Oklahoma’s upstream flood control dams working hard for Oklahoma’s people, land and infrastructure

News Release

Oklahoma Conservation Commission
2800 N. Lincoln Blvd. #200
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
405.521.2384
www.conservation.ok.gov

 

Oklahoma’s upstream flood control dams working hard for Oklahoma’s people, land and infrastructure

As the weekend night flickered with lighting, rumbled with thunder and flowed with intense late June rains, Oklahoma’s upstream flood control dams were working just as they were designed. That critical work has continued into the days to follow.

Oklahoma leads the nation with 2,107 upstream flood control dams. Regardless of the hour of the day or the ongoing hours of work needed, these flood control dams are doing their jobs to protect the people, land and infrastructure of Oklahoma.

In a five-day period -- 6 a.m. Friday, June 25 to 6 a.m., June 30 – flood control dams spread through 14 Oklahoma counties resulted in $10.1 million in monetary benefits in terms of damages that did not occur because of the presence of these dams. There were 121 DamWatch system “Rainfall Alerts” in  those 14 counties – Caddo, Comanche, Creek, Custer, Kiowa, Lincoln, Logan, Noble, Oklahoma, Pawnee, Payne, Rogers, Washington, Washita – and 12 “Auxiliary Spillway Flow Alerts” in three of those 14 – Lincoln, Noble, Payne counties. There were 22 different watershed that received alerts within the 14 counties.

Chris Stoner, Natural Resources Conservation Service State Conservation Engineer said on Wednesday that there have been, “No reports of damage to any of the dams inspected to date.” 

“I never complain about a significant Oklahoma summer rain,” said Tammy Sawatzky, Oklahoma Conservation Commission Director of Conservation Programs. “The rainfall over the past week is a real reminder of the importance of the local, State and National investment in Oklahoma’s flood protection and flood prevention infrastructure. The 2,107 dams built under the USDA Small Watershed Program are a real asset when we have a weather week like the one we are in this week. The repeating rainfall reminds us of the importance of the financial and human resources Conservation Districts invest in maintaining the protection. This June rain will help us stretch grazing on our pastures, green our gardens and make for an extra mowing or two out on the front lawn. The flood protection provided to Oklahoma through the Small Watershed Program will protect life and property as well as reduce potential damage from uncontrolled flooding. Those are all wins if you ask me!” 

“The storms we get here in Oklahoma can and do strike anywhere at any time,” Stoner said. “Of the 14 high hazard potential dams that received rainfall alerts, only two of those dams were originally constructed to meet high hazard potential criteria.  Luckily, four others have been rehabilitated and now meet current dam safety criteria.  However, the remaining eight that received heavy rainfall in this event along with over 200 other high hazard potential dams in the state are still in need of rehabilitation.  They did their job, this time, but all of Oklahoma’s flood control infrastructure continues to age and will need continued support from the federal, state, and local partners.” 

Watershed projects were based on the conservation principle of holding the raindrop high in the watershed as close to where it strikes the ground as possible. 

So, nine out of 10 Oklahomans are living within 20 miles of a flood control dam. Oklahomans live, work and play daily under their protection every day. Flood control makes modern Oklahoma life possible in many rural communities.

The watershed programs are one of the best examples of federal, state and local partnerships to address natural resources issues. Watershed projects are federal-assisted, not federally owned. NRCS provided funds to plan, design, and construct the dams. Project sponsors, typically local conservation districts, are responsible for operation and maintenance of the dams to assure they continue to function as there were designed,

Oklahoma’s flood control dams have established a $2 billion infrastructure that provides benefits to thousands of citizens. In fact, it’s estimated that the dams and accompanying conservation practices in the watersheds provide approximately $96 million in benefits each year.

That’s where the DamWatch system comes into play.

A Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) “National Watershed Benefits” computer model estimates the daily monetary benefits resulting from watershed projects for a specific storm. These “benefits” are essentially the damages that would have occurred from that storm had the dams not been built. 

