Fillmore Soil and Water
Conservation District
507-765-3878 Ext. 3
900 Washington St. NW
Preston, MN 55965
Conservationist of the YearDan and Sherry Hanson of Peterson have been chosen as the 2009 Fillmore County Conservationists of the Year. In addition, the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts (MASWCD) has named them as one of eight Area finalists in the 2009 Outstanding Conservationist Award Program. On December 8th, the Hanson's were selected as the 2009 Minnesota Outstanding Conservationists at MASWCD's 73rd annual convention in Duluth.
Dan started farming in the late 1970s with his father. The Hanson's raise corn, soybeans, and hay on 613 acres and have a 150 head cow-calf operation. They still have 183 acres of contour strips, including 80 acres of hay, that were laid out when Dan's grandfather developed a conservation plan with the Soil Conservation Service in 1944. Over the years, 6,875 feed of terraces and 10 acres of grassed waterways have been installed. Nutrient and pest management, no-till, and planting thousands of trees on CRP for wildlife food and habitat also enhance conservation on their farm. The Hanson's exemplify the land stewardship ethic that SWCD's promote.
The Fillmore SWCD is very proud of Dan and Sherry Hanson and wish to congratulate
them on their being named 2009 Minnesota Outstanding Conservationists!
Colbenson Receives MASWCD Teacher Award
Craig Colbenson, the vocational agriculture teacher at Rushford-Peterson High School has been awarded the Teacher Award by the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts (MASWCD). The MASWCD honors a K-12 educator/professional teacher who has created innovative conservation education activities for reaching students.
Craig's teaching philosophy centers around the idea that our environment and natural resources are the heart and soul of our being, having taught Natural Resources for 34 years in the public school system. As a teacher and farmer, he has learned and experienced the need of protecting our resources with the most powerful tool being education.
Mr. Colbenson offers a Natural Resources and Advanced Natural Resources class to juniors and seniors. The weekly agenda covers various topics from aquatics to winter survival in Minnesota. Students are required to research each topic and determine the environmental impacts to our natural resources.
During each of the weekly classes, Colbenson gets involvement from former students, community people, organizations and government agencies. He has found it very rewarding to his students, the community and himself to get outside involvement.
Colbenson has led the Rushford-Peterson Envirothon team to ten first and second place finishes at the Area level, has won the Minnesota State Envirothon five times and then advanced to the Canon National Envirothon, held at various locations across the country. "These challenges allow students to expand their knowledge and confidence in themselves" says Colbenson. "I am very proud of their success knowing I have done my best in teaching them."
The Teacher Award was presented at the 73rd Annual MASWCD Convention held at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center in Duluth on December 7, 2009.
Congratulations, Craig on your educational efforts with our young people
and future conservationists!
City of Rushford Named 2009 Community Conservationist
The City of Rushford has been awarded the MASWCD/MPCA Community Conservationist Award.
The award was presented to representatives of the City at the 73rd Annual MASWCD Convention held at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center in Duluth on December 7, 2009.
Pictured above left to right: Glenn Skuta, MPCA; Jeff Copley, Public Works Director;
Windy Block, City Administrator; and Mayor Les Ladewig.
Since the floods of August 2007, while working to solve many difficult flood related problems, the City of Rushford has become a leading advocate for identifying and sealing private wells within well-head protection areas after their experience with this issue following the August 2007 floods that severely damaged their city and water supply.
When the City of Rushford flooded in 2007, their city water supply became contaminated with bacteria, and it took repeated efforts to decontaminate the system. After some investigation on the part of the city, the source of the bacteria became clear: sewage water backed up into homes during the flood, and then drained into private wells, seeping down into the shallow aquifer. Because some residents were still using sandpoint wells from that aquifer as their primary water supply, the sewage-contaminated water posed significant health risks.
The City took an active approach to addressing the problem, however, contacting the Fillmore SWCD. Special flood relief funding was made available by the State Legislature, and the city not only agreed to work with the SWCD to seal the 300 wells that had been found, it also agreed to handle the well sealing funding for the residents, who were already dealing with the loss of their home and possessions. SWCD Board Members met with the Rushford City Council about the well-sealing cost-share program and emphasized to the Council the need for enforcing the City's ordinances to assure that the benefits from the well sealing would not be undone by residents installing new wells after the old ones were sealed. After successfully completing the well sealings, the City is now completing inspections on these wells.
And the city hasn't stopped there. To help prevent similar occurrences elsewhere, the City of Rushford has hosted well-sealing demonstrations where representatives from other cities in Southeastern Minnesota were able to learn more about the need for finding and sealing old wells that pose a risk to public water supplies. The City of Rushford staff and contractor have also presented information at several regional and statewide meetings attended by hundreds of city water operators and other water professionals.
By sharing the experience and lessons learned with so many people, they have helped others to take steps to avoid the problems that they encountered.
Congratulations to the City of Rushford on their
conservation efforts within their community!
