GULF COAST SWCD

GULF COAST SOIL AND WATER
CONSERVATION DISTRICT

America’s WETLAND---KEEP IT ALIVE!!!

Welcome to the Gulf Coast SWCD webpage educating you to preserve our natural resources.

Important Events

SOIL AND WATER STEWARDSHIP WEEK - Our district will be celebrating conservation in our community during 2008 Stewardship Week, April 27 – May 4, 2008. The theme this year is “Water is Life.” It is extremely important that we all become aware of water quality and quantity in our community. Everyone relies on water and other natural resources to exist. Our district is committed to encourage the public to think about your personal responsibility to be a good steward of the natural resources, including water, that we have been blessed with. This is our goal during Stewardship Week. We look forward to working again this year with area educators to train future generations about conservation. ATTENTION AREA EDUCATORS: Free resources for 2008 are now available. If you are an educator, and have not participated in Stewardship Week, but would like more information, please contact the district secretary at patt.busby@la.nacdnet.net or you can visit the official website at http://stewardshipweek.com

SUPERVISOR NOMINATION NOTICE – We are now taking nominations for district supervisor. The nomination period for the 2008 election is from April 1, 2008 through April 30, 2008. For more information concerning the election and candidate qualifications, and/or to obtain a nomination petition, please contact the district office at 1400 Highway 14, Lake Charles, phone 337-436-5020, extension 3. The Soil and Water Conservation Committee practices non-discriminatory policies and any person, regardless of race, creed, color, religion or national origin may be eligible as a candidate.

EQIP – Continuous signup- please call for an appointment! (see below)

Farm Bill - To catch the latest on the 2002 Farm Bill check out the NRCS website, Click here----Farm Bill 2002

District Board Meeting - District Board Meetings are typically held on the 3rd Wednesday of each month. The next board meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. in the Lake Charles USDA Service Center.

District Programs

EQIP- Farmers, livestock producers and other landowners can now take advantage of the conservation practices available through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) by applying for this program at the local field office, 1400 Highway 14, Lake Charles. There are over 50 conservation practices in the state that agricultural producers can sign up for right now. NRCS offers cost share assistance for practices from fencing to pipedrops and from ag waste facilities to underground irrigation pipelines. EQIP offers many practices to help farmers and livestock producers install conservation on farms. Every application will be ranked according to total environmental benefits derived from the implementation of conservation practices and the best will be funded. EQIP helps producers through cost sharing and incentive payments for the implementation of conservation practices. All EQIP activities must be carried out according to a conservation plan of operations developed by the producer, NRCS and in cooperation with the Gulf Coast SWCD. EQIP has the potential of making a great impact on our local natural resources and we want all producers to take a good look at this opportunity. For more information on EQIP and how it may help you and your operation, please call this number:

Lake Charles Field Office 337-436-5020 Ext.3

District Revegetation Program - The DNR/NRCS/SWCC Multi-Year Vegetative Planting Program is aimed at developing new and innovative methods of preventing, reducing, or reversing coastal erosion primarily through the use of native marsh plants. This program is funded by Louisiana's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) - Coastal Restoration Division. United States Department of Agriculture - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides technical guidance. The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry's Soil and Water Conservation Committee (SWCC) hires vegetative project managers to oversee planning, installing, and monitoring of the projects. The local Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD) implement the projects.
Gulf Coast SWCD has been involved in the DNR/NRCS/SWCC Multi-Year Vegetative Planting Program since 1988. Over the last 5 years, an average of 66,370 feet, or 12.6 miles of vegetation has been planted each year by Gulf Coast SWCD in Cameron and Calcasieu Parishes. The majority of these projects are implemented on private property after the district has been approached about erosion on resource problems. The methods of marsh restoration used by this program can be highly effective and can offer an affordable solution to resource concerns for landowners.

News Topics of Interest

Welcome to our New District Conservationist, FRANK CHAPMAN! – The Gulf Coast SWCD Board of Supervisors and employees and other employees in the Lake Charles Field Office would like to extend a warm WELCOME to our new District Conservationist, FRANK CHAPMAN. Mr. Chapman comes to our office from the DeRidder Field Office, and he has 23 years of experience with NRCS. Please feel free to stop by the Lake Charles Field Office and meet Mr. Chapman. He is willing and ready to put into practice here in Calcasieu and Cameron parishes, the NRCS motto, “HELPING PEOPLE, HELP THE LAND.”

Highway 82 Sand Project Saved – According to a recent article published in the Lake Charles American Press, a huge levee designed to protect Lake Charles and Sulphur from up to a 500-year storm surge tops the list of projects for Southwest Louisiana in a new state plan for coastal restoration and hurricane protection. The levee would be built south of the Lake Charles metro area and north of the Intracoastal Waterway. David Richard, executive vice president of Stream Property Management, asked the CPRA planning team to look closely at the successful Holly Beach Sand Management Project. The $20 million plan stabilized the shoreline between Holly Beach and Constance Beach by dredging 1.7 million cubic yards of sand from offshore and pumping it on the beach. Mr. Richard says that this project was extremely successful, and that it protected Highway 82, a hurricane evacuation route, and the chenier that the highway sits on. He also thinks that technology would work along the entire Cameron coastline. Meetings are scheduled to gather more public input and then a final plan will be written and presented to the Legislature for approval in the spring of 2007. The plan can be seen at www.louisianacoastalplanning.org. Comments on the plan can be sent to the CPRA Integrated Planning Team, Department of Natural Resources, P. O. Box 94396, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70804-9396.

Digital Desktop Library for USDA – The National Agricultural Library has redesigned and enhanced DigiTop to improve its usefulness as the Digital Desktop Library for USDA. DigiTop now includes more of the key agricultural information resources which many of you requested. With these improvements, DigiTop now offers electronic access to the full-text of more than 4,000 scientific journals, including 1,000 titles with content published prior to 1996 and 14 key databases. The DigiTop Web site, http://digitop.nal.usda.gov, carries a full list of journals available via DigiTop in 2007.

Web Soil Survey – This new Web soil survey site can help anyone who works with soils or is involved with soil-related work, and the information is FREE. The site allows access to soil survey information and a secure public access to the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s soils information system. The site, http://soils.usda.gov/survey, is a simple, yet powerful way to access and analyze soils data that contributes to every aspect of public and private land use and development. This new Web site will slowly phase out the familiar soil survey publications available free at your local NRCS field office.

Want to help in the task of
preserving our environment?
Join the Earth team, Click Here!

Gulf Coast Soil and Water Conservation District
1400 Highway 14
Lake Charles, LA 70601
Phone: (337) 436-5020 Ext. 3
Fax: (337) 497-1195

Lake Charles Field Office
1400 Highway 14
Lake Charles, LA 70601
Phone: (337) 436-5020 Ext. 3
Fax: (337) 497-1195

If you have any questions or comments about this site, contact our webmaster:

Patti Busby at patti.busby@la.nacdnet.net.

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