Published: September 06, 2008 09:29 pm         

Agency strives to conserve all natural resources

The Dust Bowl from which many Americans eked a bare subsistence may have gone the way of history decades ago, but the bowl on the table that provides the living with their daily nourishment is as contemporary as human life. That is where the Southern Conservation District office steps in — both then and now.

The change in name that occurred in recent years is indicative of the agency’s expansion of focus. What was once the Southern Soil Conservation District — a subdivision of the state Department of Agriculture, as are all 14 districts in the state — now aims to improve conservation of all natural resources.

“In the beginning, it was really soil erosion. It’s now drought and flooding. Now, it’s about all aspects of conservation. We’re looking into the education part to educate people from Day One,” explained Becky Floyd, administrative officer.

“If you can reach them then, they will carry it out later in life. Our focus has become more urban issues. This district worked with a federal agency to do the Cranberry Creek Channel in front of the (Byrd Drive) shopping area. We did the Whitestick flood-control project in Sprague in front of Value City.”

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Not that the agency is neglecting the farmer. Many of the farmers who work with the Southern Conservation District are concerned about keeping their farms in business. With escalating fuel prices and a lack of interest in farming on the part of newer generations, many wonder and worry about the future of agriculture, Floyd said.

“I think we’re looking more and more to the Legislature to have more funded cost-share programs. People are in here every day asking for cost-share assistance with fertilizer. We don’t have that to offer them,” Floyd lamented.

“A lot of people are selling their cattle or downsizing. They have to keep lime and fertilizer on the ground. Without that, it’s not going to get the proper nourishment,”

Her agency is able to help area farmers with the former on a cost-share basis. Each of the southern district’s six counties receives a total of $10,000 for the spreading of lime on farmland. The Southern Conservation District will cover 50 percent of the cost of lime.

“We’ve had 300 sign up since it started in 2006. There are continuous sign-ups,” Floyd explained.

The agency also received a one-time grant for $60,000 to help eradicate multiflora rose. With that program, a farmer can either hire a commercial applicator to spray herbicide or go through the state Department of Agriculture, get an applicator license and be reimbursed by the district office at a 50 percent rate.

The district has equipment for rent as well, including a lime truck, slope mower, dozers and excavators. Employees will assist with farm ponds upon request, as well as build fencing and walking trails.

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The hands could do nothing without the head. Christi Meador, who coordinates the office’s educational endeavors, is Floyd’s program coordinator — and daughter. As Floyd tells it, the office has had a long history of mother-daughter relationships.

Originally established in Shady Spring in 1944, district clerk Loretta Maynor worked out of her home with two or three employees. At that time, the employees did mine-reclamation work, saved their money and were able to construct the building at its present location on Ragland Road in 1974.

During the office’s Shady Spring years, Maynor hired Barbara Walker — Floyd’s mother — to be her assistant. Maynor retired in 1989, Walker became the district’s administrative officer, and Floyd was the district clerk.

When Walker passed away in 2002, another woman was hired and quit. Meador was hired, Floyd was promoted, and the rest is history.

The district office places great faith in education. A $750 annual scholarship offered by the district is named in honor of Meador’s grandmother.

“We have a yearly public speaking contest. The kids cannot wait for that each year,” Meador said.

“It’s really a good way to get kids into speaking. We take farm animals to schools. We even took about 400 fifth-graders and 50 pre-schoolers to a supervisor’s farm this year. They had a blast. Farmers are the nicest group of people you can ever meet.”

Additionally, Meador explained, there’s a soil stewardship program given out to churches, money for an aquatics program at one school, an anti-freezing watering trough, an envirothon team at Shady Spring High School that competes nationally, and the purchase of 100 white-pine tree seedlings planted by Shady Spring elementary students.

“Our supervisors will open their farms (to tours by students),” Meador noted. “They’re really involved. Our educational programs are free to everyone. We want to teach kids how to conserve in their own backyard.”

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One very significant change this year in the district offices around the state is the placing of supervisors on the ballot and their evolution into the role of elected officials for the first time. Floyd describes them as volunteers who are only reimbursed for mileage and meal expenses. Two will be elected in each county this November.

“They will have to get out there and work with the community — talk to farmers, listen to them and get their ideas. They (farmers) are the ones who can give you the ideas. They are what our future depends on. They can tell us what we need to know. They’re very intelligent people. I can’t tell you how much they have a love for the land,” Floyd observed.

Meador agreed that older and would-be farmers need encouragement to continue bringing forth sustenance from the ground. “It’s a bad thing that, with prices now, the small farmer doesn’t stand a chance,” she opined.

“If you’re just raising hay to sell, you’re not going to make it. The younger generation doesn’t farm anymore. They’re not picking that up at all. For the younger generation, it will take a lot for them to make it just from farming.”

Floyd also sees her office serving as a cheerleader of sorts for local farmers, especially in an era of great uncertainty. “We just really encourage the farming community to stay in there — encourage local farmers markets to grow, maybe develop more urban gardens,” she said.

“We need to reach out there and see what’s available with our natural resources. What the future holds will be new for all of us. Where will we be 10 years from now, and what will we be doing?”

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The Southern Conservation District encompasses the counties of Fayette, McDowell, Mercer, Raleigh, Summers and Wyoming. For more information on any of its programs, call Floyd or Meador at 304-253-0261 or visit the Beckley office at 463 Ragland Rd.

You may also e-mail them at bfloyd@wvca.us or conservewv@hotmail .com.

— E-mail: mhill@register-herald.com