Union County Soil Conservation District

  Programs    

Board and Staff

Activities  

Contact UCSCD
 

External Links

125 landowners received white pine seedlings during the Annual Tree-Give-Away. This project is sponsored by the District outreach program and funded by TDA.

On March 11th, the District sponsored a grafting class held at UCHS for 125 vocational students. Bobby Ellison with NRCS and volunteer Joe McNew provided the presentation to the class. Union County SCD would like to thank vocational teachers John Fugate, Steve Massengill and Linda Baxter for participating in this event.

On April 25th "Ag in the Classroom Farm Day" was held at Sharps Chapel Elementary School. The District personnel and volunteers provided the "Got Milk" story, Garden Plants, Blue Bird Boxes and EnviroScape watershed model lessons to the students. This was in cooperation with the Union County Farm Bureau. District volunteers for this event were Jim Greene and Quintin Simpson.

The Bull Run Creek Watershed Inter-agency meeting was held in April. Participating partner agencies attend for the BCRI project updated and to plan for a tour on October 1st. This meeting also reflected on the years served by L.D. Shoffner, who retired from the Board in March. Mr. Shoffner was presented an award for his 39 years of service as a District Supervisor. District volunteers Jim Greene, Quintin Simpson and Zachary Norman were awarded a Certificate of Appreciation and a t-shirt.

May 23rd was Career Day at Luttrell Elementary School. The 300 students received information on agricultural careers and SCD promotional items.

The local workgroup applied for a 319 grant from the State of Tennessee providing cost/share assistance for installing BMP's to improve water quality within the Bull Run Creek Watershed. This grant was funded in January of 2002 in the amount of $102,760. The Union County SCD office administers the Bullrun Creek Watershed project, servicing parts of Grainger, Knox, Anderson and Union Counties.

Quintin Simpson and Chad Weaver were the NRCS Star program participants, working for a period of 10 weeks in the District office. This program gives students an opportunity to get hands-on experience working with NRCS personnel to gain knowledge and to help in planning of their educational goals.

Union County SCD Poster Contest winners were from Big Ridge Elementary School. The first place winner was Haley Effler and the second place winner was Jessica Zaluncha. The first place poster has won the state competition and will be sent on to the national competition.

The District co-sponsored the East Tennessee Ag. and Community EXPO 2002, held at White Pine EXPO center on September 20 and 21, 2002. Sandra Greene served on the EXPO Executive Board attending monthly planning meetings. Pearl Coffey, Jim Greene and Troy Norman served as the District's EXPO volunteers. This was a cooperative effort of personnel from several agencies in the East Tennessee area. Union County's own Union Grass Band performed at this event.

In October, "World of Wildlife" educational booklets and other environmental handouts were distributed to all 5th grade students in the Union County School System.

The Bullrun Creek Restoration Initiative farm tour was held on October 1st with 225 attending. The three farms visited were Gary Kitts, M. Will Shoffner and Don Whetsell, with the tour ending at Wilson Park for lunch and a visit to the Union County Environmental Outdoor Classroom. This even was featured in the Tennessee Cooperator an article written by Glen Lidord, titled "Battle of Bullrun". Union County SCD and TVA provided funds and informational materials for this event. Halldale Powell Utility District, NRCS and others provided promotional items.

The Food Security Act, conservation programs continued to be supported by the District in 2002 with three EQIP contracts and two CRP contracts served. Conservation technical assistance was provided to over 408 total customers. The District also assists landowners, realtors and developers by providing flood plan maps, topography and soils information.