Joe Lehman, Soil Conservation

Technician

Chris Skatula, Civil Engineering

Technician

101 N Market St * St Clairsville, OH 43950 ~ 740-526-0027 ~ belmontswcd.org

View from the Thalweg: A Captina Creek Update

By Kim Lawson

Are you “loon-y” about birds, or do feathered backyard visitors drive you “cuckoo”? Whether you can “warble” on and on about local birds or if you find bird ID guides hard to “swallow,” we think you’ll be “veery” interested in an upcoming program!

Birding has been identified as one of America’s fastest-growing outdoor recreational activities, and residents of the Ohio Val-ley area do not have to travel far for prime bird-watching opportunities. Belmont County is home to a variety of special bird species, such as tropical migrating birds like the Northern Parula, spotted at Raven Rocks, the Hooded Merganser, seen over-wintering at the Powhatan Point Marina, and the Belted Kingfisher, found all along the Captina corridor.

Belmont SWCD received a grant from the Belmont County Tourism Council to create the Captina Creek Birding Trail, a drive-it-yourself tour with permanent signage at five stops within the Captina Creek Watershed. The Captina Creek Birding Trail is intended to promote the Creek as an exceptional natural resource in the state and help promote conservation awareness, rec-reation, and tourism in Belmont County.

We hope you’ll join us for the official opening of the trail at the Captina Creek Birding Trail Kickoff Event! Visitors to this FREE event will receive information about the new project and local birding opportunities before visiting some or all of the sites along the birding trail. Participants will also have the chance to win gift cards, birding supplies, and other exciting items from our door prize giveaway!

Captina Creek Birding Trail Kickoff Event Saturday, April 30

th, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Riverside Restaurant 150 1st Street

Powhatan Point, Ohio

For questions about Captina Creek or volunteer opportunities (including the Captina Creek Stream Team volunteer water quality monitoring program), please contact Kim Lawson, Captina Creek Watershed Coordinator, at 740-526-0027 or kb.belmontswcd@att.net. A thalweg is the line that connects the lowest points in a valley and thus it is typically the deepest point in the cross section of a stream channel.

Eastern Bluebird © Daniel Caron

Is No-Till A No-Brainer?

Samantha Ackerman, Agriculture Technician

Belmont County has deep roots when it comes to agriculture, but did you know that those roots could become deeper by using no-till practices? Literally! Want to find out how? I’ll tell you, but first, let’s look at conventional tillage. We’re all familiar with the scene of a farmer pulling his plow across the ground, but what is actually happing to the soil when we do this? Well of course we are ripping up the soil, over and over and over again. Yes this creates a well tilled seed bed but it also causes a lot of issues within the soil. Issues on the soil surface, issues within the soil, and even issues under the tilled soil. So let’s take a closer look at some of these issues. The most visible issue is erosion. By tilling the soil we are exposing the soil to the elements. We are destroying its structure and making it weak against Mother Nature. Because of erosion, we’ve lost BILLIONS of TONS of soil over the years, and with this soil goes all of its nutrients. That’s money down the drain…..or down the stream ra-ther. Conventional tillage isn’t helping the erosion problem at all, nor is it helping with compaction issues. When you make that well tilled seed bed with a plow, you’re also packing the soil underneath. So now not only is the soil surface extremely susceptible to runoff, but now you’ve made a plow pan that’s compacted to the point that the microbes inside can’t even survive, and the mi-crobes that did survive were flipped over to the soil surface and are now being baked by the sun. All that hard work and fuel just made you a nice barrier to roots and water. Convinced yet? If not, just wait until you hear about the benefits of no-till! No-till farming, a method of conservation farming, is a relatively new concept when it comes to agriculture, but now that it has made its debut, it’s really gaining interest, as it should be! No-till farming shows vast improvements in many aspects of soil health, but I won’t make you take my word for it, I’ll tell you all the reasons why. When we looked at the issues with conventional tillage we saw erosion as the #1 problem, now if we take a look at no-till and we see that erosion is the #1 problem SOLVED. By solved I mean almost completely eradicated. No-till farming has been shown to reduce the amount of runoff and erosion by up to 90%. Wow! How is that even possible? Well the no-till system works by not plowing up the soil. We’ve seen what tearing up the soil can do, this system goes against the conventional ways and allows the soil to stay undisturbed. By not disturbing the soil we allow so many things to happen. We allow the crop residue to lay on the soil sur-face which is a major factor in erosion reduction. This residue acts as a shield against the weather. It blocks the soil from the harsh impact of raindrops, it protects the soil from the heat of the summer by shading it and reducing evaporation, and it increases the organic matter in the soil. Since erosion isn’t such an issue with no-till farming, we can now plant crops on steeper ground than we could with conventional methods. If you live in Belmont County you know what I mean when I say “steep ground”. When using no-till practices we also allow the microbes and earthworms living in that soil to flourish. Their environment stays in-tact year round so they can continue to multiply over the years without dealing with a conventionally tilled massacre. Another living organism able to flourish in undisturbed soil is the roots of plants. When we plow, we rip up anything and everything that had, un-til very recently, called that place home. When we use no-till practices we allow those roots to grow…..and grow and grow and…..well you get it. When there’s no compaction from excessive equipment use, roots have free reign in the soil. Remember when I said that roots could become deeper by using no-till? Well this is how. Yes, sooner or later these roots will die, but then the microbes will break the material down into organic matter and the space where the roots used to grow is now pore space that can allow water to be absorbed or future roots to grow. Not only does this help alleviate compaction, but it also increases the soil’s ability to hold water and nutrients. More absorption equals less runoff and erosion. I’m sure everyone is familiar with the issues we experienced with Lake Erie turning green this year. If those nutrients could be absorbed into the soil better then they wouldn’t be available to wash away into the water and make headlines in the news. We all know that not everything is perfect, and yes, there is some potential downfalls to no-till farming. One of the main disad-vantages is the use of herbicides. Since we aren’t plowing up and burying the weeds, we have to find another way to manage them. The answer is herbicides. Now I know it seems we have solved one problem by creating another, but this is not necessarily the case. When continuous no-till practices are implemented, there is a decreased need for weed control, and in some cases, no control is needed at all. Weeds can be completely eradicated. So yes, herbicide use will be necessary, but can eventually be eliminated. An-other disadvantage is that you aren’t going to see all the advantages from no-till right away. It’s going to take time, years, to actually see the benefits. So you’ll need to be patient, but your patience is sure to pay off once you see your crop yields double, your soil structure and health continuously increase, your water runoff and erosion decrease, and your crops grow right along with your smile. To this day it seems that the no-till method of farming is still a little misunderstood and unaccepted. In 2004, only 7% of global

