January 2015 Newsletter

Harper County Conservation District

Inside this issue:

Notes from Chris 2

Poster Winners 3

Prescribed Burning 4

What have we been up to

4

Kansas Water Use 5

Board of Supervisors

Office Personnel

803 Fanning Dr. Anthony, KS 67003 (620) 842-5910

Debbie Francis

Dusty Albright

Bruce Miller

Dave Eslinger

Matt Goertz

District Manager, Teresa Mandevill

District Secretary, Becky Mead

Conservation Technician, Chris Hoskinson

Acting District Conservationist, Charley Hunter

Conservation District Annual Meeting The Harper County Conservation District Board of Directors would like to extend a per-sonal invitation to all Harper County residents and landowners to attend the 2015 Annual Meeting. The meeting is set for Monday, February 23, 2015 at the Anthony Municipal Hall, 130 E Main St., Anthony KS. There will be a short business meeting with election of supervisors and a meal provided by the Harper County Banks. Serving will begin at 6:00 p.m. This year’s entertainment will be provided by the Eagle Valley Raptor Center of Cheney, Kansas. The center was formed in 2002 on 20 acres of land near Cheney. With the help of several volunteers, Susan and Ken Lockwood rehab an average of over 100 birds a year. The center was built to not only rehabilitate these magnificent ani-mals but to also offer education opportunities to schools, churches, scout groups, 4-H clubs and other appropriate organizations who are interested in learning about these important Kansas species. The Lockwoods’ will bring with them several large raptors and explain the benefits they provide to agriculture. The audience will have the opportunity to see these magnificent birds up close and personal. A large crowd is expected so we are requesting you make reservations by filling out the slip at the bottom of this page and return it with a $2.00/$1.00 reservation deposit to Har-per County Conservation District, 803 Fanning Drive, Anthony, KS 67003. Children are welcome to attend. We will be highlighting the past year’s activities and a full disclosure of the District fi-nances, including recognition of the 2014 Conservation Poster winners for Harper County. We are very proud of their hard work and the teachers who inspire them.

Clip and Return by February 9, 2015

Harper County Conservation District Annual Meeting Registration

Please make ________adult(s) and _______child(ren) reservations for the Harper County Banker’s Dinner and Harper County Conservation District Annual Meeting on Monday, February 23, 2015. Adults are $2.00 each and children (ages 5-17) are $2.00 each. Names of Attendees: Total Enclosed: $

Page 2 Harper County Conservation District

The Harper County The Harper County The Harper County Conservation District Conservation District Conservation District

would like to expand the reach would like to expand the reach would like to expand the reach of the Newsletter, while reduc-of the Newsletter, while reduc-of the Newsletter, while reduc-ing costs. If you haven’t ing costs. If you haven’t ing costs. If you haven’t given us your given us your given us your email yet email yet email yet please contact please contact please contact Becky Mead, Becky Mead, Becky Mead, District Secretary.District Secretary.District Secretary.

Now is the time to get those warm season grass seed in the ground (December 1 through May 15).

Harper County Conservation District sells native grass seed and rents grass drills.

Please call Teresa if you need help in any way.

NOTICE

Beginning January 2015, the district will Reinstate the rental &

sales agreements. Drills will require a deposit and seed order will require a 50% deposit at the

time of order.

Plan Wisely If you think you need to install conserva-tion practices and refurbish existing ones next summer, now is the time to be planning such ac-tivities. Not only for structural practices for erosion control, but management planning such as controlled burns, brush clearing, grass planting, and grazing strategies should be considered and evaluated at this time also. Some folks don’t know it, but we can evalu-ate wildlife habitat also. In the spring, throughout the summer and early fall, we are out in the field a lot assist-ing customers with their conservation needs and concerns. This leaves very little time for planning. We have more time during the winter months to work up cost estimates, plan alternatives, evaluate practices, and do engineering surveys for design purposes. Sur-veying is a lot easier at this time due to the lack of foliage on the trees and zero biting critters. Maybe you’re not sure or have ques-tions about concerns you may have or just need steered in the right direction. Give us a cal l or s imply s top by. As I said, the winter months are kind of s low as far as f ie ld work is concerned so we are around the of f ice more of ten than not . This helps us s t reamline our workload so that we can of fer the best service poss ib le when you need i t most .

