Kiowa Conservation District

Conservation Happenings!

Saturday July 19th 8:30 am - 12:00 noon

call Elbert County Extension office for details @ 303-621-3162

The seedling tree program for landowners in Western Elbert County Colorado is over for this year. 15,520 seedling trees were sold to be planted for conservation such as windbreaks, shelterbelts, wildlife habitat, erosion control, etc. If you are interested in participating in the 2009 program and you are not currently on our list, please send us your mailing or email address via email and we will add you to the list. To qualify, you must own 2 or more acres and purchase the trees and/or shrubs for conservation on the land. The seedling tree order forms will be sent out in November 2008 and landowners will have until the middle of March 2009 to pre-order trees. Distribution will be in mid April 2009. If you have any questions, call the office at 303-621-2070 ext. 101 or email us.

About the Kiowa Conservation District

The Kiowa Conservation District is a non-taxing, non-profit special district dedicated to the success of agricultural pursuits through the conservation of natural resources. The district is governed by a Board of eight Supervisors who are volunteers. We meet once a month on the third Wednesday in our office located on the northeast corner of hwy 83 and hwy 86 in Franktown. Our office is in the same building as the Post Office. Enter the door marked "7519" west of the Post Office door. The meetings begin at 6:30pm in the winter. Contact our office for up-to-date meeting times.

We work with all District residents to help them discover the value of conservation as it relates to their profits, their lives and their children's future.

To achieve these goals, we work closely with landowners to offer individual consultations which result in recommending conservation practices like windbreaks including specific seedling trees to use, using grass seed to stop erosion, managing grazing, controlling noxious weeds, and helping with successful plantings. In some cases financial assistance may be available to help achieve your conservation practices. We also conduct several public seminars on various topics.

We work closely with educators and children to teach our young people about conservation. We offer scholarships to teachers and students, conduct an annual 6th grade poster contest, and adopt classrooms which provide curriculum materials to schools.

We receive funds from several sources to help our District residents, none of which comes through direct taxation:

A Brief History of Conservation Districts

How We Got Started
The date was late 1929, the stock market had crashed, and the Great Plains region was plunged into a severe drought. The dry, unprotected soil was ravaged by winds sending great clouds of dust rolling east across the country and out over the ocean. It was observed by members of Congress standing outside the Capitol building in Washington, DC. Concerned individuals realized this destruction of land had to be stopped.

That year, Congress provided a fund of $160,000 to study erosion. In 1935, the Soil Conservation Act was passed which provided assistance and technical expertise to farmers and ranchers. In order to reach the local landowners, states formed soil conservation districts. Through conservation efforts, dust bowl lands were brought back into agricultural production by World War II. Our district was formed May 17, 1941. Since we became a district in 1941, we have always been called the Kiowa Soil Conservation District, but in 2002, the word "soil" was dropped. The 77 Colorado "Soil" Conservation Districts took the word "soil" out of their names to more accurately reflect to the public that the district's concerns are with all natural resources, not just "soil".

Flood Protection
In 1954, Congress passed Public Law 566 to protect land from flood damages. The Kiowa Creek Watershed project was the pilot project in Colorado, and one of the first in the nation. The 67 dams built with funds from this bill in the Kiowa Conservation District are credited for saving much of the agricultural land during the devastating 1965 flood. The district currently sponsors the operation and maintenance of 65 of these flood control dams.

Drought Protection
In 1956, after a serious drought in the Great Plains region, Congress passed the Great Plains Conservation Program. Now, cost-share funds were available to local landowners who wanted to apply conservation methods to bring their lands back into production. By going through the conservation districts and NRCS, these funds could be delivered to landowners using local agencies -- those who knew and could best serve individual landowners. These programs were most recently renewed with the 2002 Farm Bill.

About the Kiowa Conservation District

A Brief History of Conservation Districts

Kiowa Conservation District Board of Supervisors and Staff

Contact Information