cropland was managed under no-till practices (Scientific American 2008), but this number is growing every year, as it should. Bel-

mont Soil and Water is here to help that number increase by offering land users no-till rental equipment. We have both a no-till

corn planter as well as a no-till grain drill that can save your soil, along with your wallet. So now all you have to do is ask yourself,

“Is no-till a no-brainer?”.

Belmont SWCD is now a local sponsor for the Clean Ohio Local Ag-

ricultural Easement Purchase Program (LAEPP) through the Ohio

Department of Agriculture. LAEPP provides funding to farmland

owners for placing an agricultural easement on their property. This

easement ensures that the farmland stays in agricultural use and cannot

be subdivided. Any Belmont County farmland owner interested

should contact Belmont SWCD for more information.

101 N Market St * St Clairsville, OH 43950 ~ 740-526-0027 ~ belmontswcd.org

On Jan. 19, 2016 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Ser-vice (NRCS) now has 2016 Federal conservation program funds available for Ohio landowners and land managers. The Public may apply for funding under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) at any time throughout the year, but application selections for funding are made at specific times. The first 2016 application deadline is February 19.

EQIP provides financial assistance for conservation management and structures (practices) and

technical assistance to develop a conservation plan. The conservation plan and practices help land-owners and land managers improve the natural resources on their property. These practices also ben-efit the public by improving water quality, reducing soil erosion, and improving soil health, wildlife habi-tat, and conserving energy.

Landowners should make an appointment with the Barnesville NRCS office as soon as possible

to begin the conservation planning process. Eligible producers who sign up for EQIP may receive a payment based on the statewide average cost for installing planned conservation practices. Socially disadvantaged, limited resource, and beginning farmers and ranchers are eligible for a higher payment rate. Veteran farmers who are also new or beginning farmers receive the higher payment rate.

Dedicated EQIP funds are available for conservation practices targeting On-Farm Energy, Or-

ganic Systems, High Tunnel Systems, Honeybee and Monarch Butterfly, as well as several land-scape-based initiatives, including:

Livestock EQIP – Livestock farmers (includes pastured livestock) Cropland EQIP – Crop farmers including dairy operations that make silage. Forestry EQIP – Private forestland owners interested in forest benefits. Wildlife 5% - Landowners interested in wildlife benefits Southern Ohio Appalachian EQIP – Pasture operations in 20 counties including Monroe . Cerulean Warbler Regional Conservation Partnership Program RCPP (EQIP) – Tree plant-

ing on reclaimed mined land in parts of 25 counties including Belmont and Monroe. Landowners should make an appointment with their local NRCS office as soon as possible to

begin the conservation planning process. The USDA Service Center is located At 1119 East Main Street Barnesville, Ohio 43713. Phone # 740-425-1100

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Silvicultural Best

Management Practices

By Liza Butler

The natural resources on your property can be protected by employing best management practices (BMP). The soil quality, water quality, trees, and wildlife habitat are our natural resources. There are certain practices that can impact our resources. One of these practices includes logging for po-tential forest growth and health.

