Warrick County SWCD experienced quite a turnover of office staff. In January of 2015, the district added the services of Whitney McGrew as the soil technician, to fill the vacancy on our CWI grant. Whitney has surpassed the original services requested by our board, and as a result has helped Warrick County landusers understand the importance of conservation as it pertains to our county and helped implement practices that have demonstrated her commitment to her position.
Warrick County also added the services of Susan King as project/office manager in July. Since beginning the position, Susan has attended many workshops and trainings in order to gain a broader understanding of the services and responsibilities required. Trainings have included CWI grant writing workshops, Social Meeting & Marketing training at Spring Mill State Park, IDEA Fall Conference Planning committee meetings, SWCD Staff Training (Indiana Farm Bureau, Indy) and has traveled to neighboring counties for one on one training with office Staff.
In October, Warrick County attained the services of Nathan Lind, District Conservationist, NRCS. Nathan has kept busy with the demands of the present workload, and was also tasked with updating old contracts for EQIP, and verifying compliance with current contracts and practices. Nathan attends a one-monthly district meeting to keep abreast of current trends throughout the State, and keeps the SWCD board of directors up to date with his position at monthly board meetings.
Warrick County SWCD staff held and sponsored the SW Indiana Soils Judging Contest at Thresherman’s Park in September, attended the Preventative Planting Meeting held in Poseyville, wrote a successful grant for the ALCOA Foundation (for cover crops), attended the Native Pollinators workshop held at Angel Mounts (dovetailing with the successful CWI grant Vanderburgh obtained), wrote a successful Clean Water Indiana grant (2016-2018) for cover crops, wrote a successful TOYOTA grant (for an “Adventures in Agriculture” program for 5th grade students in Warrick County to be held in May of 2017), and attended a “Women in Agriculture” meeting at the Azalea Path Arboretum and Botanical Gardens.
The staff has attended the State Soil Board meeting, an awards luncheon for ALCOA Foundation grant recipients, and a supervisor attended the “Supervisors Summit” for additional training.
It was a VERY busy year for the staff, and 2016 is shaping up to be an even busier year.
Thank you,
Susan King
Project/Office ManagerWarrick County SWCD