12/05/06 Ecology`s 1st Conservatiion Farm Award

Washington Ag December 5, 2006 Environmental honors went to Ron Sheibe of Asotin County during last week's Washington Association of Conservation Districts annual meeting in Spokane. Sheibe received the first annual Conservation Farm Award from the Department of Ecology. Grant Pfeifer, Ecology's Eastern Washington Regional Director, who handed out the award, talked about Sheibe's conservation efforts. Pfiefer: "The courage he has shown. The commitment he has shown to protecting streams on his livestock operation and also for the way he farms with direct seed. So it is pretty exciting to pause and reflect and congratulate people for the doing the hard work. We sit in offices. We write plans. We try to encourage. We award grants, those kinds of things. But the real work happens outdoors where people are living and that means agriculture here in eastern Washington. So I want to commend this individual for a job well done." Among Sheibe`s credits are installing 136,000 feet of cattle-exclusion fencing along creeks, planting 80,000 native trees and shrubs and providing 19 off-stream watering facilities for cattle. The Adams County Conservation District was also honored for its work along Cow Creek and the Lower Palouse River. More on that in a future report. I'm Bob Hoff.