“DamWatch is my ‘Go To’ site for all things related to our dams,” Stoner said. “I have file cabinets full of drawings and documents related to the dams literally steps away from my desk, but I go to DamWatch first. The graphical display easily takes me to the dam or dams of interest. I can see the current condition of the dam, based on the most current aerial photo, and look at things going on both up and downstream.”

From his USDA NRCS state office on the campus of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Okla., Stoner can access the As-Built drawings for all dams across the state and zoom in on areas that may be hard to interpret even from the original documents.

“I can see if any trip reports or photos have been uploaded that may shed additional light on an issue,” he said. “And, I can write a ticket about a dam that gets to all the pertinent staff with the click of a button.”

  The flood control dams not only provide flood and erosion control to over two million acres of agricultural land in downstream flood plains, but they also provide sources of water for livestock and irrigation and habitats for wildlife. Forty-two of the flood control dams were constructed as multi-purpose structures, which provide municipal and rural water supplies and recreation areas for local communities.

Benefits provided by the flood control dams include: Protecting 2,756 county and highway bridges; Providing a reduction in flooding for 41,744 farms and ranches; Trapping 19 million tons of sediment each year, which would otherwise end up in major streams and lakes; and creating or enhancing 90,979 acres of wetlands.

The number of dams built each year peaked in 1965 when 157 dams were built.  During the decade of the 1960s, an average of two watershed dams were constructed each week. Many of the watershed dams in Oklahoma are reaching the end of their 50-year designed lifespan. Since most of the dams were designed with a 50-year design life, during the decade of the 2010s, two dams came to the end of their evaluated life each week. So, in addition to 1,423 watershed dams that reached the end of their evaluated life in 2020, an additional 172 dams will reach that mark within the next five years.

However, just because a dam exceeds its evaluated life, it does not mean that it won't safely function as designed for many years longer if properly maintained. However, funds are critically needed to maintain these dams so that they can function as designed and remain safe. As previously mentioned, watershed dams are a part of an estimated $2 billion of the public infrastructure that must be attended to. If funds are not provided for maintenance, not only will devastating flooding return in the areas prior to the projects being constructed, but lives will be at-risk.

Rehabilitation of these aging dams is a priority in Oklahoma so that they can continue to protect people's lives, property, and natural resources for the next 100 years. To date, 58 watershed dams have been funded for rehabilitation to meet current safety standards; 38 of these have been completed. The remainder are in various stages of design or construction. 

"Think about these intensive rains in Oklahoma," OCC Executive Director Trey Lam said. "Any loss of property and damage to land is a tremendous loss. That's exactly why the benefits of these dams are so important, and that's what these watershed projects do, they protect areas from flooding losses that used to occur frequently before the dams were built.  In addition to protecting crops and farmland, some of the dams also protect lives. They also are designed to reduce damages to buildings, agricultural products, roads, bridges and so many other vital aspects of our daily lives.”

Photo caption, PHOTO 1: Shown here is the Principal Spillway running full flow at Stillwater Creek Site Number 2 in Payne County earlier this week.

Photo caption, PHOTO 2: Shown in this photo is the Emergency Spillway of Dry Creek Site 15 in Lincoln County earlier this week.

Graphic: A look at several of Oklahoma's Flood Control Dams at Work from Friday, June 25 through Wednesday morning, June 30. 

Don Bartolina’s passion for conservation runs several decades deep

News Release

Oklahoma Conservation Commission
2800 N. Lincoln Blvd. #200
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
405.521.2384
www.conservation.ok.gov

Don Bartolina’s passion for conservation runs several decades deep

Would you like to see a genuine smile, one that originates from the heart?

Would you like to see what it looks like to invest your life in others and in conservation?

