Adam Chorba, Forest Specialist, BCCD
Whether it’s snowing or whether it's hot, weather is weather, whether or not. My father would say this to me if there was work that had to be done and the weather wasn’t in our favor. I’ve now adopted this saying for work because in forestry, there’s always something to do. This time of year, can be a great time to work on many different forestry practices like invasives control, or even a crop tree release. However, if working outside this time of year isn’t for you, or you’re in need of a break, it’s a great time of year to sit down with some resources and plan for spring. With the holidays in full swing, and families often gathering, you could start a tradition of planning together and planting together. Don’t forget to include the younger family members as well and teach them the importance of being a good steward of the land. It might not seem it now, but warmer weather and thawed ground is on its way.  Now is the time to order your trees and shrubs for your spring plantings. For some nurseries, it’s already getting a little late and inventories can be getting low.

Kevin Brown, Ag Resource Specialist, BCCD
As an employee of the Conservation District, what do we do?  We wrote an article a long time ago to explain our mission and our goals.  I think in the end, it was kind of a 30,000-foot view of our work, and maybe a little vague.  Let me try to really bring it home.  In the day-to-day world, this is what you would see from us.
​
Agriculture- most issues in the ag world, in this county anyway, stem from cattle being on too small of an area for too long a time.  This results in 2 really big issues.  1- excess nutrients accumulate there because the nutrients are not being spread out on enough land; and there is nothing growing in the area to use the nutrients.  Result- potential pollution, depending on how far from surface water it is.  2- because nothing is growing, and the animals are tearing it up. The soil is loose.  Because the soil is loose, when rain events happen and water runs out of that area, guess what goes with it?  Soil and nutrients.  And guess where it is going?  Yep, the streams and river.  Just holding it together would cure most of the issue.