Application of Silvicultural BMPs is specified by Section 319 of the Federal Water Quality Act (1987) and by the Ohio Agricultural and Silvicultural Pollu-tion Abatement Law (1991). Your devotion to these guidelines and applica-tion techniques allows standards to be set with your logging company and be in compliance with federal and state laws. Some of these BMPs include water bars, seeding and mulching, buffer zones, and portable bridges or cul-verts for stream crossings. Failure to implement the BMPs can result into erosion, poor water quality, resource degradation, lowered timber value, loss of recreational activities, loss of wildlife habitat, all of which can reduce your value of your property.

Ohio Agricultural Pollution Abatement Rules Standards provide an option to file an Operation and Management plan with your local Soil and Water Con-servation District to minimize any damage that can be caused from logging practices.

To help you improve your forest and make you aware of the negative envi-ronmental impacts to your property, your Belmont SWCD provides BMPs for Erosion Control for Logging Practices. If you have any questions or need more information, you can contact the Belmont SWCD at (740) 526-0027.

The Belmont SWCD Board of Supervisors has approved meeting dates

for 2016:

January 11, 2016

February 8, 2016

March 14, 2016

April 11, 2016

May 9, 2016

June 13, 2016

July 11, 2016

August 8, 2016

September 12, 2016

October 10, 2016

November 14, 2016

December 12, 2016

All meetings begin at 6:00 p.m. at the office of the

Belmont SWCD.

Any meeting time/day changes will be published on this site and via press

release to local papers.

Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative

Interested in what is going on around the state?

Looking for fun, family friendly events?

Want to learn more about pollinators and ways you can get involved?

You or your organization can help us sustain our efforts through a variety of ways including: Social Media/Internet Communication, Out-reach and Public Education, Technical Support/Assistance, Financial Support/Assistance, Hands-on Habitat Creation/Conservation, Train-ing, Data and Monitoring.

Check them out on Facebook!

BeeSmart Pollinator Gardener APP

The BeeSmart App is your comprehensive hand held guide to select-ing plants for pollinators specific to your area. Filter your plants by what pollinators you want to attract, light and soil requirements, bloom color, and plant type. www.pollinator.org

101 N Market St * St Clairsville, OH 43950 ~ 740-526-0027 ~ belmontswcd.org

Contributions/

Donations

Thank you to those who

have contributed to the

Belmont SWCD. Your gen-

erosity allows us to ex-

pand opportunities for

education and conserva-

tion.

Brian Murphy

Belmont College

Tim Wojchowski

Daniel Caron

Belmont SWCD

would like to give a

Special Thanks to

the following for

their continued

commitment in

financial assistance

and their dedication

for conservation:

Belmont County

Commissioners: Mark

Thomas, Matt Coffland, and

Ginny Favede

ODA-Division of Soil and

Water

ODNR-Division of Wildlife

Belmont County Auditor:

Andy Sutak

Transfer to the Ohio Department of Agriculture

The Division of Soil and Water

Conservation has completed the

transition to the Ohio Department of

Agriculture! The new Soil and

Water Conservation website can be

found at http://agri.ohio.gov/divs/

SWC/SWC.aspx.

John Schlichter’s, Deputy Director of

the Ohio Department of Agriculture,

update was very encouraging as

ODA is excited about the transfer of

Districts to their department. ODA is

continuing to learn more about

Districts and their work.

Districts will still serve as the local

connection for agriculture pollution

abatement, working with producers

in a voluntary rather than enforce-

ment role. Enforcement will be han-

dled through ODA’s current staff.

The silviculture pollution abatement

program is now being administered

by the Division of Forestry.

The new chief of Soil and Water will

be under John’s leadership that took

place January 1, 2016.

Thank you John and all of ODA for

your support!

THIS WORKSHOP WILL FOCUS ON THE MANY ASPECTS

OF SOIL HEALTH. TOPICS COVERED WILL INCLUDE:

HOW TO DETERMINE CURRENT SOIL HEALTH

WHAT CAN CAUSE UNHEALTHY SOIL

HOW TO IMPROVE SOIL HEALTH

THIS WORKSHOP APPLIES TO BOTH THE BACKYARD

GARDENER AS WELL AS THE MULTI-ACRE FARMER.

Please RSVP by February 29

Promoting Pollinators

Topics Covered Will Include:

The Importance of Pollinators

Identification of Pollinator Species

Pollinator Plants

Starting Your Own Pollinator Garden

April 11, 2016

5pm-8pm

Barnesville Library Annex