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Nicollet Soil & Water Conservation District
424 South Minnesota Ave.
Saint Peter, MN 56082
507-931-2550
Nicollet SWCD News
PRSRT STD
US Postage Paid
Permit # 9
St. Peter, MN 56082
Online version available @ www.nicolletswcd.org
January 2015
The Nicollet Soil and Water
2015 Tree Information / Order Day:
Conservation District:
The annual Tree Information / Order Day will be held
on Thursday, February 12th, from 8:00am to 4:30pm
424 South Minnesota Ave.
at the District Office located at 424 South Minnesota
St. Peter, MN 56082.
Avenue, St. Peter, MN.
Phone: (507) 931-2550
Tree orders for the 2015 season will be accepted
through March 31st, 2015. If you would like to mail your order in, please
District Board
send to 424 S. Minn. Ave, St. Peter, MN 56082. Order forms are
Bruce Hulke, Chair
available on our website www.nicolletswcd.org. If you have any
Robbie Gieseke, V -Chair
questions about Tree Order Day, please contact Blake @ (507) 931-2550.
John Kral, Secretary
Pat Pehrson, Treasurer
Eldon Brown, Member
District Employees
Kevin Ostermann
District Manager
Blake Honetschlager
District Technician
Great River Greening:
Karen Galles
Watershed Coordinator
Office Hours:
Monday-Friday
8:00am-4:30pm
-Please call ahead to schedule
an appointment.
-District employees are
frequently out of the office
performing field work.
Natural Resource
Conservation Service:
Phone: (507) 237-5435 ext. 3
April Sullivan
District Conservationist
Joel Wurscher
Soil Conservation Tech.
Seven Mile Creek Grant Aims to Demonstrate Power of
Voluntary Conservation Activities:
Farmers and other landowners in the Seven Mile Creek watershed
have been quietly working towards improving water quality in Seven
Mile Creek for decades. A recent grant from the Board of Water and Soil
Resources (BWSR) will accelerate and expand access to financial and
technical assistance, as well as showcase success.
The watershed will receive nearly $1.7 million over four years,
primarily to provide flexible financial assistance to landowners interested
in projects that will improve water quality. “The key word here is flexible,” said Seven Mile Creek Watershed Coordinator Karen Galles,
“Nothing that will help water quality is off the table. This will allow us to
adapt what we do to whatever makes sense for each individual property
or farm.”
The Targeted Watershed Demonstration Program seeks to funnel
large dollar amounts to a small area with the goal of showing that significant investment in conservation can create significant improvements in
water quality metrics. “We’ve been working on soil and water conservation for 80 years, but honestly, don’t have too much to show for it. Minnesota’s waters belong to all of us, and it’s irresponsible to keep on doing
the same thing if it’s not achieving the results we want.” Galles said. She
continued “We’re going to be different by focusing on good relationships,
by approaching this work in a collaborative and creative manner, and by
being responsive to the concerns, ideas, and criticisms of the watershed
landowners.”
The focus of spending throughout the life of the grant will change,
but the emphasis on flexibility and responsiveness will not. During the
first year, Galles will begin by promoting strategically-placed buffer
strips; practices at tile outlets that reduce nitrates (e.g. woodchip bioreactors); and precision water table management for new and existing tile systems. For more information on these grant funds, call Karen Galles at
(507) 931-2550.
NRCS SPOTLIGHT:
As we all know, the landscape of Nicollet County is located within the prairie pothole region.
These potholes are unique natural resources, providing endless benefits to our soil, water and
wildlife resources. Nicollet County landowners have a great opportunity to restore foregone wetland basins
through the assistance made available under the 2014 Farm Bill Conservation Programs. USDA’s NRCS offers
both technical and financial assistance through the Wetland Reserve Easement program (WRE) to landowners
towards effectively restoring wetland basins and establishing a conservation easement. If you have been
thinking about options to restore your wet areas, contact the NRCS office at (507) 237-5435 ext.3.
Also, under the recent passing of the farm bill pollinators were kept as a high priority. This has been a
hot topic among conservationists as of late with good reason. An estimated $15 billion worth of crops are
pollinated by honey bees, annually. With all of that in mind, NRCS is available to provide guidance and support
to Nicollet County farmers to implement conservation practices that will provide safe and diverse food sources
for honey bees.
Finally, the Nicollet County NRCS has combined services with the Sibley County NRCS Office.
Because of this, the field office previously located in St. Peter has closed. The combined NRCS office is now
located in Gaylord. The new mailing address is 111 6th Street, Box 161, Gaylord, MN 55334.
State Cost-Share Available - Nicollet SWCD is now funding Best Management practices with 2015 State
Cost-Share dollars. Cost-Share provides up to 75% funding for the installation of Best Management Practices
(BMP’s). For more information contact the SWCD office.
Alternative Side Inlets - The Nicollet Soil and Water Conservation District hosted a free field day event
last August for local ag landowners interested in the use of alternative side inlets. These new side inlets facilitate better water drainage on agricultural land near open ditch systems. The inlets are a conservation practice
designed to help keep soil on fields and out of local water bodies. Contact Karen Galles in the SWCD office for
more information.
RIM Easements -Conservation easements are a critical component of the state’s efforts to improve water quality by reducing soil erosion, phosphorus and nitrogen loading, and improving wildlife habitat and flood
attenuation on private lands. Easements protect the state’s water and soil resources by permanently restoring
wetlands, adjacent native grassland wildlife habitat complexes and permanent riparian buffers. In cooperation
with county Soil & Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation
Service (NRCS), BWSR's programs compensate landowners for granting conservation easements and establishing native vegetation habitat on economically marginal, flood-prone, environmentally sensitive or highly erodible lands. For more information on Conservation Easement programs available contact Kevin Ostermann in
the Nicollet SWCD office 507-931-2550.