Just take a moment and watch Don Bartolina get into the lead car of a 250 car-bus-truck procession bound for the site of the National Land & Range Judging Contest. Behind him are nearly 700 4-H and FFA students and over 200 coaches from over 34 states. He doesn’t know them all by name, but he’s proud of every one of them; that’s the reason for the smile.

Over the last 60 years, Bartolina has served with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts. For close to 17 years of that span, he’s worked as the District Manager for the Oklahoma County Conservation District. This month, the 85-year-old Bartolina retires.

In an interview for the Oklahoma Conservation Heritage Oral History Project, he was asked how he would like his career to be remembered. The answer was short and from the same place as the grin: “He made a difference and enjoyed it.”

From the start… 

Bartolina’s mother’s parents came from France and his father’s parents from Italy.

“They didn’t know each other but they took the same route to come here (Oklahoma),” he said. “They came from Ellis Island to southeast Kansas to work in that coal field. Then they moved to the Henryetta area in Okmulgee County to work in the coal field there. My parents were born there.”

His grandfather, on his mother’s side, was killed in the coal mines as the result of a rockslide.

Besides the coal mines, he had family who owned a grocery store and did a little farming as well. His father worked at each of the latter two.

Bartolina was born and raised in the small community of Coalton and graduated from high school at nearby Schulter.

“I tell people that I graduated in the top 10 of my class,” he says, grins, and continues, “but I don’t tell them that there were only 12 people in my class.”

When asked about his earliest conservation memory, Bartolina rewinds to the early 1950s.

“When I was in 4H in the early 1950s, the feedstore in Okmulgee offered a bag of fertilizer to use for us 4H kids,” he said. “I took it home and my dad said, ‘We’ve been using manure for years.’ I said, ‘Yeah, but this is kind of something new.’ So, we took a little plot in our corn field and used that fertilizer and saw the difference it made. How green the corn was and better. We started using a little bit of fertilizer.”

Bartolina would go on to earn a bachelor’s degree in 1959 and master’s degree in 1972, both in Agronomy, both from Oklahoma State University.

Having married his high school sweetheart Darlene in 1958, life took them as far away as Montana for a short while, but in 1961 they returned to Oklahoma where Bartolina started his career with the Soil Conservation Service in Watonga, as a soil scientist. He spent a couple of years in Watonga working on the soil survey, then transferred to Chandler to help with that soil survey, and then it was on to Wewoka in Seminole County.

“I worked on that soil survey and I was the party chief, even though it was a party of one,” he said. After three to four years it was on to Tulsa to start that soil survey.

Then came an opening in Oklahoma City working with the state planning agency; a federal employee assigned to a state agency. In 1977 he became the District Conservationist for Oklahoma County, and served in that position for 24 years until his first retirement. During this time, he assisted a multitude of landowners in improving their land by installing several thousand conservation practices. He was also active in the State Soil and Water Conservation Society and served on the National Board for nine years.

However, even though the job titles changed, there’s been at least one aspect of Bartolina’s conservation career that has been a part of him for about six decades – the National Land & Range Judging Contest.

Opportunities everywhere 

Summing up Bartolina’s perspective of his career would go something like there’s a lot of soil, and a lot people so that equals a lot of opportunities.

Bartolina became involved with the contest when he started working for NRCS as a soil scientist in 1961. By the mid-1980s, he was contest coordinator, working diligently behind the scenes months before the pits were ever dug.

“The contest was part of my NRCS training,” he said. “When you’re out there and the kids are asking questions, that’s when you learn. It gives kids an appreciation for the land. When you think of all the state and local contests that lead up to this, the number of students and coaches involved, it’s rewarding to know you’ve had some impact on their lives.”

The national contest is comprised of three events held concurrently at the same secret location. In the land judging event, contestants enter several three to five-foot deep pits to evaluate the qualities of the soil and determine its potential for agricultural production. Range judging contestants rotate through roped off rangeland sites to identify plant species and determine the site’s value for cattle production and quail habitat. Homesite evaluation challenges contestants to determine the value of a site for residential development.

