2013 brought changes to Hancock County District; all for the betterment of Conservation; including the new Farm Bill. One is we have had an increase of cover crops being utilized in our District and we look forward to seeing this conservation practice being used more in the future. The photo shown is from one of our farmer's field of radishes as a cover crop. Our NRCS District Conservationist, Ashley Linville, completed her 1st year in our office.This is a shared position with Henry County which works out for us in planning events as we share and work together. We have seen an increase of EQIP applications and CSP applications. We look forward to the new Farm Bill and getting it implemented in our District.  Our MS4 Partnership has grown and strengthened for our residents in Hancock County on learning how to protect our water at the local level. We assisted in the Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative (CCSI) on soil sampling in the Southeast Region at Roger Wenning's Farm. We worked hard for the Pathway to Water Quality Exhibit at the Indiana State Fair, especially the Education Area. We hosted a Rain Garden Workshop for landowners, agency staff, etc. In September, the Indiana State Soil Conservation Board meet in Hancock County for their quarterly meeting and then toured some of our Urban Conservation Practices that have been implemented in our Fall Creek Watershed Partnership (FCWP) Program, our program is driven by the Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD's) of Hancock, Hamilton, Madison and Marion Counties, and was developed to address water quality needs and educate urban and suburban customers along our watershed. The effort target landowners and landusers (homeowners, neighborhood associations, businesses, colleges and universities, municpalities, parks and public lands, non-profits, planning entities and economic development organizations) to adopt conservation practices that improve water quality. Partners in the Fall Creek Watershed have joined efforts to address many water quality, soil health, and natural resources including wildlife habitat, and neighborhood/community improvements in 2013. The SWCD's worked together to apply for an initial Clean Water Indiana (CWI) Grant in 2012 to hire a watershed coordinator who conducts outreach and offers technical assistance to landowners and landusers. A second CWI Grant in 2013 was awarded to offer cost-share funds that incentivized best management practice implementation. Interest and participation has grown throughout 2013. Pockets of landowners from community to community, who have become involved, along wiht demonstration projects, are generating even greater Backyard Conservation interest and applications. This groundswell of support for clean water conservation information, techincial assistance and projects demonstrates real interest and need for support. Two examples are listed below.

Town of Fortville and Fortville Action Inc. - Volunteer Power for Water Quality and Community Pride
The Town of Fortville staff and Fortville Action Inc. volunteers worked with the Fall Creek Watershed Partnership to leverage Upper White River Watershed Alliance (UWRWA) cost-share, as well as technical assistance from the West Central Indiana Weed Management Area (WCIWMA) to remove invasives from the Stottlemeyer Ditch in the center of town in 2013 and prepare for native conservation cover in Spring 2014. This project will reduce sedimentation and erosion while providing valuable wildlife habitat and community beautification. The invasive plants - Asian Bush Honeysuckle and Reed Canary Grass were removed at Stottlemeyer ditch in central Fortville.
McCordsville Town Hall and New Park - Conservation Demonstration Areas
The Town of McCordsville started with the integrated clean water conservation practices at its new Town Hall to feature pervious pavers, native trees and shrubs, native vegetative streambank cover, and a native buffer strip around the Town's salt barn, as well as educational signage to inform residents of clean water practices they can put in place on their properties. They removed the scrub-like bank area bordering the water treatment plant's effluent ditch and replaced it with a vegetative streambank cover that blooms with native plants.
Other FCWP Accomplishments:

  • 34 FCWP Cost-Share applications with 40 practices
  • 23 UWRWA Cost-share application with FCWP outreach and technicial assistance
  • 20 + conservation practices implemented
  • 250 + rain barrels implemented
  • 520 + contacts created
  • 15 workshops on topics ranging from home drainage, how to build a pond, managing CSO's with green infrastructure, a pond pro workshop to rain garden design and construction, rain barrel retrofit and painting and stream management.

The Hancock County Board of Supervisors and Office Staff would like to thank everyone that has worked with us in 2013 and look forward to working together in the future. You can reach us at 317-426-2283 ext 3.