LRCD PAST AND PRESENT

By Tony Hoch

 

As much as the profile of the Laramie Rivers Conservation District (LRCD) has risen in the past few years, people still ask me – what are you?  Like a school district or a hospital district, a conservation district is a local government entity with taxing authority and elected board members who provide oversight and ensure fiduciary integrity.  Local conservation districts are a direct result of the dust bowl years.  In 1935 Congress passed the Soil Conservation Act, creating the federal Soil Conservation Service (SCS), now the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), and in 1937 President Roosevelt wrote the states’ governors recommending legislation to form local soil conservation districts.  These local entities would be made up of elected members of the community who would help establish local priorities and plans for the work of the Soil Conservation Service.  In 1941, the Wyoming State Legislature passed the legislation allowing for conservation district formation, and what we now know as the Laramie Rivers Conservation District was formed in 1945.

            

For much of its 63 year history, LRCD had little funding and no staff; the board of supervisors’ monthly meetings consisted of reviewing plans of the SCS and administering the use of a few pieces of heavy equipment for irrigation and range improvements.  In the mid 1980s, with the help of annual funding from the City of Laramie and a small state appropriation, a district clerk was hired.  By the late 1980s conservation districts in Wyoming were getting heavily involved in tree planting, and our first seedling tree sale was held in 1987.  In 1989 LRCD won a mill levy in the local election, which quintupled its budget.  Large-scale tree planting equipment was purchased and a full time tree technician was hired in 1991, beginning an era of high-profile projects in and around Laramie.  With the onset of the Clean Water Action Plan in the mid-1990s, and impending widespread water regulations, Wyoming’s conservation districts stepped up to the plate as the local agency best suited to do monitoring and assist land owners in mitigating local water quality problems.  A part time water technician was hired in the late ‘90s and in 2003, a district manager with a water quality background was brought on board.

            

Since 2003 LRCD’s activities and community profile has exploded.  With the onset of the local and rural cost share programs, over a hundred conservation and beautification projects have been put on the ground.  Our full-time education coordinator (formerly the district clerk) is closely involved with the school system and the Children’s Museum, and averages over one children’s program a week, reaching over 2000 children per year.  Our tree specialist has morphed into a resource specialist, with all the emerging range, wildlife, and subdivision issues, and a second resource specialist was recently hired, due to increased cooperation with federal agencies in coordinated resource management efforts.  A new administrative assistant helps us do all of our jobs better.  In the past few years LRCD has also been instrumental in groundbreaking endangered species reintroductions (with private property rights as a top priority), begun outreach and financial assistance for alternative energy efforts, and worked to bring sustainable forestry practices back to the local economy.

            

We are advisory, rather than regulatory, and continue to have an impressive list of elected supervisors, who are dedicated conservationists, reflecting the key agriculture, education, and business components of our community.  With the move to our new office at 408 Howe Rd., LRCD staff will continue to work to meet Albany County’s natural resource education and service needs.  Please stop by and visit us to find out how we can serve you, or visit www.lrcd.net to learn more.