Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Walk the Path that Water Walks

Pathway to Water Quality (PWQ) is a model watershed showing how land "sheds" water, or drains to a common place such as a river, lake or stream. We all live in a watershed and what we do each day impacts our soil and water quality.

Is soil an important ingredient in your every day life? The answer is yes, and here are a few reasons why:

  • Last night you slept in a building built on soil.

  • You drink water that flows through soil and is cleaned by the soil.

  • You breathe air that comes from plants growing in the soil.

  • You even wear clothes made from plants that grow in the soil.

Pathway's education area offers great conservation
activities for youth and the young at heart.
Soils make our lives possible. We also play on soil, drive on soil, eat food grown in or raised on soil, and take medicines from soil. The entire earth — every ecosystem, every living organism — is dependent upon soils.

Did you know one teaspoon of soil contains more living organisms than all the known kinds of plants on earth? Creatures like mammals, reptiles, amphibians, worms, insects, spiders, centipedes, mites, nematodes, plants, fungi, bacteria and microbes — all help keep the soil healthy and rich for crops, gardens, wildlife, food, and people.

Pathway to Water Quality exists to show the connection between healthy soils and clean water, why it is important, and what we can do at home and on the farm to protect our soil and water quality !

For more information on PWQ visit our website at
www.pathwaytowaterquality.org.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

"If You Want to go Far, Go Together"

Earlier this week I read a quote I can't stop thinking about: "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." I couldn't find a person to whom I can ascribe the quote, but I think it's powerful and very applicable to what Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) do.

In Indiana, we rely on the resources and passions of many different agencies, organizations, and individuals in order to improve the health of our environment. Although each group or person works to accomplish individual goals quickly and efficiently, working with other agencies across the state have allowed us all to "go far."

The Indiana Conservation Partnership, which is comprised of the Association of SWCDs, the Natural Resources Conservation Services, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management,  the Farm Service Agency, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and others, works together to solve our common natural resource problems. We all have different resources and different limitations (some of us are nonprofits, some are government agencies; some are locally-based and some are statewide) and it is our differences that enable and inspire us to combine our strengths to build a better, healthier Indiana.
Organize!

The Partnership's goals for all Hoosiers include:
  • Clean drinking water
  • Cleaner streams, rivers and lakes for recreation
  • Productive soils for Indiana’s farmers
  • Enhanced quality of life for Indiana citizens
  • Stronger state economy
  • Funded local District programs
  • Funded local cost-share programs

Together, we seek out and receive funding for conservation projects in Indiana (like Clean Water Indiana and Conservation Reserve Program funding). We share the expertise of staff members in order to provide the best possible information and experience to each other and to Hoosiers who take advantage of our services. We appreciate a familiarity and camaraderie with one another that contributes to a stronger Partnership that is more capable of providing high-quality service to Indiana.

Though working together instead of working alone has its unique challenges and progress seems slow at times, our Partnership has allowed us to come much further than we ever could alone.

See what we have accomplished in your county.