By GLEN WERLING
Long-time Rock Creek Conservancy District Financial Clerk Stacia Henderson was honored at Thursday’s annual joint meeting of the Wells County Soil and Water Conservation District, Rock Creek Conservancy District and Wells County Extension Service.
Henderson, who has served as the clerk for 30 years, was presented with a small bouquet of flowers and a two-night stay at a hotel in downtown Indianapolis in June. The stay coincides with her and husband Paul’s wedding anniversary.
“I think it’s probably fair to say that at times, Stacia was the Rock Creek Conservancy District,” Chairman Mike Schumm said.
“When she handed me her resignation at our December meeting, I guess the best way to describe how I felt was I was a little distraught,” Schumm added.
He joked that the first reaction by him and fellow board members Jeff Prible, Robert Mautz, Roger McAfee, and Roger Irick was to say that they would not accept her resignation. She couldn’t resign.
But he admitted that after 30 years of service from Henderson and her desire to be able to spend more time with her family, the board would need to grant her wish — and they did.
“I guess for me, Stacia, I want to thank you for everything you’ve done,” Schumm said. He added the term “Greatest of All Time” tends to be overused nowadays, but he said that Henderson was the exception — she really was “The Greatest of All Time.”
Pam Gregory will be replacing Henderson.
The annual report of the Rock Creek Conservancy District was presented by flyer on each of the tables.
During 2022, the district:
• Reviewed and signed off on the easement agreements for bridges 105 and 106 in Wells County.
• Reviewed and approved the annual internal controls assessment.
• Conducted four water monitoring events under the guidance of Steve Stauffer, monitoring program coordinator.
• Completed the annual spray program on Unit 1 of the Rock Creek channel from Ind. 3 in Huntington County to 100S and Mossburg Ditch in Wells County.
• Cleared a large log jam from the Liberty Center railroad trestle. Additional repairs to the trestle were also completed.
• Repaired a structure in the Rock Creek easement south of Ind. 218 near 200E. Logs and debris were also removed from the channel.
• Removed log jams and downed trees from the Rock Creek channel at the Ind. 3 bridge in Huntington County and the 400W and 400S bridges in Wells County.
• Met with landowners regarding right-of-way access, flooding concerns and discussed future maintenance projects.
Those future projects include:
• Replacing and repairing surface water pipes.
• Repairing easement areas where washouts have occurred in fields adjoining the channel.
• Removal of log jams and downed trees.
• Continuing the removal of log jams and downed trees.
Schumm also reported that Roger Irick had been chosen by the Wells County Commissioners to continue in his role as Area II director. Irick has served as the Area II director since 1994.
Monitoring of the Rock Creek was conducted at 10 sample sites on April 23, July 18, and Oct. 20, 2022.
The April event had increased turbidity levels in the street, but the chemical tests were all within the state guidelines.
The July sampling followed a significant rainfall and all 10 sites exceeded the state standard for E. coli content. Nitrate and phosphorus were present at all 10 testing sites but were within the state standards — except at one site where nitrite exceeded the state level.
The Oct. 20 sampling had five sites with phosphorus present that exceeded the state level and four sites where E. coli exceeded the state level.
Nitrite and phosphorus levels continue to rise and fall depending on the season.
“Over the last several years, the monitoring results have indicated that the Rock Creek appears to be in good health at this time,” Schumm said.
The meeting also featured the annual report of the Wells County Extension Service.
Approximately 606 Wells County youth participated in the 4-H program in 2022. Of those, 108 were in Mini 4-H — a program for children of kindergarten age through second grade.
The top five livestock projects for 4-H for 2022 were swine with 88 participants, poultry with 80, rabbits with 67, dairy feeder steers with 59 and meat goats with 47.
On the Expo Hall side of 4-H, 79 members participated in arts and crafts, 72 in foods, 46 in photography, 43 in construction and architectural replicas and 37 in cake decorating.
County Extension Director Bill Horan also reviewed for the large audience the various programs offered by Extension throughout 2022 including the Feeding Tomorrow’s Future Today, So You Inherited a Farm, Now What?, Agronomic Tools for Tight Margins, the Master Gardener program, Landscaping with Nature, Digital Ready Business, Matter of Balance, Hydration for Health, Preserve it Now — Enjoy it Later, Eat Smart — Move More, East Smart — Live Strong and Teen Cuisine.
This year’s River Friendly Farmer is the farming couple of Andy and Angie Evans, who live on 700N just off Ind. 1 south of Ossian.
The Evans’ farm ground is in both the Upper Wabash River and St. Mary’s River watersheds. Andy and Angie Evans raise corn, soybeans, alfalfa and cattle.
Evans uses a variety of conservation practices including no-till, cover crops, grassed waterways, buffer strips and grid soil sampling.
“Integrating no-till and cover crops on the farms with grassed waterways has dramatically decreased the erosion that we had in years past,” Andy Evans said in a report made available to those in attendance. “And the buffer strips along ditches are continuing to improve water quality.”
He also credits grid soil sampling with allowing him to correctly match inputs to decrease excess runoff.
By a show of hands, the SWCD elected Jonathan Patterson to a three-year term as supervisor.
Each year the SWCD opens a poster-drawing contest to fourth- and fifth-grade students of Wells County with a specific theme. This year, the theme was “One Water.”
Winners of this years’ contest in fourth grade were Liam Yates of Bluffton-Harrison Elementary; second place Alexis Sunderman, Southern Wells and third place Aidan Wood, Bluffton-Harrison Elementary. Ethan Swartz, Braelyn Boyer and Raelin Bower, all from Southern Wells, along with Ryan McPherson from Bluffton-Harrison, were runners-up.
For the fifth graders, Cole Jackemeyer was first, Kenda Cullar second, and Addison Dalrymple was third. They all attend Lancaster Central Elementary School.
The runners-up were also all from Lancaster. They were Madison Nordman, Alexis Keller, Kaiden Brooksher and David Runkel.
The top four soil judges for 2022 were all from Southern Wells. They were, first through fourth in order, Keith Pluimer, Gabe McElhaney, Katelyn McMillan and Karlee Warner. The Southern Wells FFA soil judging coach is Damion Watters.
Sara Day, district conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation District, and Elonda Shirmeyer, county executive director of the Farm Services Agency, also presented reports and reminded the audience members of the various programs available through their agencies as well as the deadlines for signing up for those programs.
The event concluded with a presentation on birds of prey by Mark Booth of Take Flight! Wildlife education.
The event was catered by Dan’s Fish Fry.
glenw@news-banner.com
