Land Treatment
No Till | Soil Protection | Ground Water Runoff Program | Citizens Monitoring Committee | Conservation Awards Program
In 2007 the South Platte NRD, North Platte NRD, Upper Niobrara-White NRD, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and Panhandle RC&D formed the Panhandle No Till Parnership to bring continuous No Till education opportunities to western Nebraska producers. The Panhandle No Till Partnership has hosted winter workshops that have provided information on the opportunities offered through continuous no till farming.
Team member and NRCS No Till Educator Mark Watson, a no till farm operator from Alliance, has held a number of workshops and field days throughout the Panhandle. Watson works with no till farmers from beginning to experienced to make suggestions regarding their operations. In addition, Watson writes a weekly column, No Till Notes, sharing his knowledge and experiences.
When soil erosion becomes a threat to neighboring property, Districts have the legal authority to mediate a solution under the Erosion and Sediment Control Act. The Act was developed in 1986 when the Nebraska Legislature recognized serious erosion and sedimentation problems throughout the state. At the time a number of land-disturbing activities had caused excessive wind erosion and water runoff and accelerated the process of soil erosion and sediment deposition. That resulted in the pollution of the waters of the state and damage to domestic, agricultural, industrial, recreational, fish and wildlife, and other resources.
The state’s goal was to strengthen and extend erosion and sediment control activities and programs of the state for both rural and urban lands, to improve water quality, and to establish a statewide, comprehensive, and coordinated erosion and sediment control program to reduce damage from wind erosion and storm water runoff, to retard nonpoint pollution from sediment and related pollutants, and to conserve and protect land, air, and other resources of the state.
Implemented through the Director of Natural Resources and the Nebraska Natural Resources Commission, the legislation specified the program would be carried out by the natural resources districts in cooperation with counties, municipalities, and other entities.
In 1987, the SPNRD board of directors adopted the District Erosion and Sediment Control Program, designed to reduce soil erosion in the District to tolerable levels.
Established in 1978, the SPNRD Ground Water Runoff Program is in place to prevent improper irrigation runoff and maintain ground water supplies.
In order to conserve water and to prevent inefficient or improper runoff, each person who uses ground water irrigation is required by the Nebraska Ground Water Management and Protection Act to prevent the runoff of water used in irrigation.
The SPNRD program, which meets the Act requirements, addresses the standards of inefficient or improper runoff of ground water used in irrigation, procedures to prevent, control, and abate such runoff, measures for the construction, modification, extension, or operation of remedial measures to prevent, control or abate runoff of ground water used in irrigation.
Citizens’ Monitoring Committee
The Clean Harbors Citizen’s Monitoring Committee, a special committee overseen by the South Platte NRD, provides third party oversight of the Kimball incinerator’s operations. The consultant that the committee works with is Jacque Hughes of MILCO Environmental Services, Inc. (McCook, NE). Hughes keeps the committee up to date with quarterly reports, reviews permits and compliance issues with the facility and NDEQ and EPA.
The Kimball CHESI facility serves the entire United States as a storage and treatment facility for a variety of industrial waste utilizing a 45,000 ton-per-year fluidized bed incinerator. The state-of-the-art thermal oxidation unit ('"TOU") is capable of maximum destruction efficiencies of hazardous waste and is able to handle an extremely wide variety of feeds.
Citizens’ Monitoring Committee members include Larry Stahla, Jim Cederburg, Duane Janicek, Peggy Sanders, Will Brown, Jim Johnson (SPNRD Director, Subdistrict 2) and Rod Horn, SPNRD General Manager. The committee meets about 6-8 times a year in Kimball.
We've all heard it for years: Conserve natural resources for future generations. It's just the right thing to do.
It's a noble goal most all of us strive for. And since the mid-1950s, the NRD, NRCS and the former county soil and water conservation districts have been recognizing those southern Panhandle residents who do it best.
In 1995, the District awards were expanded, and those who excelled in planting and caring for trees, managers of grassland, and educators strong in environmental teaching could also be nominated. In addition, the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts also awards resources excellence on a state-wide basis, as does the Omaha World Herald.
Each year staff members from the South Platte NRD, Natural Resources Conservation Service and UNL Extension gather to nominate people within the District who excel in the areas of caring for natural resources and also sharing with others the information they’ve gleaned as stewards.
The nominations are forwarded to the SPNRD Board of Directors for approval, and those chosen are honored each fall at the SPNRD/NRCS Conservation Awards Banquet.
Congratulations to our past and present award winners, and thank you for helping protect our natural resources.
2009 Conservation Farm
The award is based on an operation’s total farm plan which incorporates conservation and best management practices.
This year, Beyer Farms of Sidney is the award recipient. The family’s farming success spreads over generations, and the family has long been on the cutting edge when it comes to caring for the land.
The late James Beyer was one of the first area farmers to accept and implement conservation tillage practices, and was recognized for his use of terraces in the 1960s.
