Ottawa County Conservation District

Did you know that visiting the farmers market is a great way to find out what’s happening in our community? Each week, we invite non-profits to attend the market to promote upcoming events, raise funds, and inform the community about the wonderful services they have to offer.

This week we welcome:
-Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas: they offer quality, affordable & accessible healthcare regardless of income or insurance status.
-Boy Scout Troop 687: selling fundraising snacks
-Miami Arts and Humanities Council Miami, OK: get info about their upcoming kid’s art camp
-Ottawa County Conservation District: will have info about their “Yard-by-Yard” program & the benefit of helping pollinators

Be sure to visit their tables on Thursdays, from 3-6:30pm, at the Miami Fairgrounds to find out about all these wonderful area programs & how they can help you!

Don’t miss all the food & fun from 3-6:30pm inside the Expo Building at the Miami Fairgrounds TODAY! All Saints' Episcopal Church L.E.A.D. Agency, Inc. Miami Arts & Humanities Council Miami OK Parks Recreation and Tourism 6 M Farms & Bakery The Boondocks The Breezy Porch Retail & Retreat City of Miami, Oklahoma Oklahoma Native Pecan Co. Double Up Oklahoma The Frozen Elephant Rochaven Fiber Studios Miami Fairgrounds Northeastern Tribal Health System Horton's Produce & Pumpkin Patch Miami Public Library Miami, Oklahoma ONIE Project Ottawa County Conservation District Kranky's Kettle Corn

The storms will move out & it’ll be a gorgeous day for a farmers market-today, May 19, from 3-6:60pm, inside the Expo Building at the Miami Fairgrounds! Shop local produce & products, enjoy live music & grab dinner from the food truck every Thursday until October. Miami OK Parks Recreation and Tourism 6 M Farms & Bakery The Boondocks The Breezy Porch Retail & Retreat City of Miami, Oklahoma Incredible Edibles Catering DiamondHead Wine Rochaven Fiber Studios Miami Fairgrounds Horton's Produce & Pumpkin Patch Northeastern Tribal Health System Kranky's Kettle Corn Miami, Oklahoma Ottawa County 4-H (Oklahoma) Ottawa County Conservation District SuSu's Sweets

Check out this week’s Market News & don’t miss the fun at the next farmers market! Thursday, May 19 from 3-6:30pm inside the Expo Building at the Miami Fairgrounds. Miami OK Parks Recreation and Tourism 6 M Farms & Bakery The Boondocks The Breezy Porch Retail & Retreat Ottawa County 4-H (Oklahoma) Ottawa County Conservation District Rochaven Fiber Studios Horton's Produce & Pumpkin Patch Northeastern Tribal Health System Kranky's Kettle Corn Oak Creek Baskets SuSu's Sweets DiamondHead Wine Josh Anderson

Grant Victor from Ottawa County Conservation District and Phil Campbell from Oklahoma County Conservation District and both OACD CARE Champions attend the Commodity Classic in New Orleans on behalf of the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD).

Pictured L to R in main photo:
Grant Victor, Chief of NRCS Terry Cosby, NACD President Michael Crowder, Phil Campbell

CARE Champion Grant Victor from the Ottawa County Conservation District featured in District Blue Thumb Calendar. Full release from OCC below:

District Blue Thumb Calendar 2021 October Featured Producer, “Grant Victor: Producer talks about ‘My time’ to carry conservation forward”

AFTON, Okla. – Time comes in so many different forms. It can be noon, or midnight, or it can be a decade or a half-century.

Grant Victor, who was born and raised at Afton in Ottawa County, speaks with sincerity about another form of time when referring to conservation.

“My grandfather (James Y. Victor) and my father (Samuel Grant Victor) were excellent in not only applying conservation practices, but also in teaching and explaining their benefits,” Victor said. “As it became ‘My time’ it was a great honor to carry on the heritage."

