Joel Thrash –
Urban Technician
I have recently been hired as the new Urban Technician
for Butler SWCD. I was born and raised
in a small community just north of Marietta in southeastern Ohio. After graduating high school in 1998, I
attended Marietta College where I majored in environmental science and minored
in geology. I was involved in several
campus organizations but the majority of my ‘non-study’ time was spent as
pitcher and infielder on the varsity baseball team, which played in two NCAA Division
III World Series during my four years.
After
graduation, I was brought to Butler County by the Institute of Environmental
Sciences at Miami University, where I have completed course requirements for a
Masters of Environmental Science in Water Resource Management. My main academic interests were, and still
are, controlling non-point source pollution, especially sediment pollution, and
learning intriguing new approaches to stormwater management in urban
landscapes.
I
have worked for two summers with the Ohio EPA as a stormwater intern and two
years as a full-time graduate teaching instructor at Miami University. I am very excited to be with the Butler SWCD
and on the forefront of managing stormwater runoff and preventing sediment
runoff, which has become the single largest source of pollution in the United States.
On
July 10th, I will be getting married to my college sweetheart,
Carrie, back in Marietta, OH. We currently
reside in Oxford but will be moving to our new home in Liberty Township later
this month. We hope to be intricately
involved with county-related issues and as many organizations as possible. I look forward to serving and meeting as many
Butler county residents and landowners as possible, and I can only imagine that
they are as kind and hospitable as my fellow colleagues here at the Butler
SWCD. I would like to thank the board
and staff for providing me with this opportunity, and I look forward to working
with you all.
Jeff Barnes – Soil
Conservationist
I
was born in 1982 and grew up on a farm just west of Eaton,
OH. We raised
mainly grain crops, but had some 4-H livestock.
I graduated with honors in 2000 from National Trail High School where I
was the President of the FFA chapter, and captain of the football and track
teams. The summer after graduation I
worked as a Manure Nutrient Management (MNM) Intern for Preble Soil and Water
Conservation District. In the Fall I
attended Wilmington College.
For
the past three summers I have worked for the Natural Resources Conservation
Service (NRCS) as a Student Trainee in Darke, Preble, Montgomery, Hamilton, and
Butler Counties. I graduated from
Wilmington with a Major in Agriculture and a minor in Business Management in
May of 2004, where I played football and track and was in Delta Tau Alpha,
which is a National Agricultural Honor Society.
I
will start as a Soil Conservationist with NRCS in Butler County on June 28th
2004. My duties will be to shadow and
assist John Williams, the District Conservationist, in the day-to-day
activities of conservation planning, surveying, program promotion, paperwork,
etc. This training will prepare me to
pursue becoming a District Conservationist in two to three years.
Lynn
White –
Education Specialist
I would like to introduce myself. My name is Lynn White
and I am excited to be working with you as the new Education Specialist. I have
lived in Butler County
for the last seven years and am now proud to serve the community that I live
in.
I originally came to Butler
County to study for my Masters in
Geography at Miami University.
My focus was in land use, resource conservation, and water resources. I planned
to stay in Butler County
for only the two years at Miami.
Now, five years later, I am still here and am planning on staying.
Before moving to Butler
County, my life was spent in Scotland.
As a child, my family moved around farming and fishing communities. Much of my
youth was spent participating in many of the Young Farmers events in
northeastern Scotland.
I received my Bachelor degree in Scotland,
at the University of Glasgow.
My degree is in Environmental Geography with a minor in Business. While
studying at Glasgow, I was involved
with a group called the Dirty Weekenders. With this group, I was involved with
many projects such as stream monitoring and the removal of exotic species.
For the last few years, I have worked across southwestern Ohio
providing education and outreach for the schools and community for the Air
Quality Management Division. Through this I have gotten to know many teachers
and students across Butler County
and plan to meet many more now I am with the Butler SWCD.
I look forward to working with the residents, teachers,
and students of Butler County
while continuing the efforts of the education program.
Dry Hydrants
What do Rural Fire Departments do
when there are no pressurized Hydrants around?
Drive 15 miles to the nearest town for a hydrant? Let the structure burn to the ground? Draft from a pond? Say forget it and pack up and go eat dinner?
Hopefully in all areas, they
draft from a pond. Fire departments in
the rural setting do not have the luxury in having pressurized hydrants right
around the corner like they do in the city.
There is a program available through the Miami Valley Resource
Conservation and Development Council to improve fire safety in the rural
setting.
