Ford County Conservation Facts The Newsletter for Conservation Partners Published by Ford County Conservation District 104 Soule Street Dodge City, KS 67801-2504 (620) 227-3731 Ext 3 VOLUME 19 ISSUE 1 [email protected] WINTER 2016 CONSERVATION DISTRICT ANNUAL MEETING The 68TH Annual Meeting of the Ford County Conservation District will be held at the Ford County Fair Building in Dodge City, on Saturday, February 6, 2016 beginning at 6:00 p.m. The purpose of this meeting is to give a full report of the District’s activities and to hold an election for a District Supervisor. The term of Wesley Slattery will expire. The meal will be provided by banks in Ford County. Winners of the 2015 Poster Contest will be recognized and presented awards. The theme this year is: “LOCAL HEROES—Your hardworking POLLINATORS” A certificate will be presented to the recipient of the 2016 District Scholarship. The recipient of the Ford County Wildlife Habitat Conservation Award will be recognized that evening. A program entitled, “Kansas—Where the West Begins” will be presented by Jeff Davidson of Eureka, KS. Combining a unique blend of songs, historical facts, and pictures, Jeff Davidson revisits the history of Kansas, and its tremendous influence on the shaping of the U.S. economy, ideology, and heroism. We invite you to join us at this meeting and meal. All landowners and producers are invited, and reservations are required. Please return the form found on the back page of this newsletter, call, email, or visit our office to let us know that you will be attending this meeting and dinner. We need to have a count by Friday, January 29 2016. If you are interested in serving as a Supervisor or Advisor for the Ford County Conservation District, we invite you to contact our office or any member of the Ford County Conservation District Board of Supervisors. Any Ford County registered voter 18 years of age or older is eligible to serve as a Supervisor. The Ford County Conservation District Board of Supervisors meets monthly to conduct business. INSIDE THIS ISSUE SPRING WINDBREAK PLANTINGS 2 INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR POSITION NO TILL ON THE PLAINS WINTER CONFERENCE ENROLLMENT PERIOD FOR CRP 3 NATIVE GRASS SEED FOR CONSERVATION 4 WATER INDUCED SOIL EROSION 5 CALENDAR OF EVENTS 6 1 SPRING WINDBREAK PLANTINGS The Ford County Conservation District offers a windbreak planting service to landusers. We encourage you to contact our office as soon as possible if you are interested in planting a windbreak this spring. We plan to begin tree planting in March. The trees and shrubs need to be ordered early to assure timely delivery. Our office will accept tree orders through January 29, 2016. The Kansas Forest Service will accept orders for trees and shrubs through May 2, 2016. There is cost-share assistance available under the Continuous Conservation Reserve Program and the Environ- mental Quality Incentives Program to establish windbreaks for farmsteads, feedlots, or field windbreaks. Please contact the Ford County Conservation District office if you are interested in planting a windbreak on your farm. The office telephone number is 620-227-3731, Ext. 3. INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR POSITION The Ford County Conservation District provides a custom grass seed drilling service to landusers in Ford County. This service is primarily for drilling cover crops, buffer strips, wa- terways, and other small grass seedings. The cover crops and grass seed drillings need to be completed at certain times of the year. The District Board of Supervisors is taking applications for a person who would be interested in working as an independent contractor. This person would be required to own a tractor to pull a grass drill. Please contact the Ford County Conservation District office at 620-227-3731, Ext. 3 if you are interested in applying for this position. No-Till on the Plains Winter Conference Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday: January 26-28, 2016 Salina, Kansas Bicentennial Center www.notill.org "This year’s conference has something for everyone who wants to learn more about no-till production practices" Featured Speakers NEW! Indiana Producer, Mike Starkey Dr. Ray Ward ARS Weed Scientist Randy Anderson Iowa Farmer Steve Berger John Aeschliman Dr. Wendy Taheri Jonathon Lundgren Dr. Dwayne Beck Dr. Jill Clapperton Ray Archuleta Gabe Brown 2 ENROLLMENT PERIOD FOR CRP OPENS AS THE PROGRAM CELEBRATES 30 YEARS General enrollment period for the USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) will remain open untilFebruary 26, 2016. The CRP program cel- ebrates its 30th anniversary with this month’s roll-out. It is one of the na- tion’s largest voluntary conservation programs and has become an essen- tial tool for conservation district work across the country. NACD has been actively engaged in CRP guidelines and implementation on the