Area conservation districts to meet at CC

The Panhandle Association of Soil & Water Conservation Districts (PASWCDS) will meet this Thursday at 9:30 a.m. at the Clarendon College Bairfield Activity Center.

Rick Kellison, Texas Tech University Project Director for Texas Alliance for Water Conservation (TAWC) will speak on “Carbon Sequestration and its Effect on Agriculture.”

The topic has garnered recent interest because increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have led to growing interest in national and international forums for implementing measures to slow and reverse the buildup of such atmospheric constituents. Under a movement towards a federal cap and trade system, agricultural landowners are in a unique position to develop a program that benefits landowners and industries that need to reduce their carbon footprint.

Brian Bluhm, vice president of Dreamland Industries will talk to conservation district directors attending the meeting on Safflower production and its water needs.

Safflower was originally grown for flowers that were used in making red and yellow dyes for clothing and food preparation. Today the crop supplies oil, meal, birdseed, and foots (residue from oil processing) for the food and industrial products markets.

Speakers during the business session who will update SWCD directors on state and national soil and water conservation programs and issues include Aubrey Russell, member of the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board, Area I; Scott Buckles, vice president of the Association of Texas Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Area I; and Zone I Assistant State Conservationist Mickey Black, USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service.

The public is invited to attend the meeting; however, an RSVP is being requested by the Donley County Soil and Water Conservation District. Brenda Nowlan is the contact for the district. The telephone number is (806) 874-3561.

Twenty-five soil and water conservation districts in the Panhandle region of the state are members of the PASWCDS. Counties which the SWCDS serve include Dallam, Sherman, Hansford, Ochiltree, Lipscomb, Hartley, Moore, Hutchinson, Roberts, Hemphill, Oldham, Potter, Carson, Gray, Wheeler, Deaf Smith, Randall, Armstrong, Donley, Collingsworth, Parmer, Castro, Swisher, Briscoe, Hall, and Childress Counties.