“My time” comes with the responsibility of practicing what you’ve learned and also learning what you will need to practice as times change. The two generations he spoke of, taught Victor, “That we are stewards of the land and responsible to future generations to preserve and perhaps enhance the natural resources. They also taught me that Mother Nature has a great ability to heal itself if allowed to.”

Victor and his wife Donna live on the original Cherokee Indian Allotment of his great grandfather, Grant Victor.

It was announced earlier this year by the Sand County Foundation that the Victor Ranch of Afton is the recipient of the Oklahoma Leopold Conservation Award. In Oklahoma the award is presented annually by Sand County Foundation, American Farmland Trust, Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, Noble Research Institute, Oklahoma Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture, ITC Great Plains, Oklahoma Conservation Commission, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. The national sponsor for Sand County Foundation’s Leopold Conservation Award is American Farmland Trust.

“I'm a fourth generation farmer/rancher,” Victor said. “The homestead where I live was built in 1891. Horse Creek is a big part of the acreage and is one of the ‘head waters’ of Grand Lake O' The Cherokees. The farm superseded Grand Lake by many years.”

In the early 1980s Victor and his father noticed the great destruction of land with its erosion from cattle at water facilities, primarily ponds and creeks.

“By supplying water tanks and fencing off areas from cattle, we saw a quick and impressive recovery of land and water resources,” he said. “It was then that I realized that I could make a difference.”

However, you can roll time back a little more if you really want to talk about conservation on their place.

“Some of the earliest steps in conservation programs were with my dad and my grandfather,” he said. “Back in what I want to think was the 1950s, they put a massive amount of the crop acreage in the ‘Soil Bank’ program. It was later, a large sum of cropland was converted back to grassland, while other land was placed in the CRP program. I was not heavily involved, but learned from these early steps.”

Today, conservation on his land in the northeastern corner of Oklahoma includes no till, minimum till, cropland conversion to grasses, pond water management, brush and thistle management, riparian areas along creeks (250 acres) for water quality and wildlife management, the planting of pecan orchards and cover crops.

“There are not many of the acres on the family farm that are not now better than before,” Victor said. “It is a continuous job. Water quality has drastically improved.”

That very subject is a perfect transition into some of his key present day interests and actions. Victor is currently serving on the Ottawa County Soil Conservation Board and the Ottawa County Farm Service Agency Board, but he is also currently serving with 20 other producers across the nation in an advisory position on water quality research funding. Victor has also been asked by the Grand River Dam Authority to be a spokesman showing and encouraging others to be involved in water quality programs.

Plus, he has been involved in water quality education close to home.

“This past year I was part of a workshop about numerous programs including ‘The Blue Thumb’ program,” he said. “What opened my eyes was that I was now with a majority of people that were not farmers or ranchers. They explained the programs that involved children in most settings of large cities. Later that afternoon, we went to my ranch and did projects in the creek. I was so impressed at what they could show and teach me about my own operation.”

This was an eye-opener.

“I have since realized the importance of urban and city people learning about agriculture, and about farmers and ranchers learning more about city people and their concerns,” he said. “I found out that we have so much in common.”

Victor knows that such as understanding of rural and urban conservation is, well … timeless!

Editor’s Note: The Oklahoma Blue Thumb Calendar highlights important information about conservation, has a featured producer(s) in the months of February through October, and provides contact information for both Blue Thumb staff and Conservation Districts. Plus, this year’s project includes an in-depth producer(s) feature story, such as the one you just read. If you would like a copy of the free 2021 Blue Thumb Calendar, please contact Blue Thumb Program Director Rebecca Bond at [email protected].

Great opportunity happening through the Craig County Conservation District & Ottawa County Conservation District on September 9th!

What is moved in pollination?

Thank you for to all our participants at the Fishing Clinic last week! We had over 60 kids register! Also, a big thank you to our partners, Ottawa County Conservation District and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC).