Sure, it’s true that COVID-19 placed the event on hold for two years, but weather doesn’t. There have been days of beads of sweat, drops of rain, and pellets of sleet, and the contest continued.

To touch so many lives every year requires the close cooperation of several public and private partners.

“It’s a labor of love,” said Bartolina, who points toward about 200 volunteers that see the event through in quality fashion. “There’s not another contest with this many people from so many places working for the same thing. I hope it continues and I hope new people can get involved and keep it going.”

Don’t take that to mean he’s worked his last event. Phil Campbell, chairman of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission and a director for the Oklahoma County Conservation District, said, “He has to remain a part of this. We need him.”

That goes back to Bartolina saying he wants to be remembered as someone who made a difference. That’s the case whether you are talking about the National Land & Range Judging Contest or working with NRCS or the Oklahoma County Conservation District.

“We did an emergency project one year out by Jones, and we got it done quickly,” Bartolina said. “Floodwaters were about to take out the road and we got in and rip-rapped and saved the road. A lady wrote a letter to a Congressman talking about the efficiency of government and what a quick and good job we did. Now that makes you proud when you can do something to help people, they appreciate it.”

Bartolina says that after this retirement he plans to continue to spend time with his wife of 63 years, his four married children, 10 grandchildren and six great grandchildren (to date) and continue to volunteer doing what he loves – serving the conservation community.

Oklahoma County Conservation District presented Outstanding Conservation District Award

On Wednesday, our OACD Executive Director, Sarah Blaney, Executive Director, far right, presented the Outstanding Conservation District Award to the Oklahoma County Conservation District. Blaney stated about the award:

“The Oklahoma County Conservation District is consistently a leader in soil and water conservation. From developing innovative programs to managing a national youth contest to turning out great leaders, Oklahoma County Conservation District does an outstanding job. Congratulations!”

(Those shown are Stephanie Guy, NRCS, from left, Phil Campbell, Board Member; Jan Kunze, Board Member; Laura Pollard, Board Member; Becky Inmon, Oklahoma County Conservation District Administrative Assistant; and Don Bartolina, Oklahoma County Conservation District, District Manager. Not pictured, are board members Mark Moehle and Rick Godfrey. Also not pictured is Kevin Mink, Soil Health Specialist. This is awarded annually to one district that shows a creative use of resources, hard work and dedication to the mission of OACD.)

Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts Celebrates Outstanding Awards Recipients

NEWS RELEASE

Media Contact
Name: Sarah Blaney
Title: Executive Director
Phone: (517) 763 - 8609
Email address: sarahblaney@okconservation.org 

 Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts Celebrates Outstanding Awards Recipients 

OKLAHOMA CITY — This year marked another year of great conservation work from individuals and districts in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts in partnership with the Noble Research Institute and The Nature Conservancy continued the tradition of honoring individuals exceling in their conservation efforts.

Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts is proud to highlight the recipients of this year’s Outstanding Conservation District Director Justin Miller, Outstanding Conservation District Cooperator, Eric Eyster, and Outstanding Conservation District, Oklahoma County Conservation District. 

“Oklahoma is home to the best conservationists in the country. We are honored to be able to highlight the incredible work of the Oklahoma County Conservation District, Mr. Justin Miller, and Mr. Eric Eyster for their continued effort to conserve Oklahoma's natural resources.” OACD Executive Director, Sarah Blaney, said.

Justin Miller, recipient of the Outstanding Conservation Director Award, was nominated by the Ottawa County Conservation District’s Board of Directors and staff for going above and beyond in his efforts to conserve and protect the natural resources associated with his land and home. Those efforts include but are not limited to his display of leadership qualities and dedication to conservation, outreach activities dating back to 2003, his dedication to being involved in youth outreach activities, and his consistency to actively serve on the district board for over 10 years. Justin Miller has been a great asset to not only the Ottawa County Conservation District, but to conservation work in Oklahoma.

