CELEBRATING CONSERVATION

 Each year the Fannin Soil and Water Conservation District celebrates conservation with a special dinner to recognize and honor outstanding persons in their efforts to conserve our natural resources.  On December 9, 2004, forty-four people attended the banquet and were entertained with an excellent slide show of beautiful pictures taken throughout the year of accomplishments and events in Fannin County.

Director Billy Partridge presents the Conservation Farmer of the year award to Mr. and Mrs. Porter Reeves.

Craig Myracle, Outstanding Conservation Teacher, receives his award from Director David Keene. Craig is the Agricultural Teacher at Sam Rayburn.

Mr. and Mrs. Percy Hunter accepts the Resident Conservation Rancher award from Director Harvey Milton

Mr. & Mrs. Roger Dawdy with Chairman Jones.

Roger Dawdy a member of the Fannin Soil & Water Conservation District board of directors for thirteen years (1991-2004) was honored for his dedication and leadership with an engraved watch and a heartfelt thank you.  Roger was a very active member of the board of directors will be missed. We hope he comes by from time to time to keep us updated on his retirement and all of his great adventures.

Somethin' To Think About

Can you remember when we had gullies, ditches, waterfall gullying, channel gullying, draw, ravine, and in the West it may have been called a creek although it carried water only immediately after a rain? Remember when a new invention called a tractor replaced the horse, and when you had to do different jobs around the farm just to try to make ends meet. Now with modern technology we have a new science called erosion control that replaced “fixin that ditch”, a computer that has all the answers, and everyone I talk to has so many other obligations that they can’t find time to do anything around the house. Maybe there is a way to help with all this new technology that’s available.

Now is an excellent time to take a walk in the pasture and make an evaluation for any problems that have started after all this year’s wet winter weather. If you find a problem area that has a drainage area of 10 acres or less, you can probably fix it with that tractor we talked about, plow or disk, and the help of a box blade. The area will need to be shaped and smoothed so that you can go over it with farming equipment. The seeding rate should be double the normal recommended rate. Just remember the warm seasons planting dates are from now to May 15^th. Also, it’s a good time to take that soils test that we sometimes forget about to help us with the recommended fertilizer rates. If you run across a problem area that has a drainage area greater that 10 acres I recommend that you seek outside help, because it could require additional assessment, design work, and assistance with the application. The modern fancy word to describe this “ditch fixin” is Critical Area Treatment. Feel free to give us a call @ (903)-583-9513 and ask for Randy, Steve, Johnnie or Mary Jane. We would be glad to help in anyway we can. Like I said in the beginning this is just “somethin' to think about”.