Natural Resources Conservation Service
LEBANON SERVICE CENTER
777 COLUMBUS AVE STE 3A
LEBANON, OH 45036-1682
(513) 282-2957

Program Contact: Beth Lessick
District Conservationist
Phone:  513-282-2955
Email:  Elizabeth.Lessick@oh.usda.gov

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced Friday, October 19, 2018, as the deadline to submit applications for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) in Ohio.

EQIP is a voluntary conservation program which helps producers make conservation work for them. Together, NRCS and producers invest in solutions that conserve natural resources for the future while also improving agricultural operations. Through EQIP, NRCS provides agricultural producers with financial resources and one-on-one help to plan and implement improvements, or what NRCS calls conservation practices. Using these practices can lead to cleaner water and air, healthier soil and better wildlife habitat, all while improving agricultural operations. Through EQIP, you can voluntarily implement conservation practices, and NRCS co-invests in these practices with you.

Financial assistance is now available in a variety of agricultural categories such as cropland, forestry, pasture operations, and organic. Several special projects are also available which address water quality, forestry management, improving pollinator populations, applying best management practices and many more. All available agricultural categories are listed on the Ohio NRCS website under “EQIP Application Deadlines.”
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To participate in USDA conservation programs, applicants should be farmers or farm or forest landowners and must meet eligibility criteria. Applications signed and submitted to NRCS by the October 19 deadline will be evaluated for fiscal year 2019 funding.
To learn more about EQIP or other technical and financial assistance available through NRCS conservation programs, visit Get Started with NRCS or visit your local USDA Service Center.
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​Web: www.oh.nrcs.usda.gov

“In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.”― Baba Dioum

Great Outdoor Weekend is a chance for people of all ages to experience the best outdoor recreation and nature awareness programs in our area.  This event is held the last weekend of September each year and over 100 events are hosted!

Warren County, 'Ohio's Largest Playground' has wonderful opportunities to experience the Great Outdoors this weekend. Registered events include:

Warren County Park District is also full of amazing parks to go spend quality time outside!

Select a Park

• Bowman Park
• Carl E. Oeder Park
• Carmody Park
• Clint Fultz River Park
• Craig Minard Memorial Park
• Drake Rd. Property
• Gulley Park and Trails
• Hatton Lukens Park
• Hisey Park
• Ivins Memorial Park
• Kesling Park
• Landen Deerfield Park
• Loeb Memorial Park
• Mathers Mill Nature Preserve
• Morrow Veterans Memorial
• Shaker Rd. Property
• Warren County Armco Park​

For additional Great Outdoor Weekend events in surrounding areas, visit ​http://meetmeoutdoors.org/greatoutdoorweekend/

The Clean Sweep of the Great Miami River is a volunteer event focused on removing trash and restoring the health of the Great Miami River. This river cleanup is about much more than picking up trash!  It’s a day for communities to demonstrate their desire for clean water and healthy rivers. It’s an opportunity to learn about our river, and it’s a time to come together with your families, your neighbors, your community, and your friends to accomplish something vital and worthy on behalf of our Great Miami River.  This cleanup is an annual event coordinated by many partners and held in July in the upper reaches, and October in the lower region of the river. 
 
The first cleaning of the Great Miami River started back in 1986 when two Tri-county Sanitation lab workers were pulling GMR water samples off of Old Needmore Road facility. They both commented to each other that the trash on / in the GMR was terrible!  These two gentlemen started the first "sweep".  In 2005, several groups along the southern stretch of the GMR saw the great work going on upstream, and decided to join in the fun. Since 2005, groups all along the GMR, from Indian Lake at the headwaters, to Shawnee Lookout Park at the mouth, take part.

There are numerous locations to volunteer. 
Franklin: Carmody Park- (led by WCSWCD)

Middletown: Jimco Kayak at Spoken Bicycles, 1201 Central Avenue, Middletown 45044.
Middletown: Bicentennial Commons
Madison Twp: Neals Excavating
Oxford: Corso Road Covered Bridge
Trenton: Community Park
Trenton: St Rt 73 boat ramp
Woodsdale Metropark: 1917 Woodsdale Rd., Trenton, OH 45067
New Miami: Veteran's Park
Hamilton: Downtown at Riversedge Amphitheatre
Hamilton: Riverside Natural Area
Fairfield: Waterworks Park
Colerain Twp: Heritage Park
Shawnee Lookout Park
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**To register to volunteer at one of these locations, visit:
https://www.cleansweepofthegreatmiamiriver.org/volunteer

August 18, 2018 is National Honey Bee Day!  National Honey Bee Day is an awareness day for the bees, started in 2009 by beekeepers of the United States to promote and educate the public about the bee industry. Bees play a very important role in our life,producing honey, and pollinating a large varieties of plants. They pollinate almost all crops and trees, thus we may enjoy different vegetables and fruits. ​

Ohio mobile bat acoustic surveys have taken place since 2011 and currently consist of 42 routes in 41 counties. Surveys began after white-nose syndrome (WNS) was discovered in a hibernaculum in Lawrence County, Ohio. This disease has killed an estimated six million bats in the United States and Canada since 2007 (USFWS, 2012). The goal of this project was to non-invasively monitor the summer bat populations in Ohio and determine the negative effects (e.g. population declines and loss of species diversity) that WNS may be having statewide. Because bats are the primary predator of night-flying insects, they are incredibly important to the ecosystem and for agriculture by reducing pesticide loads and crop damage. Bats are estimated to save around $3.7 billion dollars each year for the agriculture industry. Mobile bat acoustic surveys allow the Division of Wildlife to determine if winter declines are consistent in the summer populations. Survey results are compared annually to monitor changes in bat abundance along each route. (Read full report here)
 
 
Click here to learn more about getting involved with bat surveys with ODNR!
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