Homer Soil & Water Conservation District Newsletter Spring 2018

“To provide education and leadership in the conservation and sustainable use of soil- and water-related resources The BIG News through cooperative programs that protect, restore and improve our environment.”

Homer Soil & Water’s In this issue: New Home! NRCS  Final Year of Soil Study  Summer Outreach Events  Food Hub Online  Fare Thee Well to a Friend Coffee Burritos  Baby Salmon Live Here  Local Working Group  Coming Together for A.R.  Welcome Nicole Arevalo! Curry Salads  Welcome Jim Engebretsen!  NRCS Committee Meeting  EQIP Taking Applications We Moved!  HSWCD Anchor River Outreach It is somewhat sad to say that Homer Soil and Water has left its home of over 30 years--the blue tile building on the corner of Pioneer and Lake. We're now down Pio- Board of Supervisors neer, still co-located with NRCS, in the Frontier Building (the former location for Tech Connect) at 432 E. Pioneer. Our space is nice and cozy and ready for visitors.  Chris Rainwater, Chair Feel free to stop by the office and say hello; we’ve got some great Alaska Grown  Otto Kilcher, Vice Chair stickers and pins waiting for you and your family.  Genarita Grobarek, Treasurer  Tim Alzheimer, Secretary COME IN AND SAY HELLO TO THE NEW PLACE!  Jim Engebretsen (*new!*) District Staff  Has a thing for invasive weeds  Kyra Wagner, A ND SAY District Manager  Knows all that needs to be known about various  Devony Lehner Natural GOODBYE TO mysterious permitting processes. Resource Specialist AN OLD  Loves to build trails with kids, educate kids about  Brad Casar, Natural Invasive weeds or anything else they will listen to. Resource Technician FRIEND WHO :  Always wears a Scottish wool hat.  Charlotte Crowder, Biological Technician  Loves to play music. And loves practical jokes. See page 3 for more clues  Nicole Arevalo (*new!*)  Will be missed…. Natural Currents Newsletter Page 2 The Alaska IT’S ALL ABOUT SOIL HEALTH Food Hub: Open Soil Health Study’s Outreach Events for Business, Online! Last Year to Plan For Homer Soil and Water Conservation District is nearing completion of year two Online shopping is open for Homer! of a soil health study done in cooperation Visit the Alaska Food Hub website to see with NRCS and four agricultural produc- what it’s all about, and scroll through the ers. Over the past 2 years, vegetable lists of fresh locally grown, harvested, plots have been maintained outdoors and produced food and crafts. and in high tunnels to The Alaska Food Hub, previously track how cov- known as the Food Hub, er crops, re- is an aggregator and online marketplace duced tillage, This summer, in conjunction with of locally grown, harvested, and pro- nutrient man- the NRCS soil health study and SVT duced foods and crafts. The Food Hub agement, and Health and Wellness Clinic, multiple will be functioning in a very similar man- conservation outreach events will take place ner for Homer this year, except now crop rotation throughout the growing season. Homer producers are able to sell to a affect soil health. Outreach activities began on May broader market of Seldovia, Ninilchik, Each producer had a different level 3rd with a discussion at SVT on develop- and Soldotna. In addition, Anchorage is of experience with both cover cropping ing healthy soils. Healthy soils produce operating on the same system to create and reduced tillage before the study healthy, productive crops. As farmers an online marketplace for Anchorage started. Implementing these practices and gardeners, it is our goal to build producers and customers. For the previ- into each grower’s operation came with deep, fertile, resilient soils to create a ous two years, Cook Inletkeeper has different challenges and strategies to healthy environment for beneficial soil effectively use these practices in their hosted a grant making the food hub op- microbes that will support the crops we erations possible during the initial trial management. Specifically, cover crop- grow. At SVT, we talked about manag- period. 2018 is the first year of operation ping in raised beds is not a common ing the biological, physical, and chemi- without the grant, and the Inlet Keeper practice, so it has required some innova- cal properties of your soils so that they tive approaches that each farmer tackled can be healthy and productive for years decided to continue hosting the food hub in a different way. to come. and its operations. This summer we will conduct the In late spring, SVT's weekly Thriv- This year an exemption has taken final season of plot trials. A new vegeta- ing Thursday will offer a visit to Carey effect to allow cottage food industry ble crop will be grown in the rotation, Restino’s Homer Hilltop Farm, where we items to be sold on the online market- followed by cover crops in late summer. will demonstrate a variety of farm tools. place. We encourage everyone to check At the end of the season the final soil These will include tools and equipment tests will be performed and field notes out the website and think about how for seeding, weeding, tilling, harvesting, they can contribute to this fantastic from the previous 3 years will be summa- and processing. Participants will be food system enrichment tool. Ordering rized. We look forward to having the available to see tools in action and get from the Alaska Food Hub helps to build data analyzed to see how the trials per- advice on what they are best suited for. formed and what results can be derived Dates for this event will be publicized and support our community, preserve from the soil health study in Homer. through SVT's Thriving Thursdays flyers, agricultural land, lower carbon footprints or check our website for updates. by decreasing food miles, and At the end of the growing season we will visit at least one of the soil health study strengthen local farms so that participants can view test plots in all their glory. We plan to visit these sites when cover crops are in production so we can see and talk about differences we economies. have noted over the years as a result of each treatment. We encourage folks to come Happy out and ask questions about how they can make cover crops work in their own par- Shopping! ticular situations. Natural Currents Newsletter Page 3