Submitted by Conservation Technician, Chris Hoskinson

Important Dates to Remember January 14 — HCCD Board Meeting January 19 — Martin Luther King Jr’s Birthday OFFICE CLOSED February 11 — HCCD Board Meeting February 16 — Presidents Day OFFICE CLOSED Febraury 23 — Annual Meeting March 8 — Daylight Savings Time Begins March 11 — HCCD Board Meeting April 3 — Good Friday April 5 — Easter Sunday April 8 — HCCD Board Meeting April 15 — State Cost-Share Applications Accepted Firearm Turkey Season Begins April 26 — Stewardship Week Begins May 1 — Earth Day @ Anthony Lake May 13 — HCCD Board Meeting May 15 — State Cost-Share Closes May 25 — Memorial Day OFFICE CLOSED

HCCD 2014 Poster Contest Winners

January 2015 Newsletter Page 3

Aiden Guy—2nd Place Winner of the 4th-6th Grade Division.

L-Abby Mercer, 1st Place Winner of the 2-3rd Grade Division and R-Erica Acord, 3rd Place

Winner of the 4-6th Grade Division.

This year’s theme for the Conservation Poster Contest was Dig Deeper—Mysteries in the Soil. We had 152 students who participated in the contest with all 5 divisions repre-sented. It was a significant challenge to judge the posters as all of the participants did a wonderful job creating their posters. The winners of all 5 divisions have been sent on to the State contest in Topeka. We would like to thank all of the schools and teachers for taking the time to have their students to participate in our contest.

Reagan McCreery—1st place Win-ner of the 4-6th Grade Division.

(L-R) Carter Swingle—2nd Place Winner & Chloe Traffas—3rd Place Winner of the 2-3rd Grade Division

(L-R) Kaylee Martens—1st Place; Whitney Mead —3rd place and not pictured is Li-zeth Mendoza—2nd place of the Kdg-1st Grade Division. Above (L-R) Molly

Vandeveer—1st Place; Brooke Ricke—2nd place; Chelsea Casper—3rd place winners of the 10-12th grade divi-sion. Below (L-R) Dylan Dunbar—1st Place; Shanna Marteney—2nd Place; Maci Howell—3rd Place winners of the 7-9th Grade Division.

Page 4 Harper County Conservation District

What have we been up to?What have we been up to?What have we been up to?

Anthony Fall Fest Pole Decorating Contest

2014 Attica Pumpkin Fest

Neighbor to Neighbor" the Future of Prescribed Burning by Jess Crockford, Southwest Regional Fire Coordinator

Fire has proven to be the most effective and economical way to suppress and control most invasive woody plant species encroaching on native grass-lands in Kansas. Heavy infes-tations of woody species can have significant negative im-pacts on space for valuable grass species as well as reduce the amount of water available for grass and ground water recharge. More and more land-owners are learning to develop prescribed burn plans, and con-sidering ways that they might conduct and carry out pre-scribed burn on their grassland acres. Yes, the future of prescribed burning may vary well lie in

neighbors helping neighbors to implement prescription burn plans. The benefits of using fire as a resource management tool are many, while the excuses for not using fire are generally limited to four. First, "liability", it should be a concern but not to the point of inaction. There is little evidence in case law that properly conduct-ed prescribed fires have resulted in significant settlements. Much of the perception of risk is the result of media coverage of wild-fires, which have nothing to do with prescribed fire. Other excuses include "I don't have enough training or experi-ence; I don't know how to burn; I don't have enough people to help; and perhaps I don't have enough equipment." All too often people use these excuses to justify not

burning and not taking care of the land. Eventually they will be out of business regardless of their interests because their grasslands will slowly convert to brush and forest in the absence of fire. These excuses and concerns should not lessen your enthusi-asm for prescribed fire as a rangeland management tool. Now is the time to become bold and innovative while always remaining prudent in the use of prescribed fire. For example, rural neighborhoods are banding together to address these con-cerns by forming prescribed burn associations (PBAs). You still have liability concerns as an organized PBA, but you can manage your risk by arranging for the proper training, finding

experienced help, and acquiring the proper equipment provided by the association. Your in-volvement with the PBA adds to your experience and confidence while working with your neigh-bors. You do not have to hire labor, because you now have neighbors helping neighbors. Association members pool their equipment so that no one has to buy all of the equipment. One person may have a drip touch, another person a slip-in cattle sprayer, while another member has a four-wheeler, and yet an-other has a tractor and mower for preparing firebreaks. All of this equipment and manpower allows you to safety conduct prescribed burns. The value of having adequate numbers of helpers, the right equipment and people with training and experience cannot

