Young farmer from Nottoway honored

John P. Shepherd was recognized for his outstanding contributions to conservation at the Nottoway County Farm Bureau Banquet on October 1.  Piedmont SWCD Director Ricky Rash  presented  Shepherd the Young Conservation Farmer award and said that, “Mr. Shepherd demonstrates a strong conservation ethic and works to build the soil even as he works it.”

Managing Value in Your Forest, A Forest Landowners’ Retreat

Join fellow forest landowners, the VA Dept. of Forestry and VA Cooperative Extension for an interactive weekend learning about actively managing your woodlands on October 30-31 at Twin Lakes State Park, Green Bay Virginia.  Visit www.cnre.vt.edu/forestupdate and click on Landowner Retreat for details.

Nottoway Farm Tour & Dinner

Goat and other small ruminant herd health will be one of the topics of discussion at a Farm Tour and & Dinner scheduled for October 13, 2010 in Nottoway County.  Participants will get to tour a farm featuring many best management practices, listen to speakers and enjoy a catered meal.  The tour and dinner are free of charge, but you must pre-register by calling 434.392-3782 ext 132  by October 7th.  Rain or shine, space is limited.

Family & Farm Day

Family & Farm Day is scheduled for September 11 from 9 am to 2 pm, rain or shine, at the Virginia Tech Southern Piedmont Center, 2.5 miles from Blackstone on 40 East one half mile past Fort Pickett’s main gate, on the left .  Try your luck at the corn maze, crawl through the Piedmont SWCD Soil Tunnel, learn about bees and honey, and much more.

Poisonous Plant Workshop

A Virginia Cooperative Extension Poisonous Plant Workshop is scheduled for September 20th from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at the County Agricultural and Natural Resources Building in Farmville and will focus  on cows, horses, and small ruminants.  Register by Sept 16 for the Prince Edward workshop by calling the Cumberland Extension Office at 804-492-4390.

Did you receive the Spring 2010 Newletter?

If you are not on our mailing list and would like to receive our seasonal newsletter, please send us your contact information so we can mail/email it to you.   Read the latest newsletter  by selecting About from the main menu, scrolling down to Newsletters, and then clicking on Spring Newsletter 2010 to open.

Poster Contest Winners Announced

Ben Carr, a forth grade student at Blackstone Primary,  is the Piedmont SWCD’s poster contest Grand Winner for 2010.  The contest theme was: Conservation Habits = Healthy Habitats.  All 550 poster contest participants  receive a certificate of recognition and a small gift,  and school grade level and district wide winners also receive 1st, 2nd and 3rd place ribbons.  As grand winner, Ben  receives a check for $25.00 from the Piedmont SWCD.  Thanks to all the art teachers who participated in the contest this year, and congratulations to Ben!

2011 Cost-Share Sign-up

The Piedmont Soil & Water Conservation District will be accepting sign-up for the 2011 Virginia Agricultural Best Management Practices (BMP) Cost Share program from June 1 -  July 31 for Amelia, Nottoway and Prince Edward agricultural producers.  This program provides cost-share and technical assistance to voluntarily install selected best management practices.  Livestock exclusion, cover crops, vegetative cover, continuous no-till, nutrient management and riparian buffers are examples of practices available for cost share.   This year our funding for cost share practices has been reduced, thus we will be ranking applications to determine eligibility.  Please contact our office in Farmville (434) 392-3782 ext 116 or ext 108 or our Amelia office at (804) 561-2947 ext 110 to set up an appointment for sign-up.

Environmental Day Camp June 21-25, 2010

The Piedmont Soil and Water Conservation District is offering students currently enrolled in 5^th, 6^th and 7^th grades an opportunity to participate in our 9^th Annual Environmental Day Camp at no cost to the participant.  Working with Peter Francisco SWCD, Virginia Department of Conservation, Department of Game & Inland Fisheries,  Department of Forestry we provide a week-long day camp to 20 campers . The student will need to provide transportation to our Farmville office and provide lunch each day except for Friday.

The camp is intended for students with an interest in nature and environmental studies and for students that may not otherwise have an opportunity to participate in such a camp.  Dates for this summer are June 21-25.    To see the agenda click here. To see the camp application click here.  Application should be in the office by May 21, 2010.

TMDL Conservation Technician Job Description

The Piedmont SWCD is currently hiring a full-time TMDL Conservation Technician to work out of their Farmville and Amelia offices.  To view the  job description and application information click here: TMDLTech2010.