A fond “Fare Thee Well” Baby Salmon Live Here to Matt Steffy Kachemak Heritage Land Trust's (KHLT) Baby Salmon Live Here program is an incredi- In the spring of 2013 Matt Steffy ble outreach initiative that is good for salmon joined the Homer Soil and Water Con- across the Peninsula. The goal of this im- servation District team as the invasive portant program is to help encourage good pest coordinator. Since then, he has stewardship of important salmon habitat. This tirelessly and enthusiastically helped includes installing Baby Salmon Live Here signs the District promote awareness and in strategic, unsuspected places that salmon control of the invasive species causing live and need to survive, increasing awareness problems throughout the Cosmic Ham- that salmon truly surround us, sometimes even let. Some of his favorite activities in- in our own back yards. cluded regular visits to schools around The Baby Salmon Live Here project is cur- Homer to educate future generations rently being implemented across the Peninsula of land stewards. He loved getting the by KHLT and in Anchorage/Matsu by Great kids out in the woods and fields to Land Trust who developed the program in identify and remove the invasive plants 2014. It is hoped that the initiative will be state found around school properties. wide in the not too distant future. The “Chief Amazement Officer” For more information about this amazing here at Homer Soil and Water, Matt is salmon-centric program or if you would like to moving on to new challenges in get involved, please contact Denise Jantz at: Homer. Since he first arrived here, he [email protected]. has had his sights on the chief parks and recreation position with the City of Photo by KHLT: Seward resident and long-time Homer. After many great years of ser- KHLT supporter Mark vice, we are proud to see Matt move Luttrell showing off a pos- on to his dream job with the City. sible “Baby Salmon Live Here” sign location in downtown Seward.

Conservation Districts work as a grassroots form of local governance authorized under state law. They create bridges between individual cooperators (landowners interested in sustainable use of the natural resources they manage) and other partners, including non-governmental organizations and all levels of government. The aim is to combine and coordinate resources to achieve shared conservation goals. The District model was established in the 1930s by Con- gress as a way to promote coordinated conservation approaches to healing soils during the “Dust Bowl” of the 1930s.

Join us as a cooperator! It is similar to membership in your favorite group. Being a cooperator says that you support good practices on your land (like the ones demonstrated in the Soil Health Study) but it also gets you the benefits of a voice at the District level through your vote or your presence on our board.

