101 N Market St * St Clairsville, OH 43950 ~ 740-526-0027 ~ belmontswcd.org ~ [email protected]
COOPERATOR
SAVE THE DATE!
70th Annual Meeting on October
8, 2015 at the Belmont County
Fairgrounds.
Upcoming Events
May
2-Captina Wildflower Walk
6-Area III Envirothon @ Zion Retreat
8-TSI Workshop @ Dysart
16-Captina Creek Volunteer Monitor Training
18-Conservation Field Days Meeting @6pm
June
5-After School Archery Day
12-Conservation Field Days Begins
30-Streambank Stabilization and Riparian En-
hancement Workshop
Belmont Soil and Water Conservation District Spring / Summer 2015
Equipment Rentals
7 1/2 ft. No-Till Drill—$10.00 per acre
2 Row Corn Planter—$10.00 per acre
5 Ton Lime Spreader—$2.00 per ton
All equipment has a $50.00 minimum charge.
Geotextile Fabric available at $1.25 / linear foot.
Call the office today to schedule your equipment!
740-526-0027
Belmont SWCD
101 N Market St
St Clairsville OH 43950
NON-PROFIT US POSTAGE PAID
ST.CLAIRSVILLE OH PERMIT NO 147
Timber Stand Improvement (TSI)
Workshop @ Dysart Woods
May 8, 2015 from 12:00—4:00
This workshop offers instructive and hands-on TSI help with the guidance of Jeremy Scherf, Service Forester; Mark Landefeld, Monroe Co. OSU Exten-sion; Liza Butler, Wildlife & Forestry Specialist; Kim Brewster, Captina Watershed Coordinator; Joe Leh-man, NRCS Conservation Technician and Dave Bauerbach, NRCS Soil Conservationist.
This workshop will help identify garlic mustard and the control methods of eradicating this problematic plant. Grapevines and their identification and control methods will be addressed.
Bring a shovel or hand spade and dress for the weather.
101 N Market St * St Clairsville, OH 43950 ~ 740-526-0027 ~ belmontswcd.org ~ [email protected]
Area III Envirothon Hosted by Belmont SWCD
May 6, 2015
Zion Christian Retreat and Nature Center will be buzz-
ing with high school students competing in this year’s
Area III Envirothon! The Teams compete against each
other to represent our District at the State level competi-
tion. The teams are tested in the areas of Aquatics,
Soils, Wildife, Forestry and a current issues topic;
“Urban and Community Forestry”. Members of the
SWCD’s in Area 3 come together to create a challeng-
ing and fun environment for the participants. Belmont
has a total of 4 teams participating locally this year. 2
from Olney Friends School and 2 from Barnesville.
GOOD LUCK TEAMS!
AREA III SWCD’s: Belmont, Carroll, Coshocton,
Guernsey, Harrison, Holmes, Jefferson, Knox, Licking,
Monroe, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble, Perry, Tuscara-
was, Washington
Thank you to the following organizations and indi-
viduals who contributed to the success of the
Area III Envirothon:
Zion Christian Retreat and Nature Center
Commissioner Ginny Favede
Flushing American Legion Post 366 Color Guard
Melinda Anderson
Walmart
Farm Credit Services
Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources
Ohio Federation of SWCD
South Central Power
Organic Valley
Flushing Fire and EMS
Riesbeck’s Food Stores
View from the Thalweg:
A Captina Creek Update
By Kim Brewster
Flowers are blooming. Birds are chirping. Spring peepers are calling. Anglers are casting. Salamanders are migrating to vernal pools to breed. Spring has sprung in the Captina Creek Watershed! And we are springing into action as we work to protect and restore Captina Creek and its tributaries.
Belmont SWCD and the Captina Conservancy are collaborating to develop a Volunteer Water Qual-ity Monitoring Program in an effort to assess the health of the Captina Creek Watershed and en-gage community members of all ages. Volunteer data will provide valuable information for the com-munity and watershed partners involved in stream protection and restoration projects. An upcoming Volunteer Training will take place at the Stillwater Science Center in Barnesville, Ohio on Saturday, May 16
th. This training will provide volunteers with a variety of helpful information, including an over-
view of the watershed area, historic protection efforts, and the basics of chemical, physical, and bio-logical stream monitoring. Volunteers will also be provided with the equipment they need to conduct their monitoring, on a loan basis, and have an opportunity to practice monitoring in both lab and field settings. If you are interested in this exciting opportunity and would like to attend the upcoming Volunteer Training, please contact Belmont SWCD for more information and to RSVP by May 13th. This program is supported by the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium Conservation Fund.
