The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The Henderson County Soil and Water Conservation District held its 73rd Annual Meeting and Election of Directors on February 25th, 2019 in Lomax at The Pink Tavern.
Tom Spreitler introduced the 2019 Henderson County Conservation Farm Family Award Winners, Mitch and Debra Lefler of Stronghurst.
Mitch and Debra have been great caretakers of the farms they own and rent and have worked with the Conservation District office on several projects. They have enrolled various acres into CRP Programs and continue to spend their own resources on conservation practices on their farms.
They were commended for their efforts and Larry Sterett and Harold Ravenscraft presented a plaque to the Lefler's.
Shannon Pence introduced the guest speaker Jeff Brown, of Brown's Forestry. Jeff spoke on all aspects of Timber Management clear thru a harvest and sale of the timber. He was very informative and reminded everyone forests are no different than the crop fields and they must be harvested when needed. He fielded several questions from the audience and it was a very interactive presentation.
Chairman Larry Sterett recognized that it was the 73rd consecutive time the Conservation District has highlighted its accomplishments.
Brad Flatt gave the invocation, and a delicious meal was served.
Directors present included: Larry Sterett, Harold Ravenscraft, Tom Spreitler, Bill Sullivan and Brad Flatt.
SWCD personnel present included Shannon Pence and Aaron Jarvis was present for NRCS.
The 2018 minutes and financial report were reviewed by Tom Spreitler and approved.
Jerry Keimig gave the results of the district election of directors held on Monday, January 28th at the Henderson County Soil and Water Conservation District office in Stronghurst.
Clark Kelly and Jeff Ravenscraft were elected to serve on the SWCD Board of Directors for a two-year term. The report was approved.
Shannon Pence gave a Year in Review report for the local Conservation District highlighting project accomplishments, cost share dollars spent locally, educational events and showed several picture highlights from the year. Assistance was given on 275 farms spanning over 1250 acres. To achieve this, nearly $240,000 was spent on projects preventing thousands of tons of soil from eroding. Such accomplishments were among the few things highlighted in this report.
Door prizes were drawn and the meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m..
Chairman Larry Sterett, Director Harold Ravenscraft, Mitch & Deb Lefler of Stronghurst.