Natural Currents Newsletter Page 4 Local Working Group Meeting

of these notes.) Con- office staff and local soil and water dis- cerns shared included tricts so that this information can be private and public water shared with ag producers. The group management, resource promoted NRCS and district efforts to extraction permitting, inform ag producers about salmon- grazing land health, for- enhancing conservation practices. Iden- est stand management, tifying the most effective of such practic- and more, but it was es was encouraged. clear that the group was Similarly, the group recognized that particularly concerned about maintain- controlling invasives also requires out- Homer and Kenai Soil and Water ing healthy salmon habitat and control- reach to and education of landowners, ling invasives. Conservation Districts (SWCDs) hosted a as well as on-the-ground eradication “Local Working Group” (LWG) meeting in One concern related to salmon efforts. Each agency and organization Homer on April 6, 2018, at the Islands habitat was ensuring that ag producers can play a part in helping manage and and Ocean Visitor Center. Over 30 indi- and other resource users and managers control the spread of invasives on the viduals attended—from local farmers understand how their actions might peninsula—whether on private farms or and ranchers to city and borough staff to affect natural resources that in turn public road rights of way. state and federal land managers and affect salmon. NRCS and district pro- regulators to environmental scientists An enjoyable activity that closed out grams that help landowners understand the meeting was using polling clickers and educators. relationships between salmon habitat provided by Homer Soil and Water. One reason they all showed up was quality and the resources that landown- Questions to the group were displayed ers manage—whether groundwater, to become more familiar with programs onscreen, and each participant could of the USDA Natural Resources Conser- peatlands, alder patches, drainage click on their answer, with results imme- flows, high tunnels, or haylands—are vation Service—particularly the program diately displayed. The figures below give unique tools for increasing this local that has brought hundreds of high tun- two examples: the top one shows which understanding. Research organizations nels—as well as other “conservation conservation practices the group ranked like ADF&G, Inletkeeper, and Kachemak practices”—to the Kenai Peninsula. That highest (most important) and the program is the Environmental Quality Bay Research Reserve can provide use- bottom one, ... [Continued on page 5] Incentives Program, or EQIP, and since ful information to peninsula NRCS field 2010, EQIP payments to peninsula “ag producers” have totaled about $5 mil- lion. Districts partner with the NRCS to help educate communities about such programs and to help get “conservation on the ground.” A key reason for NRCS and the SWCDs to organize LWG meetings is to listen to members of the community identify their resource concerns— whether they're farmers or city planners or federal regulators or non-profits. This input helps NRCS identify resource prior- ities that its programs can address. In Homer, two concerns kept coming up throughout the meeting: stopping the spread of invasives—both plants and animals—and reducing negative impacts to salmon habitats. Other concerns were raised, among them the concern that we know very little about how much water is being used or redirected on the peninsula. During the meeting, every partici- pant was able to share his or her inter- ests and concerns—and Homer Soil and Water documented these onscreen for everyone to track. (Contact Homer Soil and Water if you're interested in a copy Natural Currents Newsletter Page 5

[cont. from Local Working Group] ...which methods of contact the group All Coming Together thought could best increase communica- tion with landowners. on the Anchor River Not surprisingly, the group ranked conservation practices that help main- Homer Soil and Water is proud to tain healthy salmon habitat as most be working with several partners to important. The NRCS “Working Lands identify changes and improvements to for Wildlife” program on the peninsula the lower reach of the Anchor River. can complement this priority—as can With funds from an ACWA grant, loca- specific practices funded through EQIP. tions downstream from the Old Sterling Identifying these practices could be a Bridge needing streambank restoration beneficial follow up activity. The conser- will be identified and then solutions vation practice ranked second highest discussed. This is perfect timing be- was irrigation water management, re- cause State Parks is creating a man- flecting the concern of many as to how agement plan for the area and our climate warming and low winter snow- work can feed into that plan. pack might reduce groundwater re- charge and therefore the amount of wa- It also is perfect timing because ter available for irrigation, instream Kachemak Heritage Land Trust is also flows, and other beneficial uses.. Other working on a project that involves gathering collaborators to share all the projects votes were spread among a variety of being planned and implemented on the Anchor River. Having assisted private land- conservation practices. owners in conservation on the Anchor for nearly 20 years, KHLT is accepting dona- tions of conservation preservation agreements and property for permanent protec- Homer Soil and Water was proud to tion. Tax incentives and grant money may be available to help protect your valuable co-host this meeting with the Kenai Dis- habitat, so contact KHLT to learn more. trict on behalf of the NRCS. The District- NRCS partnership is now almost 200 The Kachemak Bay Research Reserve happens to also be working a great deal on years old and, with the issues facing our the Anchor River right now with a headwater and a groundwater mapping project. communities, this and other partner- They have developed tools for landowners to use when looking at the lay of their ships are more important than ever. land so they can judge what sections of land have the most/least impact on salmon habitat. Showing people what tiny little tributaries harbor salmon has been a huge eye opener of this project. Stay tuned for hikes in search of baby salmon guided by KBRR. Another group that is jumping into the Anchor River this year is the Kenai Watershed Forum. They sponsor the Stream Watch program. Stream Watch is made up of local volunteers who visit a river regularly to meet up with anglers and other stream users and give out educational information and encourage good stewardship. Stream Watch is already active on streams up the Penin- sula, but this year they will get started on the Anchor River as well. Stream Watch is hiring a local coordinator and looking for local volunteers, so contact Alice at the Kenai Watershed Forum for more information. This year king fishing is closed in the upper Inlet, so the Anchor River will likely receive an above average amount of visi- tors. This is a perfect time for all of us to work together and decide the best ways to keep this river healthy.

