Steele County Soil Conservation District

05/28/2026

🌲 Steele County Soil Conservation District Surplus Sale Day 🌲

Come check out our surplus sale on Thursday, June 4th from 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM at the Tree Shed located at 201 Dwight Ave, Finley, ND!

We’ll have a variety of surplus items available while supplies last. Stop by early for the best selection!

📍 Tree Shed
201 Dwight Ave
Finley, ND

🗓 Thursday, June 4
⏰ 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Questions? Contact the Steele County Soil Conservation District office.

We hope to see you there!

05/20/2026

🚜💧 The District’s 319 Watershed Assessment is officially underway and in full swing!

Over the coming weeks, you may spot our crew out and about collecting water samples throughout the Middle Goose, Beaver Creek, and both North & South Golden Lake watersheds. These assessments help us better understand current water quality conditions and identify areas where conservation efforts can make the biggest impact.

Why does this matter?
Once the assessment phase is complete, the District will be eligible to apply for funding opportunities that can help local landowners cost-share important conservation practices such as:

🌱 Cover crops
🐄 Cross fencing
💧 Wells & septic system upgrades
🌾 Riparian buffers
🚜 And other eligible practices aimed at reducing non-point source pollution and improving water quality across Steele County!

Healthy watersheds benefit everyone — from agriculture and wildlife to recreation and future generations. We’re excited to continue working alongside landowners and community members to protect and improve our local natural resources.

Stay tuned for updates as the project progresses! 👏

05/19/2026

I had the best morning visiting the Finley‑Sharon Kindergarten classroom! We read Trees Make the Best Pets together, and the kids jumped right into an activity exploring what every living thing needs to grow — nutrients, sunlight, and water.

To top it off, each student got to take home their very own "pet tree" Colorado blue spruce to plant and care for. I can’t wait to see how their tiny trees — and their excitement — grow over time.

Such a fun morning with an amazing group of young learners 🌲

05/15/2026

It takes over 100 years to form just 1 inch of topsoil.🌱📅

This rate depends on several factors, including parent rock material, climate and weathering conditions, organic material accumulation, vegetative cover and land use, and biological activity like worms, fungi, and microbes.

In areas with rich biological activity and moisture, topsoil might form in 100 years. In dry, cold, or heavily disturbed regions, it may take 500 to even 1000 years!

Soil is a living and slowly renewing resource. Protecting what we have is much easier than rebuilding what we lose.

05/07/2026

Spring 2026 trees are officially in, and we’re busy getting hand plant orders bagged and ready for pick-up day this Saturday from 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM! 🌲

If you missed the May 1st cutoff for hand plant orders, don’t worry — we’ll be hosting our annual Tree Day in early June (weather permitting and depending on how smoothly machine plantings progress).

And one final reminder: the Outdoor Heritage Fund Cost Share Program is currently open through July 15th! This 75/25 cost share program can help with new field and farmstead windbreak plantings.

We’re looking forward to another great planting season!

04/29/2026

Handplant pre-order pick-up day will be Saturday May 9th from 8 AM to 12 PM.

There will be no additional trees available for purchase at this time.

If you forgot to pre-order be sure to keep an eye on our page for our surplus sale that will take place in the beginning of June!

04/29/2026

Cost-share is available through Ducks Unlimited - Great Plains Region NAWCA - Working Lands Program for long-term protection of wetlands and uplands needed by waterfowl and other migratory birds.🦆🦆

Landowners with marginal cropland can use cost-share to replant degraded acres into native grass for grazing, and also fund infrastructure to run rotational grazing systems.

04/16/2026

April 17 is the last day to submit an offer through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). CRP offers are submitted through a competitive bid process, and this year only 1.9 million acres are available for all CRP enrollments. Approved CRP participants receive annual rental payments in exchange for establishing resource-conserving vegetative cover. https://www.fsa.usda.gov/resources/conservation/conservation-reserve-program

04/16/2026

Another day, another Cost Share Program available to you!

The Cover Crops & Saline Soils Initiative Cost Share program is being introduced on behalf of the North Dakota Association of Soil Conservation Districts and is made possible with funding from the North Dakota Department of Agriculture.

Projects that will receive priority for this program are those directly addressing soil salinity issues!

04/14/2026

A reminder that OHF is open for 2027 spring planting applications if you are interested get in contact with us!🌲

The Statewide Tree Planting Initiative provides cost-share incentives for conservation tree planting practices. Learn more today!