Cont. Pg 5

Page 5 Harper County Conservation District

We’ve all noticed the obvious – creeks my family has swam and fished in for generations are dry as a bone. Tack on the bad wheat crop last year and people are really starting to wonder what the future holds. Everybody keeps looking to the sky for some rain or snow – just get us some precipita-tion. The trouble is – that’s just one piece to the puzzle. What about the hidden things? As human beings, we tend to ignore things that are invisi-ble, like the way carbon emissions change the chemistry of our atmos-phere and warm the planet. If we can’t see the water levels dropping in our aquifers, and water still flows freely when we turn on the tap – then we don’t perceive a crisis ahead. We don’t take measures to combat the threat of a water crisis. If we can’t see it – then it must not be there. As the continued drought depletes our lakes and reservoirs, we continue to rely more and more on our “hidden” nonrenewable groundwater supplies. We rely on those supplies so heavily and at such a rate in the Western United States that the future of our water supply is truly threatened. Some shallow aquifers can recharge from surface water, but the deep aqui-fers, like the Ogallala, were created from ancient glacial melts. They’re

Prescribed Burning Cont. be over emphasized. By reducing the equip-ment and labor costs as well as risk and legal liability concerns of applying prescribed fire on private land, PBAs have proven to be a valuable tool for encouraging landowners to apply fire across the landscape to reduce woody plants such as Eastern red cedar. At the end of the day, in rangelands it is generally not a question of will the grasslands burn, but when will they burn and how much (or little) control over the fire land managers can exert when fire occurs. If you and your neighbors would be interested in hearing more about Prescribed Burning Associations or are interested in form-ing your own association please contact, Teresa Mandevill at your local conservation district at 620-842-5910 or Jess Crock-ford, SW Regional Coordinator, Kansas Prescribed Fire Coun-cil at 620-664-4882, email - jess.crockford@ks.usda.gov or Roger Tacha, NW Regional Coordinator at 785-672-0401, email - plansman1@outlook.com.

If You Think The Drought Is Bad Now, Just Wait Until the Aquifers Are Drained We’re pumping irreplaceable groundwater to combat the drought, but what happens when the aquifers are dry? 

not going to recharge. If we keep pumping water out of them at the rate we are, our children are going to be dealing with a crisis we can’t fath-om. A recent Kansas State University study said that if farmers in Kansas keep irrigating at present rates, 69% of the Ogallala Aquifer will be gone in 50 years. According to a 2013 study by the USGS, that coincides with a nationwide trend of groundwater de-clines. Now that NASA has launched the satellites called GRACE (Gravity Re-covery and Climate Experiment) we can see and measure this developing crisis worldwide, revealing how sup-plies are shrinking in several regions around the globe. There are other impacts to consider and help guide our decisions and us-age of this finite resource. Consider places like Saudi Arabia. A few dec-ades ago, they began pumping deep underground aquifers to grow wheat in the dessert. They’ve since aban-doned that practice. They’re conserv-ing their underground water supplies and letting places like the United States deplete their water supplies to grow crops that Saudi Arabia now imports to feed their country. Yes, we farmers pride ourselves in feeding the world, but it comes at a high price that our children will pay. We have to

by Teresa Mandevill, District Manager

farm better than we have before. We have to grow drought resistant crops, limit irrigation, and improve our farm-ing practices to keep more of the mois-ture in the soil. We have to lead the world in farming innovation and conser-vation. CERES, an organization that advo-cates sustainable business practices, did a recent study that reported more than half of all fracking wells in the U.S. are being drilled in regions experiencing drought, and more than one-third of the wells are in regions suffering groundwa-ter depletion. Even the oil/gas industry reports that it can take between 2 mil-lion and 4.5 million gallons of fresh wa-ter to drill a typical deep shale well through horizontal fracturing. This is the challenge of our generation – to realize and understand the urgency of managing our groundwater supplies as drought depletes our surface water. For now, wells are available to anyone who has the financial resources to drill one. Grow-ing irrigated crops, selling water to the oil and gas companies, industrial de-mand and just plain wasteful household usage all contribute to the problem. When we as citizens of this county, this state, and members of the world commu-nity come together with an educated and social conscience, we can collaborate to protect this shrinking, life essential resource against a future of scarce water.

Harper County Conservation District 803 Fanning Drive

Anthony, Kansas 67003-2866

The U.S. Department of Agriculture( USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal or because all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.)

BULK RATE

U.S. POSTAGE PAID

Anthony, KS 67003

Permit No. 22

DOZERS, BACKHOES, SCRAPERS, LOADERS, GRADERS, SEMI-LOWBOYS, TRENCHERS, WINCHES,

EXCAVATORS, DUMP TRUCKS VAC-U-VATOR TRANSFERS

YOUNG CONSTRUCTION 644 SE 140 AVE., CHENEY, KANSAS 67045

316-542-3210

Tim Rinke Harper KS

620-896-7588

Your Ad Could be HERE! for only $50/yr

Conservation Practices Dirt Work, Septic Tanks, Structures

Freeport State Bank People Serving People

HARPER/ANTHONY

620-842-5700 www.freeportstatebank.net

Member FDIC

F S B

Established 1902

Full Service Water Well Contractors

620-840-1207