Welcome!
Foster County Soil Conservation District is here to promote soil, water, and resource conservation by offering technical, financial, informational, and educational assistance and opportunities to the people of Foster County.
Check out our programs and services. Get in touch with us if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, or if you are interested in participating in any of our programs.
Foster County Eco Ed Day 2023
Foster County Soil Conservation District held Eco Ed Day for Foster County 6th graders on September 6. Students from Carrington and Midkota grade schools spent the day outdoors at Juanita Lake Park. They split into small groups to attend sessions on Agronomy, Wetlands & Wildlife, Soils & Erosion, Woodlands, Water Quality & Watersheds, and Rangeland. Staff from NRCS, NDSU Extension, and ND Dept. of Environmental Quality led some of the sessions. The kids ended the day with a visit from Sam Ting (photo below) to talk about wetlands, pollution, and the weasel family. All students leave with a T-shirt, a treat, and a coupon for free ice cream from the Hi-Way Drive-In.
Thank you to our T-shirt sponsors: Arrowwood Prairie Coop, Central City Grain, and Sunrich Products.
Not the Dirty Thirties, Spring of 2017!!
Photo: Storm Tracker Weather
Photo: Bev Nessler
These photos were taken spring of 2017, showing that soil erosion is still a threat to our farmland. These sights have been repeated more than once since then. See the "News and Information" page for photos from the dust storm of March 29-30, 2021. Parts of eastern North Dakota have lost over half of their topsoil since 1964.
"Most of what we call topsoil today is a mixture of the remains of the original higher organic matter topsoil mixed through tillage with some subsurface horizon. Loss of soil in millions of acres can be measured in feet over the past 120 years. Most lost soil...is going high into the air, and only a small amount lands in a roadside ditch." (Dave Franzen, NDSU) For more information, see the video "The History of Soil Erosion in North Dakota" on YouTube.
There are things we can do to prevent sights like this. Windbreaks that help decrease wind erosion are being removed and not replaced. There are other practices as well that promote soil health and will also help decrease erosion, such as keeping the soil covered with vegetation or residue, minimizing soil disturbance, and keeping live roots in the soil for as long as possible with practices like cover crops.
When land does well for its owner, and the owner does well by his land; when both end up better by reason of their partnership, we have conservation. -- Aldo Leopold