federal level as well. As a key stakeholder group, NACD was cho- sen to participate in CRP roundtable discussion with USDA and Farm Ser- vice Agency representatives in developing the Agricultural Act of 2014’s new guidelines for the program. NACD played a crucial role in communi- cating foreseeable objectives and obstacles when positioning CRP for the future. Since it was established in December of 1985, CRP has: prevented more than 9 billion tons of soil from eroding, enough soil to fill 600 million dump trucks; reduced nitrogen and phosphorous runoff relative to annu- ally tilled cropland by 95 and 85 percent respectively; sequestered an an- nual average of 49 million tons of greenhouse gases, equal to taking 9 million cars off the road. Check out the Farm Service Agency’s CRP Anniversary website for more success stories from across the U.S. For more information on FSA conservation programs, visit a local FSA office or www.fsa.usda.gov/conservation To find your local FSA office, visit http://offices.usda.gov 3 Native Grass Seed for Conservation By John Drew, Soil Conservationist Seeding dates for native grass in Western Kansas are December 1st thru May 15th. If you are enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and scheduled to plant grass in 2016, you should be looking for seed now. Consult with NRCS staff to determine the seed mix you need, and the amount of Pure Live Seed (PLS) required. There are many named varieties of native grass and forbs. These should be used when and where available. If a named variety is not available, use seed from as close to the area being seeded as possible. Native har- vest seed has restrictions based on distance and elevation. The seed source must be certified to the state and county level to accurately deter- mine distance and elevation. A native seed source should be no more than 400 miles south, 150 miles north, and 1500 feet in elevation. Seed from a southern source is preferred over a northern source. Kansas is home to a great many acres of bluestem native grass. Native mixed bluestem may be used where separate species cannot be harvested. There must be sufficient seed of the desired species to provide the re- quired PLS for the planned grass seed mix. Be aware of what is in the grass seed you are purchasing. If the mix you purchase contains noxious or restricted weed seed, the mix will not be eli- gible for cost share assistance. The Kansas Seed Law states the kind and amount of permitted weed seed, requirement for a current seed analysis, and labeling standards. The seed tag or label must show purity, germina- tion, date of last test, and weed seed content. You may obtain a copy of the Law from the Kansas Department of Agriculture. Noxious weeds in Kansas are Kudzu, Field Bindweed, Russian Knapweed, Hoary Cress, Canada Thistle, Leafy Spurge, Quackgrass, Bur Ragweed, Pignut, Texas Blueweed, Johnsongrass, Musk Thisle, and Sericea Lespedeza. Bull Thistle and Multiflora Rose are county options for the noxious weed list. In Kansas, the seed test is valid for 9 months after the end of the month the test is conducted, as long as the seed remains in Kansas. If the seed is shipped across state lines, Federal seed law states the germination test is valid for 5 months after the end of the month the test is conducted. If you purchase grass seed on February 15th and the seed date expires on April 10th, the seed must be planted by May 15th – the end of the spring seeding period. If you have already purchased seed and cannot get the seed plant- ed, contact the seed company immediately. Many times they will work with you to take the seed back, or obtain a seed sample to conduct a new germination test. Native grass seed may not retain its germination if kept for extended periods of time. 4 Water Induced Soil Erosion By Brian Hampshire, Soil Conservationist Soil erosion is caused by the erosive forces of wind or water. In this publication, we focus our attention on concepts surrounding water-induced soil erosion. This type of erosion threatens our ability as humans to sustain our global population with food and fiber, and is closely linked to economic vitality, environmental quality, and human health concerns. Roughly 75 billion tons of fertile topsoil is lost worldwide from agri- cultural systems every year. In the United States, we lose an estimated 6.9 billion tons of soil each year. Losses at this scale are not sustainable and result in our increasing dependence on costly inputs such as fertilizers and soil amendments that we use in an attempt to make up for the beneficial qualities that were present in the lost topsoil. Erosion results in the degradation of a soil’s productivity in a number of ways: it reduces the efficiency of plant nutrient use, damages seedlings, decreases plants’ rooting depth, reduces the soil’s water-holding capacity, decreases its permeability, in- creases runoff, and reduces its infiltration rate.