The Nebraska Chapter of the Soil & Water Conservation Society (SWCS) honored 4 individuals recently at the state chapter meeting in Ord. Two chapter members and the Nebraska Chapter were also recently honored at the 81st International SWCS Conference in St, Louis. SWCS is a nonprofit scientific and educational association dedicated to advancing the science and art of good land use and improvement of natural resources.
The Harold and Kay Scholl Excellence in Conservation Award is presented in recognition of individuals who work on the ground to provide direct and personal delivery or conservation planning and technical assistance.
Stephen Kennedy, Auburn, utilized more than $26 million in federal grants in Nemaha County, alone, in his 21-year career with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS). These contracts were developed with landowners to improve soil erosion control, soil health, livestock grazing, wildlife support, and livestock waste control. There were also three partnership programs with the Nemaha Natural Resource District, Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, and the city of Auburn. One of the largest projects involved working with 47 area landowners to develop erosion control on 9,500 acres of land above two flood control structures. After working with community meetings, in partnership with the local resource district, forty-four landowners participated in contracts with the NRCS to apply conservation ahead of the structures being completed. This was considered particularly important to the lifespan of the structures in the loess hill area, and the contracts involved considerable time doing environmental evaluations. The project involved working with multiple agencies to pull together additional funding, and spending time with landowners to develop close ties with them. There needed to be a unified agreement that the project was needed and the investment from the landowners was a valuable long-term improvement. Earlier in his career he was active in the Wetland Reserve Program. He worked in both Richardson and Nemaha County along the Missouri River during the time that most of the easements were established. This involved collaborating with a team of specialists to rank sites, and work with landowners on what the future of their land would look like.
