JCD Launches Aspen Regeneration Campaign

April 12, 2013 By Leave a Comment

It takes a relatively small investment in fencing to protect acres of aspen.  Please help us in this team effort by visiting our crowd-sourced fundraising page: Paint the Mountains Yellow: Promote Aspen in the Colorado Front Range.  All money contributed through this secure interface will go directly to purchasing fence, which JCD will match with the effort to install and maintain it.  As little as $10 at a time adds up quickly.  Thanks in advance!

 

 

Filed Under: Current Projects, Forest Health, Uncategorized, Wildland Fire Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Junior Master Gardener Kid’s Summer Camp- sign up now!

March 26, 2013 By Leave a Comment

flyer for junior master gardener summer camp

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Quarter Section newsletter, Spring 2013

March 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Quarter Section

Jefferson Conservation District

Spring 2013

Vol. 2; Issue 1

 Lower North Fork at Noon copy scaled for Ad copy
Lower North Fork at Noon                                                                 oil on canvas                                                                                       21 x 55
Ed Zorensky painted this view of the South Platte tributary that drains his land.  He is an active participant in one of our community forest restoration projects.  Both the water’s quality and quantity stand to benefit from the forest treatment he carries out on his land.

Quarter Quarters
 Picture1 JCD staff have been hard at work assembling the first twenty applications for 2013 EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program) funding.  Together, they amount to nearly $600,000 worth of requests to aid in over 350 acres of forest stand improvement and five new forest management plans.   Batch two promises to be hefty, as well.  The batch three application deadline is just ahead—April 19th—though we make no funding guarantees.  As fun as contract assembly can be, we can hardly wait to see the results of our labors in the field.
 Picture2 The 2013 Food & Film Series organized by the Jefferson Conservation District and the non-profit Wheat Ridge 2020 attracted 65 attendees to its first film screening and over 80 to its second!  Members of the Wheat Ridge community and surrounding area bring a dish to share and an appetite for new knowledge pertaining to the food we all eat.  We anticipate another great discussion with the local producers of City Mouse Garden and an engaging film about creating a healthy food system in Detroit’s food desert at the last event of the series on March 27th.
 Picture3 JCD’s forest health projects are proceeding at a rapid pace thanks to favorable late-winter weather. Contractors recently finished a 65-acre project adjacent to the Brook Forest and Forest Estates communities southwest of Evergreen that will improve forest health and protect residents from severe wildfire. This week JCD contractors began a 60-acre project southeast of Tinytown. JCD aims to complete over 160 acres of forest health improvements in 2013.
Picture4 The NRCS Green Team is actively working to reduce its environmental footprint by focusing on improvements in the areas of Waste and Electronics.  JCD’s OSM AmeriCorps VISTA is a member of the Green Team and initiated single-stream recycling and collection of food waste at the JCD and NRCS State Office.  Only a month into the program, the 9 recycling bins around the office get filled frequently, while the compost bin has generated four 2.5 lb bags of organic waste material which is being used to regenerate poor soils.

Clearcut Design

Not so very clear cut, after all
It was not fun at the time, tying ribbon to trees for hours in the wake of my co-staffer, Brian Devine, as he pointed first left, then right, then right again, matching a squiggly line on the GPS unit to a drunken path through the woods.  If that wasn’t bad enough, every ten minutes or so, staff forester Joseph Hansen would holler out new directions, to skirt a stand of aspen or a rock field that had not been visible from the orthographic image at his desk.  All told that day, we bounded about 24 acres of future clearcut in lodgepole pine with nearly two miles of perimeter tape.  Believe it or not, the laborious marking day was not just the forester’s ploy to spend more time in the woods.  A number of factors play into his decision to put such a leggy amoeboid shape on the ground.  Terrain, access, stand type, and local meteorology all play into the design of a cut.Picture5   The cut we delineated over those many hours is pictured here in yellow.  The black shapes along the left and at top center are areas that are either too steep or rocky to work in.  The white lines are roads that can be used to remove the cut timber.  At no point does the cut overlap with the inoperable area, and it does not stray too far from the access roads.  The red shapes are adjoining cuts that complete the forest treatment system planned for the property.The reasons for the remaining shapeliness cannot be as easily seen from above.  First, if you were to stand in any portion of the cut, at most three acres would be visible at one time.  Fingers of forest break up the view, improving the cut’s aesthetic impact.  Second, if you were to stand on the  edge of the meadow in the upper right and the cut area in a few year’s time, you would see a spread of meadow vegetation into the former forest.  This increases food resources for a whole host of wildlife.  Third, some of the uncut acres contain aspen, which would also have spread into the new opening in response to the sun.  Standing at many points in the clearcut, you would feel a full day’s worth of sunshine and the perfect not-too-cold, not-too-hot temperature provided by partial air mixing.  Cuts that are too small can become still, shady cold air sinks that encourage late killing frosts.

This cut has now been completed, and it lies like a sprawling artwork of the land.  Its shape brings to mind a small-scale fire or insect outbreak, which in the end is what we try to mimic with our forest treatment.  Now it is up to the forest to respond.

 
Written by Jonathan Geurts, soil conservation technician.  Call our district technicians if you are interested in touring one of our forest treatment projects.  We hope to lead many field trips this year! (Orthographic Image: FSA, 2011; Clearcut Photo: Scott Appel)  Picture6

Next Quarter

Calling All 3rd Through 8th Graders for

Summer Camp at the Farm
 Picture7

WHAT Earn a Junior Master Gardener Certificate

 

WHERE  8412 N. Alkire St., Arvada, CO 80005

 

WHEN Every Tuesday for 8 weeks from June 11th to July 30th (3rd-5th from 8-10am; 6th-8th from 10:30am-12:30pm)

 

TUITION is $85 for the course; some scholarships are available.  Limit of 16 students per class.