Belmont SWCD is continuing its partnership with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to install three ripar-ian tree plantings in the watershed this spring. Riparian (streamside) vegetation serves many bene-fits for watersheds: streambank stabilization; filtration of sediment, nutrients, pathogens, and pesti-cides from water runoff; regulation of stream temperature by providing shade; reduction of flood damage; increased organic matter and reduced soil compaction; and the enhancement of wildlife habitat and biodiversity. All of these benefits help improve the quality of streams in our watershed. If you are interested in a riparian enhancement or streambank stabilization project on your property in the Captina Creek Watershed, please contact Belmont SWCD to discuss funding opportunities for these types of projects.
On Tuesday, June 30th, Belmont SWCD will be hosting a Streambank Stabilization and Riparian
Enhancement Workshop at the Stillwater Science Center. This free workshop is designed for local officials and operators in Belmont County, and will be led by an experienced stream restoration ex-pert, Joel Bingham of EnviroScience, Inc. Topics will include stream physical forms and functions and the application of this information to develop stream restoration and enhancement projects to benefit watersheds and communities. Belmont SWCD has received an Ohio Environmental Educa-tion Fund grant to hold this workshop. If you are interested in participating in this workshop, call Bel-mont SWCD for more details.
For questions about Captina Creek or volunteer opportunities, please contact Kim Brewster, Capti-na Creek Watershed Coordinator, at 740-526-0027 or [email protected]. A thalweg is the line that connects the lowest points in a valley and thus it is typically the deepest point in the cross section of a stream channel.
Dave Bauerbach and Joe Lehman helping us get
aquainted with the new Great Plains No Till Drill~
Bill Beatty giving a lecture about the Barred Owl before
our “Owl Prowl” where we successfully managed to call
in a Barred Owl on a very cold night.
101 N Market St * St Clairsville, OH 43950 ~ 740-526-0027 ~ belmontswcd.org ~ [email protected]
Contributions/Donations
Thank you to those who have contributed to the Bel-
mont SWCD. Your generosity allows us to expand op-
portunities for education and conservation.
George & Linda Kleevic in Memory of Jerome Ebbert
Barney Kubisak Jr., Project Healing Water FlyFishing
United Dairy
Gulfport Energy
Captina Conservancy
Spring is upon us and with every spring comes pretty
flowers, and lovely smells along with
the occasional unwelcome guest.
Live Traps are available for rent
$5.00 for 2 weeks.
DID YOU KNOW….
The Cooperator is available to you via email? If you
would like to receive your copy electronically send us
an email and let us know at [email protected]
We still have Belmont
County Plat Books
available in the office!
$25.00 each
Board Member Elections
The District will be seeking a candidate to run
for the Board of Supervisors. If you are inter-
ested in running please note the following and
contact the office if you have any questions.
3 year term
Voluntary
Term begins January 2016
Election will be held during the
70th Annual Meeting on October 8, 2015
A major key to monarch survival is milkweed,
the only plant that the monarch, as a butterfly or
in its caterpillar stage, dines on. As such, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other organi-
zations are calling on people to plant milkweed
in their own gardens to help replace millions up-
on millions of acres of milkweed that have been
lost in recent decades.
SUPERVISORS
Jason Mayberry, Chairman
Brian Murphy, Fiscal Agent
Don Giffin, Vice Chairman
Nicole Turner, Secretary
Dan Freund, Public Relations
Board of Supervisors Meeting Schedule is available
on our website belmontswcd.org
SWCD EMPLOYEES
Liza Butler, Administrator / Wildlife and Forestry
Specialist
Kim Brewster, Captina Watershed Coordinator
Kathy Baugh, Administrative Assistant
Vacant, Agriculture Technician
NRCS EMPLOYEES
Dave Bauerbach, District Conservationist
Joe Lehman, Soil Conservation Tech
Chris Skatula, Civil Engineering Tech
New Employee
We are pleased to announce that we have hired
Kathy Baugh as our new
Administrative Assistant.
