BATTLE MOUNTAIN - The Lander County Conservation District is seeking a volunteer to fill a vacant position until the next election, said Rod Davis, who has served on the board for 13 years as the University of Nevada, Reno, representative, a position not subject to election.
Davis is also the extension educator for Cooperative Extension in Lander County.
"I think all of us, no matter where we live, have a responsibility to give back to our community some way, some how," Davis said. "Some of us, it may be on the church board. Some of us, it may be PTA, others it may be as a Little League baseball coach but there are a large number of people here in Lander County who love our natural resource base and want to see it managed and utilized and preserved for future generations and I think that's really the opportunity is if somebody wants to give back to their community, what better way than to work on behalf of the mountains and the meadows that we all love and enjoy?
"I think that's the big carrot is that it's an opportunity to give back to your community with a passion for something that you already have so it's not a duty to attend a conservation district board meeting. It's a pleasure and it is a benefit because you are around people that share that interest and that we're actively working on a number of fronts to help do that."
In addition to Davis, there are five Lander County Conservation District supervisors, all elected, at-large positions. The terms are two years but there is no limit to the number of terms that can be served. Applications for the open position can be picked up at the Cooperative Extension office.
Conservation districts were created as a result of federal legislation to encourage soil and water conservation, Davis said. In Nevada, they are run by the state. The board focuses on the preservation and conservation of the county's natural resource base.
It's funding comes from an annual grant from the county, the Bureau of Land Management and the federal government. With an annual budget of $20,000 to $50,000, the board takes on many projects to improve the natural landscape in Lander County.
"There are issues in this world that are real easy to say, 'We'll do that tomorrow. It's OK today. We can put that off,' and I think our natural resource base is one of those things that it's easy to say, 'Well, next generation or tomorrow,'" Davis said. "Then all of a sudden you turn around and there is no tomorrow. It's too late and I think the real value of the board is that they are not saying, 'Let's wait until tomorrow.' They're saying 'We may be one little bunch of guys with not maybe so terribly much money compared to a federal budget but we're going to do our part.'"
The conservation district has a successful cost share program, Davis said. It has been ongoing for around eight years.
"That is targeted at noxious and invasive weed control and so if a farmer or a rancher and even somebody on a five- to 10-acre track, if they have specific weeds on their property, and there's a list, the conservation district will pay up to 50 percent of the cost of the chemical," Davis said. "Now that may not seem like a lot but if you're putting out $10,000 worth of chemical and it's easy to have that kind of bill if you're doing large sprays."
Davis said people just have to apply ahead of time and outline their plans. Applications are available at the Cooperative Extension office. He said the conservation district usually gets eight to 10 applications a year for the program.
"Some of them are small," he said. "Some of them are very big. They really vary. I think there are a lot of people that could take advantage of it that don't and we do our best."
The conservation district also does contracting for the direct control of noxious and invasive weeds.
"We'll hire a contractor if we have a particularly troublesome spot that we think really needs to have some control," Davis said. "We'll just go ahead and contract with them to get that done."
There is also a 300-gallon weed spraying unit that can be rented from the conservation district, he added. The fee is negotiable.
The board is also tasked with administering $50,000 that it was granted by the Lander County Commission for sage grouse conservation efforts. Last summer, the conservation district allocated around $25,000 of that funding to the Bootstraps program for pinion/juniper removal. Currently, the group is looking at using the remaining $25,000 on water projects.
"An awful lot of sage grouse survival is dependent upon healthy riparian areas, springs and creeks because that's where the mamas raise their babies because the babies have a very high protein requirement," Davis explained. "Well, the best source of protein is a bug and the bugs are going to be where the water is and so the
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hens bring their chicks into those riparian areas to get that high quality protein and so that's why those riparian areas are so necessary for sage grouse survival."
The board also provides two scholarships each year to Battle Mountain High School students, targeting youth who intend to major in the natural resources field. The scholarships can be renewed as long as the students remain in good standing.
It also provides two scholarships every year for Cooperative Extension's Range Camp at Big Creek, near Austin. It also provides funding for the Bootstraps program.
Around 10 years ago, the Lander County Conservation District was instrumental in establishing a drift fence across the back of the Hilltop area to prevent cows from wandering down onto roads and into people's yards, Davis said.
"It's really been very successful," he said. "It used to be in the fall - August, September, October, November, you know people would be driving home late at night and all of sudden they come on a cow in the middle of the road and there were accidents, especially with teenagers coming home late and everybody and it was a real problem for the ranchers because they'd get calls in the middle of the night from irate people, 'Come and get your cows out of my yard,' so Tomera Ranches, whose cows were involved but there were others, agreed to do the maintenance on the fence, so they do the maintenance."
The Bureau of Land Management donated old fencing for the project.
The conservation district works with the Natural Resource and Conservation Service, a state organization, which is directly responsible for administering Farm Bill funding. The NRCS relies heavily on the conservation districts to provide them local input for where that funding should go.
"What kind of programs should Nevada be offering its farming and ranching community with this federal money because the federal government doesn't say we want you to build this many pivots or do this many ponds," Davis said. "It just says, here's a pile of money. Use it the best way you can and so the conservation districts provide a tremendous input for NRCS on the allocation of their dollars. It's NRCS's best connection on a grass roots level. They are a very important link to that federal money even though the federal money doesn't go through the conservation districts."
Davis said the NRCS money is underutilized by the farming and ranching community in Nevada.
"If you were in Kansas, you'd by golly know your NRCS representative by first name and probably be taking his kids Christmas presents because so much of the survival of agriculture in the Midwest and the Corn Belt depends on those federal subsidies and set-asides," Davis said.
Davis said an indirect benefit of being on the board is the camaraderie of its members, which consist of equal representation from the farming and ranching community.
"It's one of the few chances those guys get to just sit down together and talk about issues and problems," he said.
He added the members of the board stick around long after the two-hour meetings to talk with each other.
"They might be here until midnight just drinking coffee and talking over the price of hay, it sure is dry or where are you selling your cows this year and what are you getting for your alfalfa, those kind of issues," Davis said.
The meetings are held around four times a year at the Cooperative Extension/Conservation District office. The last meeting was held Tuesday.[[In-content Ad]]