Enjoy Fishing? Want to learn more about fishing?🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟

As we continue to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Shirley Hudson from the Ottawa County Conservation District, shared this great piece highlighting America Xiong, Soil Converaationits at the Jay Field Office.

What different forms can a forest take?

Looking for some native wildflowers to plant? This healthy stand of Brown-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia triloba) in front of Hemlock Crossing County Park Nature Center will be thinned to provide space for other native plants. Stop by the nature center on Saturday, 9/19 from 12-1 pm to take a plant home with you. There is not a cost but we will accept donations to support the maintenance of the gardens. Our supply is limited, but if you miss this opportunity, you can place an order of native plants through the Ottawa County Conservation District plant sale: ottawacd.org/NativePlantSale.html

expands conservation project to Grand Lake
· Randy Krehbiel



· Sep 9, 2020 Updated 8 hrs ago



The Grand River Dam Authority has paid landowners more than $2 million in recent months to move livestock away from the Illinois River and now Grand Lake, GRDA officials said Wednesday.

The state-owned utility expects to be reimbursed the expense through grants, said GRDA Vice President for Scenic Rivers and Water Quality Ed Fite, but in the meantime it’s been able to initiate a new phase in its efforts to reverse the effects of pollution in the Grand and Illinois watersheds.

This phase involves obtaining conservation easements along sensitive waterways under GRDA management. Conservation easements are voluntary agreements, in this case between the GRDA and landowners, to restrict usage of land within the easements.

Fite said this includes taking agricultural land out of production, keeping livestock out and forgoing all construction.

The initiative has been underway for awhile on the Illinois River, and on Wednesday GRDA regents approved the first easement on Grand Lake.

The 237-acre easement by Grant and Donna Victor of Afton is mostly on Horse Creek but also includes some land along the smaller Fly Creek, both near the north end of Grand Lake.

GRDA officials said outbreaks of blue green algae over the past decade have been traced to Horse Creek.

“Horse Creek is just under roughly 50 square miles of drainage,” Fite said. “When you drill down ... it is a perfect sandbox for all of us that like water quality to jump in.

“You have row crops. You have poultry operations. We have land application of waste from poultry operations. We have commercial fertilization. We also have a publicly owned wastewater treatment plant. The mix is just perfect for us to get in and start trying to hone in what these issues are,” Fite said.

Fite and Darrell Townsend, vice president for ecosystems and watershed management, said scientists from the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University and Northeastern A&M College will be involved in developing information about where and how pollutants enter Horse Creek.

Fite noted that the blue green algae so despised by lake regulars is “a huge indication something is out of whack.”

He pointed out the four serious outbreaks in the past decade have followed heavy rainfalls, and said he doesn’t think it’s a coincidence.

“That’s telling me (rain runoff) is putting a slug of nutrients in the water,” he said.

The monitoring on Horse Creek, Fite continued, should give scientists an indication whether those nutrients are primarily coming from one or two “point” sources or from many sources.

Also on Thursday, the GRDA approved four other conservation easements totaling more than 180 acres along the Illinois River in Adair county.

Fite said the GRDA now has conservation easements on almost 2,000 acres adjoining the Illinois, and would like to add several thousand more.

The goal is to return the Illinois as much as possible to its natural surroundings. That means letting it rise above its banks when it floods and allowing vegetation to reestablish itself along the river’s course.

That will not only help filter impurities from runoff but limit erosion, which has become an increasing problem.

Fite, who for many years oversaw Illinois River preservation as head of the now-defunct Scenic Rivers Commission, sees current conservation as extensions of work that began almost 40 years ago.

“In 1983, there were 200,000 people in the Illinois watershed,” he said. “Now there are 700,000. In 2050-60 there will be 1.2-1.4 million. And yet the water quality has actually improved.

“My hope is we’ll be able to say we did the same for the Grand.”

Ottawa County Conservation District
NRCS
Oklahoma Conservation Commission
EPA Water