Conservation Basics

Conservation Basics

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Chris Banks has a consulting business to help farmers and ranchers with their conservation concerns. "I was hired with the Idaho Association of Soil Conservation Districts. I was hired to write technical documents. What those documents did was they served as guidelines for landowners who were wanting to do conservation improvements on their properties that gave them direction as to what best management practices would be best to implement on their properties or that would provide different solutions. For instance, if they had corrals that were located on streams, if they had eroding stream banks, if they had soil erosion problems in their grain fields, a whole host of different things. It was all related to soil and water conservation and savings. Obviously these projects, as we started to get into them, we started realizing that at first landowners were a little bit worried about participating in government programs. I think any time somebody hears the words ' Hi, I'm from the government and I am here to help', they get the idea of turning around and running away. That's because it is kind of scary to them. But they sent me out into the field to visit with those landowners. It has been very beneficial for me to help work with landowners all throughout my career because of my agricultural background. I was born and raised on a working cattle ranch in Southeast Idaho and I am still involved in the family ranch. Also my wife and I own 500 acres and have our own cowherd on the side.”
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