Pope Soil & Water Conservation District

09/04/2026

Our Pope SWCD office will be closed on Monday, September 7th in observance of Labor Day.
We welcome you to come visit us at Breakfast on the Farm at Reichmann Land & Cattle instead —there will be plenty of hands on learning for the whole family!

Our office will reopen with normal hours on Tuesday, September 8th.

09/04/2026

👀 What are we building?!

Pope SWCD staff have been busy behind the scenes getting something BIG set up… 🌱👷‍♀️ And we’re pretty excited for you to see it!

🎥 Watch the timelapse and get a sneak peek at our Soil Health Tunnel coming to Breakfast on the Farm! Thank you for the resources @ NRCS.

But don’t just watch from your screen—come check it out in person!

📍 Riechmann Land & Cattle
15290 127th st
villard MN
📅 Monday | 8:00 AM–12:00 PM

And you’ll find the Pope SWCD booth right next to the Soil Health Tunnel, with some fun, interactive table displays for all ages!

Come see what we’ve been putting together… we’ll see you Monday! 👀🌱

09/03/2026

We were glad to help with this event. Watch for our next clinic in 2027.

09/02/2026

🚜 Come See Us at Breakfast on the Farm! 🚜
Join us on Monday, September 7th at Reichmann Land & Cattle for a fun, family friendly morning on the farm.
We’ll have a Soil Health Tunnel on site — you and the kids can walk right through it and explore what’s happening beneath our feet.

It’s going to be a great day, so grab your family and stop by to visit us and all the other vendors on the farm. We’d love to see you there!

08/31/2026

Flowing Forward: A Watershed Dinner and Discussion, an upcoming event for stakeholders of the North Fork Crow River Watershed (parts of Grove Lake, Bangor, and Lake Johanna Townships).

The North Fork Crow River Watershed Collaborative (NFCRWC) has started the work to update the 10-year comprehensive watershed management plan that started in 2018. Through the One Watershed, One Plan program, NFCRWC is required to update the plan and renew it for another 10 years.

This event is a fantastic opportunity for you to share your ideas, concerns, and hopes for our shared watershed.
Here are the details:
When: Tuesday, September 22nd from 4:30 PM to 7:00 PM
Where: Litchfield Eagles, 389 CSAH 34 South Litchfield, MN 55355
The event will kick off with check-in and a buffet dinner from 4:30 PM to 5:00 PM, followed by guided discussions and engaging activities.
Registration is requested for food count. You can register online or by phone:
Online Registration: https://forms.gle/25q8yQEk89Hr2AEP9
Phone Registration: Call Stephanie at 320-293-9311 and leave a message.

08/31/2026

Last week updates were being done on a RIM (Reinvest In Minnesota) easement in Pope County. RIM is a program that has been around since 1986 to restore marginal or sensitive lands to protect soil and water quality and support fish and wildlife habitat. This wetland restoration project is being enhanced to a stop log structure. This new structure will help with water management on this easement. The original structure was established in 1997 and needed repairs.

The RIM Program acquires, on behalf of the state, Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR), these easements. The land remains in private ownership.

Pope SWCD administers this program locally. For more information on this program visit this link: https://bwsr.state.mn.us/conservation-easements

08/29/2026

Extreme drought has moved into MN in the past week in corners of the state, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor update. Virtually all of the state is dry, and more than three quarters is in drought, with extreme drought pockets appearing recently in the northwest, northeast, southwest, and southeast.

Info 🔗 https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?MN

08/28/2026

Everything is dry and thirsty right now — including any trees you planted this spring or summer.

Young trees don’t have established roots yet, so they need regular, deep watering during dry stretches like this.
💧 Give them a slow soak at the base to help moisture reach the root zone and keep them healthy heading into fall.

08/26/2026

Pope County is listed check out the information on the link below.

The USDA has declared Koochiching County and its contiguous counties (Beltrami, Itasca, Lake of the Woods, St. Louis) as disaster areas due to recent drought. Farmers there may be potentially eligible for FSA disaster loans, as well as our disaster recovery loans.

Faribault County and its contiguous counties (Blue Earth, Freeborn, Martin, Waseca) have also received this disaster designation, due to excessive rain and related weather. So has Stevens County and its contiguous counties (Big Stone, Douglas, Grant, Pope, Swift, Traverse).

🔗 https://www.fsa.usda.gov/state-offices/minnesota
🔗 https://www.mda.state.mn.us/disasterloan