Kathy comes to us after
working for 22 years at Bel-
mont College in a similar
capacity. She resides in
Flushing with her children,
Lindsay and Camden.
We are updating our website
belmontswcd.org
We have all done it! Looked at something so much we
don’t even see the obvious anymore!
We are trying to update our page instead of building
something new.
If you see a problem with our webpage, please call
Kathy and let her know! Thank you.
740-526-0027
Thank you to our presenters and educational partners
this past quarter
Bill Mead– Owl Prowl Host
Naturalists Bill Beatty and Janice Runyan—
Owl Prowl Presenters
Local syrup producers Hugh and June Hyre—
Maple Tapping Workshop Presenters
Olney Friends School - Maple Tapping Work-
shop Host
Rosemary Campbell—Salamander Migration
Host
How Dirt Makes You Happy
Antidepressant microbes in soil cause cytokine levels to rise, which results in the production of higher levels of serotonin. The bacterium was test-ed both by injection and ingestion on rats and the results were increased cognitive ability, lower stress and better concentration to tasks than a control group.
Gardeners inhale the bacteria, have topical con-
tact with it and get it into their bloodstreams when
there is a cut or other pathway for infection. The
natural effects of the soil bacteria antidepressant
can be felt for up to 3 weeks if the experiments
with rats are any indication. So get out and play in
the dirt and improve your mood and your life.
Excerpt from http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/
garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/antidepressant-
microbes-soil.htm
101 N Market St * St Clairsville, OH 43950 ~ 740-526-0027 ~ belmontswcd.org ~ [email protected]
June 12—GIS/GPS/Archery
10:00 am-3:00 pm
June 19—DeNoon Lumber Co
9:00 am-2:00 pm
June 26—Canoeing/Wildfire Safety
9:30 am-3:00 pm
July 3—Conservation Day
10:00 am-3:00 pm
July 10—Simpson Plainfield Dairy Farm/Archeology
9:30 am-3 :00 pm
July 17—Fly Fishing/Trapping
9:30 am-3:00 pm
July 24-Exploring Captina Creek/Water Quality Testing
9:00 am-3:00 pm
July 31-August 1—The Wilds/Camping
8:00 am-9:00 am
Cost: $75.00 for Zip Line or Bus Tour at THE WILDS
HOW DO I APPLY
Conact Liza Butler, Wildlife/Forestry Specialist 740-526-0027 or email [email protected] for an application.
Space is limited, register early.
Educational activities that will include con-
servation and consideration for dendrology,
wildlife, water, soil quality, and biodiversity.
Professional advice and assistance.
Training and tools to help become better
stewards of the land
After School Archery Day
June 5, 2015 @ Barkcamp State
Park, 10am—1pm
Ages 8-18
The goal of this program is to promote con-
servation and stimulate youth interest in
the outdoors and it’s preservation. A won-
derful benefit to this program is the self con-
fidence that is built by learning the skill of
archery. BAI certified instructors will lead
the course and it is sponsored by the Nation-
al Wild Turkey Federation, Division of Wild-
life and Foundation for Appalachian Ohio.
Space is limited and will fill on a first come
first serve basis, so call the office and register
today.
740-526-0027
Become an Ohio
Certified Volunteer
Naturalist
Ohio Valley Naturalist Group
Class Schedule Every Tuesday and Thursday 5:30PM - 8:30PM
August 4th-September 3rd
Barnesville Library Annex with outdoor venues as well
Cost: $125.00
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION
Our Partners:
Certification Requirements:
To become an Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalist, you
must:
Complete 40 hours of combined classroom and field
instruction
Perform 40 hours of approved volunteer service within
the first year
After certification, 20 hours of volunteer service and 8
hours of advanced training are required annually.
Contact Information
Dan Lima
Belmont County Extension Educator
Ohio State University Extension
101 N Market Street, Suite A
St. Clairsville OH 43950
Telephone: 740-695-1455