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Westmoreland County Conservation Awards Banquet November 11
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This year’s Westmoreland Conservation District annual awards banquet will be held on a new day – Veterans’ Day, November 11 – and at a new location – the Fred M. Rogers Center at Saint Vincent College, Latrobe. The public is invited to join in this conservation celebration, which begins at 6 p.m. and includes recognition of two of the area’s outstanding conservationists: Wayne and Eileen Baughman of Salem Township, Conservation Farmers of the Year for 2010…and Bob Berich of South Huntingdon Township, Conservation Farmer of the Year for 2009.
Also featured that evening will be the many partners who are working with the conservation district on an innovative, community project to install rain gardens in Mount Pleasant. Those partners include: the Borough of Mount Pleasant, the Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, and a number of residents of Ramsay Terrace.
“We are pleased to be able to honor some of the many people who are doing great things for conservation in our county,” said Greg Phillips, District manager/CEO of the Westmoreland Conservation District, whose organization works daily with farmers, developers, engineers, foresters, and other professions to help ensure that our natural resources are used wisely.
Wayne and Eileen Baughman, Conservation Farmers of the Year for 2010, manage a small farm in Salem Township, where they have a herd of “Black Baldy” cattle (a cross between an Angus bull and Hereford cows) and grow a variety of crops, including small grains, hay, black raspberries, blackberries, sweet corn, tomatoes, and potatoes.
The Baughmans have made a variety of conservation improvements on their property over the past five years, adding fencing to keep the cows out of the stream, creating five paddocks so they can employ rotational grazing, installing roadways and water-runoff systems to prevent erosion, and using no-till methods to refurbish their pastures and to plant wheat and soybeans. The conservation work that the Baughmans did adds to the quality of the local stream, which flows directly into Beaver Run, the source of drinking water for some 50,000 homes and businesses in Westmoreland County.
Bob Berich, Conservation Farmer of the Year for 2009, also installed a rotational grazing system on the 50-acre farm he owns in South Huntingdon Township. Bob rotationally grazes his state-certified Angus beef cattle and the legacy sheep herd that was his father’s, letting the sheep into a paddock right after the cows have been there to pick out the things that the cattle didn’t eat.
Like the Baughmans, Bob, too, installed streamside fencing and three stream
crossings to limit the access his animals have to the tributary of Meadow Run (Jacobs Creek Watershed) that flows through his farm.
The Mount Pleasant rain garden project is the featured conservation partnership project this year. This innovative partnership effort is installing rain gardens in both municipal and residential locations throughout the borough as a way to help manage excess rainwater and lessen the load on the municipal infrastructure. So far, rain gardens have been installed in the municipal parking lot behind Levin’s furniture store (four gardens at this location), between the library and municipal building (one rain garden at this location), and on 11 individual homeowner lots in Ramsay Terrace.
Partners in this innovative project include: the Borough of Mount Pleasant, the Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, and a number of residents of Ramsay Terrace.
The 2010 Annual Awards Banquet is supported by a number of area businesses and organizations, including lead sponsor Adam Eidemiller, Inc.; and table sponsors Bove Engineering Co.; Ligonier Construction; Lone Maple Agricultural Services/Pritts Feed Mill/Hildenbrand Lime & Fertilizer; R.A. Smith National; Smart Growth Partnership, a program of Penn State Cooperative Extension; Tri-County Engineering; and Westmoreland County Parks and Recreation Citizens Advisory Board.
The Westmoreland Conservation District Annual Awards banquet begins at 6 p.m., and everyone is welcome to attend. However, please note that seating is limited and tickets must be purchased in advance. Price per person is $30.
Registration and payment can be made online or by contacting the Westmoreland Conservation District at 724-837-5271.
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11/1/2010 |
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