 Eric Eyster, recipient of the Outstanding Conservation District Cooperator Award, was nominated by the Deer Creek County Conservation District board and staff for his conservation efforts, conservation management practices, and his involvement in many community conservation activities. Eric is a fifth-generation farmer who kept the family tradition of planting the same plants in the same fields alive by switching from conventional tilling to no-till in 2004, improving the land for generations to come.

“Mr. Eyster has attended district meetings and also OACD state meetings. It is a honor for me to nominate Eric Eyster for the Outstanding District Cooperator, someone who signifies conservation and natural resources.” – Larry Bryen, Deer Creek County Conservation District.

Oklahoma County Conservation District, recipient of the Outstanding Conservation District award, was chosen due to their commitment to the mission of OACD, their creative use of resources, and their hard work. One of the key ways they demonstrated their commitment to the mission of OACD and conservation of natural resources was through their use of the Watershed Program. The Oklahoma County Conservation District currently has two watershed structures in their district, of which they proactively addressed hazards to these structures and worked hard to maintain them and keep them in good condition. They participated in the Cost Share program, conducted and/or participated in numerous education and information programs, as well as participated in the NACD Technical Assistance Grant and the 2501 CARE Grant. The Oklahoma County Conservation District has been an excellent partner in their dedication to conserving the renewable natural resources of the land and the mission of OACD.

The 2021 OACD Awards are sponsored by the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts, Noble Research Institute, and The Nature Conservancy.

About the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts

The Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts is a nonprofit organization representing Oklahoma's 85 conservation districts to provide leadership, resources and partnership opportunities for those who manage the land to enhance our natural resources for a better Oklahoma. For more information, visit www.okconservation.org.

Mike Thralls Scholarship Applications Now Being Accepted!

Mike Thralls Memorial Scholarship Application

The Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts is proud to announce that applications are now being accepted for the third annual "Mike Thralls Memorial Scholarship." Thralls was an unwavering steward of the land who loved Oklahoma and was committed to preserving her natural resources. Thralls was a graduate of Oklahoma State University who went on to serve as Oklahoma Assistant Secretary of Agriculture and Executive Director of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission. In his memory, OACD will be awarding two $500 scholarships in June 2021.Eligibility: In order to be awarded a scholarship, the applicant must meet the following criteria:

A) Current high school senior in Oklahoma that will be pursuing a degree in agriculture or natural resources at Oklahoma State University.

B) Currently enrolled at Oklahoma State University in the College of Agriculture or Natural Resources; and be a graduate of an Oklahoma high school.

Preferred Criteria: In the spirit of Mike Thralls, applicants that are involved in 4-H, FFA, farming and/or ranching and have expressed an interest in conservation are encouraged to apply. Applicants should exhibit outstanding character, professionalism and a commitment to serve their community. Application Process: Applicants should submit a 500 word essay on a conservation subject of their choice along with their full name, address, telephone number, email address and a copy of their most recent high school or college transcripts to OACD no later than May 15, 2021.Applications can be mailed or emailed to:

OACD

PO Box 2775

Oklahoma City, OK 73101

sarahblaney@okconservation.org

Award Notification:

OKLAHOMA ASSOCIATION OF CONSERVATION DISTRICTS

The scholarship will be announced June 1, 2021. Scholarship winners will be notified via email or telephone. If possible, awards will be presented in person at the winners closest conservation district. All funds will be paid directly to Oklahoma State University.

