The Conservation Technician for Vulcan County, has been busy working on many projects this past year, the following is a list of ones she is currently undertaking. If you wish for more information or have any questions you can contact Roberta at (403) 485-2241

Integrated gopher management- Hawk nesting platforms

Vulcan County is looking into new ways of gopher control as the era of strychnine comes to an end. Hawks are a natural predator of gophers, and a nesting pair of hawks with young will prey on anywhere from 300-480 gophers/season. Habitat loss with the increase of farming land has detrimentally affected hawks. Vulcan County is in the process of building hawk nesting platforms to encourage hawks to take up residence throughout the county, with the hope of reducing gopher populations.

 

Middle Little Bow River Watershed group

Producers within the Middle Little Bow River Watershed (from south of the Little Bow Reservoir to Travers Reservoir) have joined together to increase awareness of water and environmental quality. Plans are being made to implement some off-stream waterers, in an effort to reduce the impact of cattle on river banks.

 

Solar pumping demonstration

Vulcan County has a solar pumping unit for off stream watering. The pump has 22 feet of lift and will water approximately 100 head of cattle. The pump is for producer use within the county.

 

Conservation land NW of Vulcan County

A land owner within Vulcan County has land which is excellent bird and water fowl habitat. The owner is interested in conservation issues, and we plan to implement some conservation projects.

 

Newsletter

Vulcan County is producing a newsletter called Sustainable Agriculture: Protecting Tomorrow Today. It has articles dealing with sustainable agriculture, as well as current agriculture issues. Watch for your newsletter in the mail and online.!