RICHVILLE, Ohio – Representatives of Wal-Mart Stores received the Urban Conservationist award from the Stark County Soil and Water Conservation District during the group’s annual meeting Nov. 14.
Nearly 90 attended the event at Perry Grange.
Urban award. Cindy Ray, job construction manager, and Tom Oppenheim, director of engineering, picked up the Excellence in Conservation award on behalf of the Jackson Township Sam’s Club.
The award recognizes a company’s cooperation, conservation management and communication initiatives.
According to urban resource coordinator Julie Berbari, engineers for Sam’s Club submitted excellent erosion and sediment control plans for the construction site.
“Not only did they have one of the best plans, they were great cooperators,” she said, noting recommendations made during constant inspections were taken seriously and complied with within 24 hours.
“I dealt with such professionalism. They weren’t just here to get in and out and get the job done, they wanted to do it right,” she said.
Among the measures used at the store site were an existing sediment detention basin, retaining wall and landscaping.
Farmer honored. Louisville farmer Jerry Dickerhoof was honored as the county’s Conservation Farmer of the Year.
The award is given annually to a farmer who shows a commitment to long-term conservation efforts on their farm.
Dickerhoof’s Broadview Farms, which includes a dairy herd and grain crops, has been a district cooperator since 1983.
Major improvements to the farm include installation of grassed waterways and development of springs and sediment basins. Last summer, Dickerhoof also installed a concrete manure holding tank with a gravity pipe inlet.
Other business. Louisville High School sophomores Sam Bayham and Forrest Raub were recognized for attending forestry camp.
Conservationist Andy Bayham outlined district accomplishments from the past year, including the construction of agricultural waste storage and management structures.
Projects implemented in the past year include a roofed feedlot and manure structure, earthen manure pit with concrete bottom, and nearly 1,700 linear feet of grassed waterways.
Forty-four acres of trees were planted through the Forestry Incentive Program and 78 new pond sites were evaluated.
In addition, Bayham recognized the growing role urban conservation is playing the county.
Urban projects included silt fencing, installing jute matting and basins, and spraying water on construction sites to reduce dust, especially during this summer’s drought.
The county also engaged in a geologic study of road slippage and traveled to Chautauqua County, N.Y., to see a methane digester at work.
County residents in attendance re-elected Terry Gram and Jim Halter as district supervisors for three-year terms beginning Jan. 1.
Illusionist Tim Angeloni provided the evening’s entertainment.
(You can contact Andrea Myers at 1-800-837-3419, ext. 22, or by e-mail at amyers@farmanddairy.com.)