The Miami Valley RC&D is one
of nine organizations that are working together with firefighter, Townships,
Emergency Management officials and homeowners to help improve rural fire safety
in Ohio. The program offers $1000 dollar grants to
homeowners to install Dry Hydrants in existing ponds or lakes where sources of
water do not currently exist to protect life and property. The programs work to secure donated machinery
and labor, effectively covering the cost of installation.
Dry Hydrants offer reliable
sources of water in areas where pressurized hydrants do not exist. Most homeowners assume that if they have a
fire, the Fire Department has all the water it needs. The fact is, many times the department must
travel long distances each time they need to refill their tanker truck. A series of well located dry hydrants can
fill the voids that exist and offer much improved protection for homeowners and
their property. (Miami Valley RC&D)
If you have any questions
concerning this program, contact Ryan Smith, District Technician at
513-887-3720.
eeping
Sewage in its Place
Compared to sewage discharges
from some of Ohio’s municipal treatment plants, a faulty septic system here or
there might seem like a minor problem. But consider that more than a million Ohio
households process wastewater through individual sewage treatment systems. Of
those, the Ohio Department of Health estimates 25 percent are failing. Not only
do those failing systems contribute to water quality problems, they can be
serious public health threats.
To avoid being part of the
problem, watch for signs of failure in your existing system and make sure any
new systems are properly designed for the site and conditions.
System failures aren’t always
easy to see. For instance, a faulty system on extremely permeable soils might
let nutrients and pathogens leach into groundwater, contaminating wells. On
shallow soils and soils with low permeability, faulty systems are more likely
to pollute surface water. Watch for sewage pooling on the soil surface or
running into ditches or creeks. Besides being a smelly nuisance, this discharge
can spread disease and provide breeding sites for mosquitoes.
Some systems fail because the
site is inappropriate for the type of system installed. Others fail because
they aren’t properly maintained. For instance, if a septic tank is not pumped
often enough, sediment will flow into the leach bed or absorption area,
clogging the system. Systems also fail if they are overloaded with water from
household use or surface drainage.
Eventually, all systems wear out
when tanks or pipes break down. Even a well-maintained system will need to be
upgraded or replaced after 20 or 30 years. Modern systems are also more
effective than many of the systems installed years ago.
If you’re not sure how your
system operates or how it should be maintained, check with the
contractor who installed it or
refer to Ohio State University Extension fact sheets on wastewater treatment,
available through local offices or at www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~setll (click
on “publications”). Information is also available on the Ohio Department of
Health website, www.odh.state.oh.us. For help evaluating sites or
selecting appropriate systems, check with the Butler Soil and Water
Conservation District.
NRCS NEWS
Wildlife
Habitat Incentives Program
The Wildlife
Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) is a voluntary program that encourages
creation of high quality wildlife habitats that support wildlife populations of
National, State, Tribal, and local significance. Through WHIP, the Natural Resources
Conservation Services (NRCS) provides technical and financial assistance to
landowners and others to develop upland, wetland, riparian, and aquatic habitat
areass on their property.
Species that have benefitted from WHIP
activities include the grasshopper sparrow, bobwhite quail, swift fox,
short-eared owl, Karner-blue butterfly, gopher tortoise, Louisiana black bear,
Eastern collared lizard, Bachman’s sparrow, ovenbird, and acorn woodpecker.
Persons
interested in entering into a cost-share agreement with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) to develop wildlife habitat may file an application at any
time. NRCS works with the participant to
develop a wildlife habitat development plan.
This plan becomes the basis of the cost-share agreement between NRCS and
the participant. NRCS provides
cost-share payments to landowners under these agreements that are usually 5 to
10 years in duration, depending upon the practices to be installed.
If you need
more information about WHIP, please contact the Butler County Service Center at 513-887-3720.
NON-PROFIT
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
HAMILTON, OHIO
PERMIT NO. 136
|
|
BUTLER
SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT
1810 Princeton Road
Hamilton, OH 45011
(513) 887-3720
E-mail: butlerswcd@yahoo.com
Website: www.butlercountyohio.org/conservation
Please contact the Butler SWCD if you wish
to have your name and address removed from our mailing list.
Butler Soil and Water Conservation District
e e e f f f
e e e f f f
The
Butler Soil & Water Conservation District (BSWCD) Newsletter (383367-136)
is published quarterly by the BSWCD at 1810 Princeton Road, Hamilton, OH
45011. We welcome any comments about
this issue and suggestions for future ones.
Please call (513) 887-3720 or write our office to have your name added
to our mailing list. The United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in its programs on
the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability,
political beliefs, and marital or familial status.
“Natural Resource 
Butler 