NICOLE AREVALO & JIM ENGEBRETSEN! Nicole Arevalo has lived Jim Engebretsen has in Homer since 2004 and been in and around An- is strongly attached to chor Point since 1974, her freezer full of fish and had the first high and moose. She spent tunnel contract with the most summers working on boats in the Aleutians or in NRCS’s EQIP program. A local grower of a myriad of , and believes that Alaska is the best state in the things, his specialties include particularly tasty French fin- USA because the wild fish, land animals and waterways gerling potatoes and gooseberries. When he’s not farm- ing, he’s commercial salmon fishing on a driftboat. Jim is are still abundant. Nicole has hired on with Homer Soil & attuned to the community, and after filling in on the Water to conduct interviews with producers and consum- board, has decided to take a seat with us. Here he is pic- ers for a Homer based food system survey. tured with his Kenai Peninsula Fair 2014/15 first-place Zucchini Cocozelle, from Italian stock.

Natural Currents Newsletter Page 6

phone or join in the video conference Health Project taking place at the Plant Public Notice: from the NRCS office in Homer. The Material Center. meeting will begin at 9 a.m. and ad- NRCS State Technical To inquire about teleconference journ by noon. Committee Meeting participation, please contact Dee Covalt The NRCS State Technical Com- at (907) 761-7747 or by email at Scheduled mittee provides recommendations on [email protected].

issues related to a variety of NRCS con- NRCS provides products and services Landowners and managers are servation programs. Although the State to enable people to be good stewards of encouraged to participate in the Technical Committee has no implemen- the nation’s soil, water, and related nat- USDA’s biannual meeting on tation or enforcement authority, NRCS ural resources on non-federal lands. conservation in Alaska. gives strong consideration to the Com- With the help of NRCS, people are better mittee’s recommendations. The able to conserve, maintain, and improve PALMER, April 25, 2018 The USDA’s meetings are open to public participa- their natural resources. Natural Resources Conservation Service tion. Draft agenda items for the May State Technical Committee will meet 2018 meeting include presentations on Thursday, May 31, at the Alaska Plant the new USDA agreement process, Trib- Materials Center, but you can attend by al Conservation Districts, and the Soil