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2009 Conservation Farm Award Beyer Farms of Sidney |
Family members involved in today’s operation include James’ widow Freda, and several of their children and spouses. They include Vern and Kathy Beyer, Joe and Tamara Beyer, Nancy Beyer, Mary Beyer, and Mike and Melinda Beyer.
Beyer Farms’ current operation includes irrigated and dryland crop ground, as well as range land for cattle grazing. Crops include corn, millet, wheat and alfalfa.
One of the factors leading to their nomination for the Conservation Farm Award is their leadership in no-till farming practices. Like many other no-till practitioners, the Beyers’ no-till beginning came as a cautious experiment. It began when the family noticed less spring weed pressure on ground that had been sprayed the previous fall. As they expanded the practice, they also noticed a great time savings.
After attending no-till conferences, Mike urged family members to consider the benefits of no-till. They agreed to try, but like others they found making the switch wasn’t always easy.
“About three to five years into no-till you wonder what you’re doing (by taking on the practice),” says Mike. “You get itchy about the feeling you’ve got to hook on to a piece of iron.
“It’s tough to make the jump,” he says. “But we got to a point where we said we’re going to do it or get out.” Mike says after the seventh year, things began to look better, “and now we know what we’re doing is right.”
Evidence of that comes in a number of forms. The most visible is that wind erosion is no longer a concern. Water erosion has also disappeared except in the most extreme circumstances. Mike also says the soil’s condition has improved with greater amounts of humus, and standing water is not a concern.
In irrigation practices, they have utilized the EQIP program to convert a number of center pivots from high pressure systems to low pressure systems, and all of their center pivots have drop heads.
During the drought of the early 90s, the family also took advantage of EQIP funding to convert some of their irrigated crop land to dryland. Today, they irrigate about a third of what they had previously, and are very careful with water and nutrient management. They monitor the soil’s water profile, and nutrient testing is routine.
On rangeland, the Beyers use rotational grazing, always mindful to move cattle between pastures without overgrazing. To help with that, they are currently in the process of piping water to different pastures.
By placing water in strategic places, they can avoid having cattle cross range already grazed, further reducing the pressure on that ground.
2009 Tree Planter/Caretaker
If you ask Barney Steger about making a conservation tree planting, the first piece of advice he’ll give you is “you really don’t want to start at the beginning of a drought.”
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2009 Tree Planter/Caretaker |
Barney planted and maintains a windbreak around the family farmstead north of Chappell, but his true dedication and tenacity shines through on three extensive Continuous Conservation Reserve projects. Five rows were planted in blocks almost 2.5 miles long. Trees and shrubs totaling 8,275 were originally planted in the project area, which now protects crop land and provides abundant shelter for wildlife.
The projects are impressive enough, but he makes his mark as a caretaker willing to go above and beyond normal effort.
In the first few years following the planting, the project was hampered by wet heavy snow that laid trees over, loss from drought, and a bad batch of trees. Additionally, an intense wind one year resulted in hundreds of trees being buried by eroded soil.
Entering such a project, most people realize such factors can have an effect, although maybe not on the scale Barney saw. By the fifth year following the original planting, Steger had put in more replacement trees (by hand) than the number in the original planting. By the time the project was well on its way, Barney had transported 17,168 trees to his property for planting.
“I think I had every neighbor kid within 30 miles planting trees at some time,” says Steger, who speaks matter-of-factly about maintaining the projects’ integrity.
“Trees are like a good fence,” he says, “once in a while you have to repair them.”
2009 Environmental Educator
Entering Jane Ahlschwede’s classroom in Gurley early in the school year, it’s immediately evident that environment is a major theme.
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2009 Environmental Educator Jane Ahlschwede |
Posters displaying information about and materials from several of the world’s biomes are hung on the walls, made by students as part of their assignments. Those posters are the most visible part of what the 2009 Environmental Educator does with students as she works with them.
“My overall desire is to install an enthusiasm in my students for the things around them,” says Jane. “I want them to get excited.”
In each part of her lesson plan, Jane strives to present students with pertinent information and facts, and also how that information can be used in their day to day lives. Examples include how a drippy faucet can easily be overlooked, yet when students add up the total amount of water used, how quickly those small drips represent a lot of water.
When students begin learning about soil, Jane works with NRCS’ specialists, who help with the units and show the young people what it means from a practical stand point. They study soil types,soil fertility, and conservation.
In all those lessons, be it soil, water or other units, students learn practical ways to wisely use and conserve the resources around them. And that’s not just a lesson for the students. Jane has led by example as a big part of the school’s recycling program. Among the things she works within that program is re-use of non-sensitive paper. By using such paper for scratch paper throughout the school, they have cut down on the overall amount used.
“Everything we do affects our natural resources,” says Jane, who helps her students learn to be the best stewards possible.