Area Stewards To Be Recognized By SPNRD

Four awards will be presented to top stewards from across the South Platte NRD at a reception next week, recognizing their contributions to their care of natural resources in various areas.

The reception will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday, November 12 at the South Platte NRD conference room just prior to the District’s monthly board meeting.

Matt and Mia Varra, who ranch north of Dix, are being recognized for the Grassland Manager award. They purchased their ranch in 2008 and since then have dramatically changed its value with intensive management.

The ranch had previously been used on a continuous grazing program. Their objective was to improve the livestock distribution and to improve the grassland health by using a rotational grazing system.

Matt took advantage of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) program to install 13,040 feet of pipeline to five 30-foot concrete bottom steel tanks to improve the water development. He also installed 17,500 feet of fence to provide 13 pastures for livestock grazing in rotation.

The Varras have a number of pivots and while they do grow some alfalfa for a crop, most of the ground is planted to crops that can be grazed to take pressure off of the grass in dry years.

Matt says that was the case in 2012, when he left his cattle on the pivots until late in the year to avoid overusing the stressed range. He also grazes pastures at different times of year so grasses that grow better early or late have a chance to develop.

A number of area businesses have generously provided support for the program with award sponsorship, and Points West Bank of Kimball is sponsoring the Varra’s award.

Gordon Kahl, who lives south of Sidney, has been planting conservation trees since 1991. In that time he has installed trees for livestock windbreaks, field shelterbelts, wildlife plantings, farmstead windbreaks, and through the Continuous CRP program.

For his dedication to maintaining healthy tree plantings and assisting others with theirs, he is receiving the Outstanding Tree Planter/Caretaker award.

Kahl has installed roughly 21,137 trees and shrubs through new plantings from 1991 through 2006, and has followed up with replants ever since. He has ordered an additional 11,620 trees and shrubs as pickup orders for mainly replants in previously planted tree rows. This equals a total of 32,757 trees and shrubs planted since 1991.

In making the job more efficient, Kahl put his ingenuity and scrap iron pile to work, building tree planting machines for himself and neighbors who were also adding protective strips around the country. Kahl also devised a machine to help lay protective fabric mulch.

Kahl added an unusual twist to his tree planting program by planting trees on rocky hills in fields that did not produce good crops. By doing so he provided additional habitat for the area’s wildlife.

Kahl’s award was sponsored with the support of Great Western Bank in Sidney.

Sam Gingrich of Dix has is being recognized for the Community Environmental Impact award, due to his large impact on tree populations and tree health in urban areas across the District.

Since 2005, Gingrich has overseen the Panhandle Community Tree Rehab Project, which removes and replaces dead trees in Kimball, Dix, Potter and Sidney, largely using the SPNRD Community Forestry Program. In that time, the Project has removed 214 dead trees in those communities, while 286 new trees (approximately 6 feet or larger) have been planted as replacements. The Project is significant in that without these efforts of the re-plantings, many of the trees in these towns would simply be cut down and their benefits would be lost.

He also developed a similar project for the town of Bushnell in 2010. In the project’s four-year run, 68 dead trees have been removed and 70 trees have been planted.

Gingerich spearheaded the effort to replace the aging, dead trees in Bushnell. SPNRD Assistant Manager Galen Wittrock says without Gingrich’s leadership, it is unlikely the community would have been able to sustain the Project to the point where it would have the impact it has made.

Gingrich has donated many hours to educational efforts to help people young and old understand the importance of trees, and how to properly plant and care for them. He has participated in Arbor Day activities at schools in Kimball, Dix and Potter, and has also been the featured speaker at the Sidney Tree Giveaway, where he provides instruction to residents receiving new trees.

Potter State Bank is supporting Gingrich and the awards program by sponsoring the award.

Potter area farmers Jerome and Jim Frei are this year’s winners of the Conservation Farm award. The brothers operate on farmland in northwest Cheyenne County and the northeast Kimball County.

The Freis had been using a no-till cropping system since 2006 on their combined center pivot and dry land acres. They estimate about 99 percent of their acreage is farmed using soil-friendly no-till practices.

The exception is their dry bean crop, which is difficult to develop with no-till. Even so, they are currently experimenting with different varieties of beans that stand taller and may allow direct cutting with the combine.

They have continued to improve their conservation practices on their operation through the Conservation Stewardship Program. They are adding different high residue crops to their existing cropping rotation to improve diversity and improve soil health. On the irrigated crop acres, the Freis have incorporated a fertilization program to improve the phosphorous uptake along with using plant tissue sampling to meet the crop nutrient requirements.

They are also going to schedule an evaluation on their irrigation wells to improve the efficiency of the water usage of their systems. Another new method in the works is the use of plant tissue sampling. They feel it will be one more way to see the results of their management practices by gauging plant health.

As fourth generation farmers, the Freis want to pass their land along, and in the best shape possible. They have seen the benefits of the no-till cropping system and feel it is the way to accomplish that goal.

Sponsoring the Frei’s award, which will consist of aerial farm photos, is Crossroads Cooperative Association, based in Sidney.