During the 1930s, the United States was plagued with the dust bowl which destroyed countless miles of crop land due to severe droughts and failure to prevent wind erosion. These unfortunate events completely changed the state of many crop fields, forcing many farmers too move elsewhere. After these events, the nation became more aware of the importance of conservation practices with the president of the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) stating that: “Soil is an essential natural resource that all of us depend on each and every day”.
The Pope County Soil & Water Conservation district (SWCD) along with others like it, work with farmers and land owners to implement a variety of projects while dealing with local outreach to improve the soil health of both current and future lands. To learn more about soil types in your community, please visit Web Soil Survey Website. Along with the website, you can also download an application called “soilweb” for smart phone devices which also gives information about local soils. The app was developed by the California Soil Resource lab in collaboration with the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service and can be another great resource.
This year teachers and students were invited to participate in the Annual Poster Contest put on the by The Pope County Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD). With this year’s theme being “Dig Deeper: Mysteries in the Soil”, teachers and students of three local elementary schools (Belgrade Brooten Elrosa (BBE), Minnewaska Elementary, and Glacial Hills Elementary) were challenged to harvest their creative skills by creating informative posters that highlight some facts about soil. There were a total of three winners from each school along with another three overall winners for the County. See list below.
The Pope County Soil & Water Conservation District would like to thank everyone that participated in the poster contest. The overall winners will compete at the area II meeting in June. Area II covers twelve Counties. Congratulations to all the winners and good luck to the overall winners at the area contest.
2014 Poster Contest Winners
BBE
- Dacia Herickhoff-6th Grade,
parents Michelle & Kurt Herickhoff - Grace Illies-6th Grade,
parent Jennifer Illies-Sabol - Jozey Goodall-5th Grade,
parent Darren Goodall
Minnewaska Elementary
- Amberly Bengtson-5th Grade,
parent Krista Bengtson - Macabe Thoen-6th Grade,
parents Steven and Stephany Thoen - Savannah Lorsung-6th Grade,
parent Deb Linn
Glacial Hills Elementary
- Kallie Larson-6th Grade,
parent Katie Larson - Abbie Barsness-5th Grade
- Josiah Wright-6th Grade,
parent Heather Wartner
Overall Winners
- Amberly Bengtson-5th Grade,
parent Krista Bengtson - Dacia Herickhoff-6th Grade,
parents Michelle & Kurt Herickhoff - Macabe Thoen-6th Grade,
parents Steven and Stephany Thoen