Three groups hold annual meetings

By GLEN WERLING

While the weather outside may have been frightful, the Wells County Soil and Water Conservation District, the Rockcreek Conservancy District and the Wells County Purdue Cooperative Extension Service held their combined annual meetings in the cozy confines of the Wells County Community Center Thursday evening.

It was the 66th annual meeting for the SWCD, which is responsible for leading efforts in soil and water conservation and all other related natural resources in Wells County. 

Eric Johnson was elected as the supervisor during the meeting.

Johnson has lived in Nottingham Township for nearly his entire life. He was raised on a small row crop and livestock farm. He earned an agriculture economic degree from Purdue and is currently employed by Farm Credit Mid-America as the local crop insurance agent. He is married with two children.

Ramseyer Farms was presented with the River Friendly Farmer Award. Dave and Carrie Ramseyer raise corn, soybeans and eggs.

“By utilizing cover crops, minimal tillage and filter strips, Ramseyer Farms has reduced erosion, increased organic matter and reduced runoff into nearby waterways,” SWCD Supervisor Jarrod Kunkel said.

The Ramseyers have also installed buffer strips along some wooded areas and manage a wooded wetland.

Dave Ramseyer served as board member of the SWCD from 2013 to 2018.

The Ramseyers were unable to attend the meeting Thursday night.

Next up to be recognized were the poster winners.

Each year, fourth and fifth grade students in the county’s schools may draw a poster representing that year’s theme for soil and water conservation. This year the theme was Healthy Soil-Healthy Life.

Schools participating in the contest this year were Lancaster Central Elementary, Southern Wells Elementary and Bluffton-Harrison Elementary.

There were 154 entrants. The winners at the fourth grade level were Jessica Littell first place, Alaya Reinhard second place and Taylor Huffman third. At the fifth grade level, the winners were Wyatt Knell, Elaina Scott and Isabelle Gerber.

Knell’s poster moves on to the state competition.

Audrey McMillan, daughter of Matt and Lindsay McMillan, Bluffton, was last year’s county winner. She was also the first place winner at the state level in 2021 and she was recognized for that at Thursday night’s meeting. 

In addition to a certificate and two tickets to the 2021 Indiana State Fair, McMillan’s poster was displayed at the covered bridge on the Pathways to Water Quality at the state fair.

McMillan was presented with a check for $100 from the Indiana SWCD Employees Association at Thursday night’s meeting.

Also at Thursday’s meeting, the top four county soil judges for 2021 were honored. While FFA chapters from both Norwell and Southern Wells high schools participated the top four were from Southern Wells. Grace Michael was first, Kyra Kiel second, Keith Pluimer third and Karlee Warner fourth.

It was the 55th annual meeting for the Rockcreek Conservancy District. Contracting officer Chase Gray listed the accomplishments for the district this year. Among those accomplishments were:

• The annual spray program was completed on Unit 2 of the Rock Creek channel from 100S/Mossburg Ditch to 1000S in Wells County.

• A pipe repair was completed on the Rock Creek channel east of Hoosier Highway near 500S.

• Log jams and downed trees were cleared from the Liberty Center trestle of the Wabash Central Railroad. Repairs to the trestle were also made and rip-rap was installed to stabilize the banks.

• Log jams and downed trees were removed from the Rock Creek channel at the Ind. 3 bridge in Huntington County and at 400S-200W, 200E and 800S, and 200S and 300W, all in Wells County.

Gray also presented a to-do list for the conservancy district in 2022. Planned are:

• Replacing and/or repairing surface water pipes.

• Repairing easement areas were washouts have occurred in fields adjoining the Rock Creek channel.

• Continuing the removal of log jams and downed trees.

• Continuing the annual spraying program to prevent growth of brush and scrub along the Rock Creek channel.

The meeting was also the annual update of activities by the Purdue Extension Wells County office.

Included in the presentation was the introduction of Wells County’s newest extension agent, Hannah Bridegam. A graduate of Columbia City High School and Murray State University in Kentucky, Bridegam will be serving as the youth extension agent.

The special speaker for Thursday evening’s dinner was Tom Crowe of Crowe Forest Management LLC..

Crowe has been a private forestry consultant in northeast Indiana since 1985, assisting private, mostly non-industrial forest landowners with management of their forestland, including program assistance, appraisals and management plans, timber sales and tax assistance, forest stand improvement, invasive species control, and tree planting and plantation management. 

Crowe has a BS degree in forest management from Purdue University and had been the Allen County Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor for more than 20 years. He has also been a member of the National Association of Conservation Districts Forest Resource Policy committee since 2008 and a member of the National Joint Forestry Team since 2010.

Crowe informed the audience that if they own a woodlot that is not currently being managed, then managing it had the potential to earn the owner a considerable amount of cash.

He explained he wasn’t talking about cutting all the trees down in the woodlot, but carefully managing the woodlot through the guidance of a forester such as himself. He added that woodlot management can tend to be criticized by some conservation-minded groups who would prefer no trees be cut, but in actuality, careful woodland management can not only be as profitable for a landowner as cropland, but it is also beneficial to the species of canopy trees, understory trees and wildlife in the lot.

Thursday’s event was catered by Norm’s Catering and wrapped up with the handing out of door prizes donated by a number of the affiliate businesses with the SWCD.

glenw@news-banner.com