Image of Mike Thralls from The Ada News

2021 Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Policy Research Center Virtual Meetings

2021 Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Policy Research Center Virtual Meetings

In a series of two-day virtual meetings we invite you to discuss issues and challenges faced by SDFR as we prepare for the 2023 Farm Bill. The Policy Center specializes in policy research impacting SDFRs. Through collaboration with universities and organizations inside and outside the land grant community, the Policy Center leverages employees’ expertise and increases personnel capacity with contractual partnerships with other universities and agencies. During the meeting, we plan to confirm findings from research studies funded by the Policy Center and to gather additional information on priorities identified by the SDFR Policy Center Advisory Board.

https://www.alcorn.edu/discover-alcorn/sdfrpolicyresearchcenter/events/virtual-meetings

Jimmy Emmons, OCC Soil Health Mentoring Coordinator, referenced by "Forbes" magazine

Jimmy Emmons, OCC Soil Health Mentoring Coordinator, referenced by "Forbes" magazine

We want to congratulate Jimmy Emmons of Leedey, Okla., the Oklahoma Conservation Commission Soil Health Mentoring Coordinator and a recent inductee into the Oklahoma Conservation Hall of Fame, for his part in an article in "Forbes" magazine! In “Climate Catalysts: What’s A Planet Worth?,” Erik Kobayashi-Solomon writes:

In other words, by paying Nature back, we end up paying ourselves as well.

The lessons I learned from Conser and Herrington came home to me in a recent conversation with Mr. Jimmy Emmons, a regenerative rancher and farmer based in Dewey County, Oklahoma. Emmons believes that the strategy we have used to farm since the end of World War II has not only decreased biodiversity, lowered the productive capacity of the land, and made farms more susceptible to rains and drought, but has also devastated the economics of American farming families.

Emmons’s operations have generated much higher revenues at a much lower cost since he switched from “conventional” to regenerative techniques, and that is a combination that any businessperson – from a family farmer to a venture capitalist – can appreciate!

The Dasgupta Report tells us that we must start recognizing the debt to biodiversity we are accruing as a civilization. Blue Nest Beef, PrairieFood and regenerative producers like Emmons are showing us how we can pay back that debt with interest.

Conser, Herrington, and Emmons know, as I know, that the methods we have used to feed ourselves for the last three generations reached their “Best By” date long ago. It is time for a new paradigm.

Intelligent investors take note.

For the full article, go to https://www.forbes.com/.../climate-catalysts-whats-a.../Forbes also includes the video of “From the Ashes,” featuring Emmons, a former recipient of the Leopold Conservation Award.

Again congratulations to Jimmy Emmons for spreading the message of conservation, nationally and internationally!!!

Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act

Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act

Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), Senator Ben Ray Luján (D- NM), and Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)

New legislation aimed at delivering $5 billion in direct relief to Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic farmers and other agricultural producers of color to help them respond to the devastating consequences of the pandemic and resulting economic downturn, as well as address longstanding inequity in agriculture.

Historically, Black, indigenous, Hispanic, and farmers of color have struggled to keep their farms and ownership of land in rural communities due to discrimination by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other government agencies. Black farmers in America alone have lost more than 12 million acres of farmland over the last century, mostly since the 1950s: according to data from USDA, while at its peak in 1920 there were approximately 925,000 Black farmers in the United States, accounting for roughly one-sixth of U.S. farmers, by the year 2017 USDA’s Census of Agriculture reported there were only about 35,000 farms with Black producers — just 1.7% of the total number in the U.S. Additionally, hundreds of millions of acres of farmland have been lost across all communities of color due to discriminatory practices at the federal level, and many farmers of color who remain in agriculture struggle with burdensome debt.

Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act

The Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act would provide $5 billion to America’s Black, indigenous, Hispanic, and farmers of color who, in addition to being hard-hit by the current public health and economic emergencies, have long struggled to keep their farms and ownership of their land in rural communities due to discrimination by USDA and other government agencies.

 The legislation provides $4 billion in direct relief payments to help farmers of color pay-off outstanding USDA farm loan debts and related taxes, and help them respond to the economic impacts of the pandemic.

