We undertook a number of projects in this past year in an effort to fulfill our mission of conserving our natural resource heritage.
We started a Cooperative Weed Management Area (CWMA) this year to begin to address the problems caused by invasive plant species in our woodlands, wetlands, and natural areas. Invasive plants crowd out native plant species, diminish the productivity of our forests, and harm native wildlife habitat. The CWMA participants will help plan educational events, hold work days, and submit stories to local media outlets to raise awareness of this very serious natural resource issue.
We were able to hire a summer intern through Vincennes University who spent the summer doing a survey of county road right-of-ways to identify infestations of several species of invasive plants. We are training county Highway Department employees to identify the invasive plants and will supply herbicide for the Department’s summer spraying programs to help cover the cost of controlling the invasives.
We were able to partner with the IASWCD and sixty three other SWCDs to conduct status reviews on CRP contracts up for enrollment this fall. This is the third year for this program and we were able to add additional Districts to the agreement this year who were able to earn money that can be used to support their conservation programs.
We hosted an irrigation management seminar, the fourth in as many years. Irrigators from Knox and surrounding counties were given various tools and techniques to enable them to determine when to irrigate and how much water to apply. Special attention was given to issues associated with irrigation on no till, cover crops, and specialty crops.