USDA owners voluntarily implement conser- To learn about technical and finan- vation practices to improve natural re- cial assistance available through conser- NRCS is taking sources. Payment is provided for a vari- vation programs, contact an NRCS Office applications for ety of practices to address resource - Fairbanks: (907) 479-3159, Kenai: (907) concerns related to water quality, graz- 283-8732, Wasilla: (907) 373-6492, Delta conservation program ing land health, soil erosion and quality, Junction office: (907) 859-4241, Homer: and wildlife habitat. (907) 235-8177, and Juneau: (907) 586- Conservation problems get 7220 or visit www.ak.nrcs.usda.gov. addressed through the USDA’s Applications for EQIP are accepted Natural Resources Conservation on a continuous basis, however, NRCS NRCS employees provide technical Service establishes application acceptance or assistance based on both sound science submission deadline dates to evaluate and the specific needs of landowners. PALMER, Mar. 29, 2018 – Do you and rank eligible applications. Until NRCS provides financial assistance for have land with a conservation problem? funds are exhausted, contracts will be conservation activities to protect soil, The USDA’s Natural Resources Conserva- awarded to producers with the highest water and related natural resources. tion Service can help you find solutions. rankings. Participation in programs is voluntary and non-regulatory. Alaska agricultural producers and forest- “NRCS in Alaska is committed to ry managers who want to address natu- working with landowners to improve ral resources and increase environmen- and protect lands through Farm Bill USDA is an equal opportunity provider, tal benefits are encouraged to sign up conservation programs,” said Amanda employer and lender. To file a complaint for the Environmental Quality Incentives Crowe, Assistant State Conservationist of discrimination, write: USDA, Director, Program. The second batch of applica- for Programs, “This conservation invest- Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence tions for EQIP will be accepted through ment boosts agriculture production, Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250- Friday, May 11. improves environmental health and 9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice), or supports a sustainable economy in Alas- The EQIP program provides financial (202) 720-6382 (TDD) and technical assistance to help land- ka communities.” Natural Currents Newsletter Page 7 Homer Soil and Water Outreach on the Anchor River

The Anchor is one of the most popular sportfishing riv- ers on Alaska's road system, providing fishing for kings, sil- vers, Dolly Varden, and steelhead. Every summer thousands of anglers and recreationists line its banks, crowd its campgrounds, and gather on its beaches to fish, launch boats, pitch tents, picnic, get together with friends, and en- joy what the river offers. As with many rivers, popularity brings issues —from trampled banks to safety concerns along access roads. Ad- dressing these is complicated by the fact that the river is so dynamic. For one thing, it meanders back and forth across an active floodplain and is subject to regular, sometimes severe flooding (as in 2002). For another, winter ice can build up in the channel (see photo top right), leading to ice scour along streambanks and sometimes extensive flooding behind ice dams. Below the Old Sterling Highway Bridge, most land bor- dering the river is within the Anchor River State Recreation Area managed by Alaska Division of Parks and Outdoor Rec- reation (areas colored blue in the map at right). State Parks is looking at ways to improve fish habitat and recreation in this area. Homer Soil and Water is helping State Parks collect in- formation—especially from landowners and from scientists who have studied the river for years. Soil and Water is also helping coordinate outreach to landowners so that those interested can know who's doing what along the river and how to contact them. As part of this effort, Homer Soil and Water hosted a community meeting on April 14 at the An- chor Point Senior Center. About a dozen locals shared their knowledge of and love for the river, helping clarify key con- cerns. State Parks, Fish and Game, Kachemak Heritage Land Trust, and Stream Watch also attended—making it convenient for landowners to meet key personnel and ask them questions. Homer soil and Water has set up a Facebook page: “Anchor River Updates,” where anyone can learn about or post information related to the lower Anchor River. What do you see as the best way to address trails and streambank issues? Tell us!

Left to right: Jason Okuly, Jack Blackwell, Jason and Kyra look upstream from Jack, Kyra, and Sue discuss streambanks State Parks; Kyra Wagner, Homer SWCD; Silverking Campground towards the Old where foot traffic has removed vegetation and Sue Mauger, Cook Inletkeeper Sterling Highway bridge. and accelerated slumping of banks. Natural Currents Newsletter Page 6

The HSWCD Board meets on the second Wednesday of the month at 5:00 pm. We meet at the USDA Service Center, 432 East Pioneer Ave, Suite C, Homer. We welcome all visitors! Feel free to call our office to confirm the time & location. GOT EMAIL?

There is so much going on in our office regarding

 Trails and Outdoor Education  Invasive Weed Management  Agriculture and Local Food &  Habitat Conservation

that we’d like to share in our newsletters, and it would waste less and let us publish more if we email them. Then we could keep you better informed! So, if you’re receiving a mailed copy or you’re a newcomer….

PLEASE SEND US YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS!

Write us today at [email protected], and we’ll put you on our newsletter list.

In partnership with USDA-NRCS, the HSWCD is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer

432 E. Pioneer Street, Ste C Homer, Alaska 99603

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Phone: 907-235-8177 x 5 Email: [email protected] Web: www.homerswcd.org