 The legislation provides another $1 billion fund to support activities at USDA that will root out systemic racism, provide technical and legal assistance to agricultural communities of color, and fund under- resourced programs that will shape the future for farmers and communities of color. Specifically, this $1 billion fund will include:

o Grants and loans to improve land access & address heirs’ property issues;

o Support for one or more legal centers focused on agricultural legal issues of farmers of color;

o Pilot projects that focus on land acquisition, financial planning, technical assistance, and credit;

o A racial equity commission and related activities to address systemic racism across USDA;

o Support for research, education, and extension at HBCUs and other institutions of higher education

that historically serve communities of color;

o Scholarships at 1890’s land grant universities and for indigenous students attending land grant

institutions;

o Outreach, mediation, financial training, capacity building training, cooperative development training

and support, and other technical assistance; and

o Assistance to farmers, ranchers, or forest landowners of color that are former farm loan borrowers

and suffered related adverse actions, or past discrimination or bias.

The Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act is supported by Rural Coalition, National Black Farmers Association (NBFA), Black Belt Justice Center, Black Farmers’ Appeal: Cancel Pigford Debt Campaign

RC Media Release

Letter - Support Emergency Relief for Farmers and Ranchers of Color

National Land and Range Judging Contest Cancelled for 2021

After consulting with its partner agencies, the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts (OACD) has made the difficult decision to cancel the 2021 National Land and Range Judging Contest. “Due to ongoing travel restrictions, continuing pandemic health concerns, and other unknown factors, we cannot see a path forward for this year,” said Sarah Blaney, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts. “The health and safety of all our volunteers and participants is our highest priority.” Feel free to contact us at oklahomaccd@conservation.ok.gov or (405) 415-4602 if you have questions. “OACD is hopeful we can continue this great event in 2022,” Blaney said.

March 2 is Soil Health Track Day at the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts Virtual State Meeting

News Release

Oklahoma Conservation Commission
2800 N. Lincoln Blvd. #200
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
405.521.2384
www.conservation.ok.gov

March 2 is Soil Health Track Day at the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts Virtual State Meeting

Some of the challenges of 2020 opened the door for some outstanding opportunities in 2021. Among those is a “Soil Health Track Day at the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts Virtual State Meeting” on March 2, the second day of the OACD State Meeting.

“Several years ago, we had a vision of adding a day to the state meeting at OACD to elevate soil health in our state,” said Jimmy Emmons, Soil Health Mentoring Coordinator for the Oklahoma Conservation Commission. “We would do this by opening up the meeting to the public and inviting out-of-state and local experts in the field of Regenerative Ag to show the audience what’s possible in soil health.”

Emmons encourages producers to come and learn from the best of the best that are willing to share their stories about their operations and lives. This will help the producers on their own operations.

“For instance, can you imagine fencing cattle without a physical fence and moving it with an iPad or computer?” Emmons said. “Nick Jorgenson from Ideal, South Dakota will show you how they are doing this on their operation. They can monitor grazing patterns and their herd from their home or office.”

Brett Peshek and Justin and Jared Rother will talk about AMP grazing 365 and why it’s so important to helping soil health.

Also, Erin Martin will talk about how we can grow older and be healthier with new knowledge of our food and bodies.

Then, because of the opportunities created by a virtual state meeting, producers will hear from Tom Robinson from Australia (shown in photo). He will share how he’s applying new technology to his operation and is turning fertilizer efficiency from 40-50% to 80%.

Plus, Mark and Annette Thomas will share how they are grazing cattle for grass fed beef and marketing through their company TLC beef.

Emmons said, “Come one, come all virtually and learn how to be more successful in your operations.”

The deadline for registration for the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts (Virtual) Meeting is Feb. 26, 2021. Please complete the registration form and email to sarahblaney@okconservation.org. Please note there is a 4 percent credit card processing fee if paying by credit card. Registration fees are $50 registration for both March 1 and March 2, and  $25 for March 1 or March 2 only. You can Download Meeting Registration Form or mail your registration form and check made payable to OACD to: OACD PO Box 2775 Oklahoma City, OK 73101