 Contact Kaitlin Fischer to apply (720)544-2869

 
 Picture8 The Quarter Section is a free newsletter of Jefferson Conservation District, serving Clear Creek, Gilpin, and Jefferson Counties since 1942.  Please call to subscribe or unsubscribe, (720)544-2870; or email the editor, Jonathan.Geurts@co.usda.gov  Picture9 JCD thanks its closest partner, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, for its generous financial and technical support. Longmont Field Office: (303)776-1242, x3

 

 

 

Filed Under: Current Projects, Forest Health, Uncategorized, Urban Agriculture, Watershed Protection, Wildland Fire

Advanced Production Planning Workshop

February 26, 2013 By Leave a Comment
The Jefferson Conservation District & CSU Extension are teaming up to bring you an Urban Farmer Workshop/Webinar Series!

Visit http://productionplanningworkshop.eventbrite.com/ to sign up for the 1st workshop on Advanced Production Planning on March 9th!

Flyer_Advanced Production Planning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Food & Film Series Part II is This Wednesday!

February 25, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Join the Jefferson Conservation District and its partners for a fun event open to anyone interested in Growing or Eating Food!

What: Community Potluck & Film Series (including a Meet the Farmer discussion)

Where: Wheat Ridge Active Adult Center: 6363 West 35th Ave, Wheat Ridge, CO 80033

When: 6:30 pm on Wednesday, Feb. 27th (and Wednesday, March 27th)

This month’s film is Food Fight.  View the trailer here: http://www.foodfightthedoc.com/foodfight.htmlFood & Film Series

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Colorado Snowpack for January

February 4, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Our partner agency USDA-NRCS operates snowpack survey stations all over the West to provide data on snowpack depth and water equivalency- a valuable metric for planning the upcoming water year. January was a decent month for the state of Colorado, and we finished with a statewide average of 75% of normal. The most recent data are from this morning, February 4th, and the average has gone down to 70%;  even a few dry days make a real impact on water equivalence:

SWE Feb 04

The South Platte Basin, which includes the Denver metro area, has the lowest SWE of any basin in the state at 61% of normal.

What does this mean for the upcoming irrigation season, and for drinking water supplies? The following graph shows the median statewide snowpack as a thick red line, the average statewide snowpack as a thin red line, this year’s snowpack as a thick blue line, and the last three years for comparison.

Water Year Jan 31

As you can see, Water Year 2013 currently lags behind even the infamously dry Water Year 2012, as of January 31st. But the uptick in this year’s graph in the last week demonstrated the impact that even a few snowy days can have. Time for everyone to do their snow dance!

Image credits: USDA-NRCS Colorado. These images are in the public domain.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

JCD Annual Meeting – Photos & Presentation

October 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Nearly forty landowners, contractors, partners, consultants, board, and staff gathered at the Elk Creek Fire Department to celebrate Jefferson Conservation District’s 70th Anniversary with an annual meeting as packed with information as it was with participants.

If you weren’t there, please take a minute to click through our staff presentation (All you need is an up-to-date web browser to view it).  Even though there aren’t many words, many of the photos are self-explanatory, and all are beautiful.

So that’s what you missed in brief.

Filed Under: Current Projects, Forest Health, Uncategorized, Urban Agriculture, Watershed Protection, Wildland Fire

Where is the Annual Meeting?

October 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Click the image to ask Google Maps for Directions.
We’ll see you there!

Filed Under: Current Projects, Forest Health, Uncategorized, Urban Agriculture, Watershed Protection, Wildland Fire

Speakers: 70th Anniversary Annual Meeting

October 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Time is running out until our 70th Anniversary Annual Meeting.  If you haven’t heard the details, our invitation can be found here.  Our program is full and fast-moving, but we want to spend as much time as possible with our panel of experts, who will introduce their backgrounds and field questions according to their expertise:

Filed Under: Current Projects, Forest Health, Uncategorized, Urban Agriculture, Watershed Protection, Wildland Fire

You’re Invited to a Pot Luck Dinner at Harvest Mountain Farm Gardens!

September 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Harvest Mountain Farm Gardens, a local non-profit partner, is hosting a Pot Luck Appreciation Dinner TOMORROW, Thurs. Sept 27th from 5-7 pm at their 1875 Wadsworth Blvd Lakewood farm.  They are celebrating the hard work and dedication of their CSA members, volunteers, and supporters.

Stop by with a dish to learn more about our organization and how you can get involved, or just to spend a relaxing evening with other supporters of local growing and eating in Jefferson County. Don’t forget to bring your own plate, cup, and utensils to cut down on waste.   We will also have lettuce and herb baskets and potted herbs for sale! Ralston Valley Beef will be available as well with recipes and purchasing information for their locally-raised, dry-aged, natural beef!

Please email or call Kaitlin Fischer at kaitlin.fischer@co.nacdnet.net or 720-544-2869 with any questions and to RSVP with what you’ll be bringing!  We’ll need desserts and drinks as well as dinners!

Junior Master Gardeners pulling weeds at the farm

Filed Under: Uncategorized, Urban Agriculture Tagged With: ,
« Older Posts
  • Facebook
  • Twitter