In February BCCD awarded six area producers cost share funds to establish water development practices on CRP through the State Conservation Board’s Matching Grants program. The producers selected have been installing their wells, pumps, pipelines and tanks this spring/summer. Having water available for livestock use on these CRP acres will help producers keep these highly erodible soils in permanent vegetative cover. 

Hello! My name is Sarah Hanlon. I will be working at the Springfield NRCS office this summer as a SCEP (Student Career Experience Program) Student. I grew up in Cheyenne, WY, and on a family ranch north of Walden, CO. I am currently attending University of Wyoming in Laramie and majoring in Rangeland Ecology and Watershed Management.

  Baca County is definitely a new and different environment compared to what I am used to, and I hope to learn a lot throughout the summer. I will only be around for a short time, but I look forward to meeting and working with many of you over the next few months. 

~ Sarah Hanlon

Ranch owner Jay Wilson (on the right in the white straw hat) speaks with NRCS Mary Miller, Joel Moffett, Wilbur Strickert, and B.J. O’Doherty. Wilson described how he partnered with multiple agencies (NRCS, RC&D, Forest Service, State Land Board and others) to improve conservation practices on his Tri Lazy W Ranch.

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Baca County Conservation District (BCCD) and Springfield NRCS staff had the opportunity to attend a Colorado Society for Range Management (SRM) tour near Salida, CO, on June 20, 2008. The tour was held on the Tri Lazy W Ranch, a 2007 winner of the SRM’s “Excellence in Rangeland Conservation” awards. Four NRCS staff members from the Springfield office attended the tour: Joel Moffett, Tim Steffens, B.J. O’Doherty, and Sarah Hanlon. Wilbur Strickert from BCCD went as well. Everyone enjoyed the tour and got to see a lot of exciting range improvements.

~ Sarah Hanlon