United States Department of Agriculture
Natural Resources Conservation Service		 Wisconsin Go to Accessibility Information
Skip to Page Content





Conservation our purpose our passion banner

Conservation - Our Purpose.  Our Passion.

Wisconsin Featured Conservation Farmers

photo derr wetlands

Bob Derr, Derr Farms
Dane County, Wisconsin

 Bob Derr runs the family’s 400 acre cash grain farm near Marshall, Wisconsin, with an eye to saving energy and fuel at every possible step. When the Crawfish Watershed became eligible for the 2005 Conservation Security Program, Bob signed up and was accepted in Tier 2, moving quickly to Tier 3 the next year.

Conservation is a Derr family tradition. In the early 1940’s, Alvin Derr, Bob’s 102 year-old father, planted the first contour strip crops in Dane County. Terraces were installed in the early 1970’s with technical assistance from the Soil Conservation Service’s local soil conservationist, Perlie Reed, who went on to become Chief of the agency in 1998. Bob’s was the first farm in Wisconsin to sign up for the Farmers Union Carbon Credit program last year. For them, it required nothing new, as they had been using no-till in a corn-soybean rotation for years. With the recent rush to plant more corn because of the high corn prices, Derr’s did not change their rotation as many did. “The corn-soybean rotation with no-till works great,” says Bob. “It reduces the nitrogen and chemicals needed.”

Energy Crops and On-Farm Energy Production
Bob and his son Jamie enjoy experimenting with energy crops and producing their own alternative fuels on the farm. They grew a test plot of canola to produce canola oil for biodiesel, and are planning a sunflower test plot in the future. They also have a SVO (straight vegetable oil) conversion kit on the tractor to burn SVO in combination with diesel.

Terry Kelly, NRCS District Conservationist for Dane County, assisted Bob with the Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases-Carbon Management Evaluation Tool (COMET-VR). Comet-VR is a component of the Air Resource Management-CSP Enhancement, which Terry added to his CSP contract. The COMET-VR tool is a decision support tool for agricultural producers, land managers, soil scientists, and other agricultural interests. It provides a simple and reliable method of estimating soil carbon sequestration and the carbon footprint of every aspect of the farming operation. The Derr’s also recycle all lubricants used on the farm

“The Derr’s operation is an excellent example of whole farm planning, with more than the core four practices of no-till, nutrient and pest management, and conservation buffers,” says Kelly. “They have gone beyond with wetlands, wildlife habitat, energy conservation and energy production, even a small well-tended apple orchard.”

Wildlife Paradise
To improve wildlife habitat, they have restored a small wetland which now provides hours of wildlife watching for the family. Bob also established a wildlife corridor, which helped the farm meet the wildlife requirements for Tier 3. They used an existing grass-backed terrace, and added on other 15 feet of seeding on the other side to make a 30 foot wide buffer.

“It really works,” says Bob. “We have seen deer use it as a corridor, and so do pheasants.” The buffer, of course, also provides water quality benefits, intercepting and slowing any runoff from the fields.
 
hamer farm sign

Charlie Hammer and Nancy Kavazanjian
Hammer-Kavazanjian Farms
Dodge County, Wisconsin

 “Our Soil, Our Strength” is Hammer-Kavazanjian Farm Motto

Charlie Hammer and his wife, Nancy Kavazanjian, live by their motto, “Our Soil, Our Strength”, which is painted on their farm trucks and signs. For years, they have been trying different ways to successfully increase their soil organic matter, fertility, and tilth.

"It's always exciting and rewarding to work with producers like Charlie and Nancy,” says Brian Briski, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) District Conservationist in Dodge County, Wisconsin. “They are always willing to try new and progressive farming techniques for conservation."

Charlie and Nancy were among the first farmers to enroll in the Conservation Security Program (CSP) in the Crawfish River Watershed in southeast Wisconsin in 2005. CSP is a voluntary program that rewards landowners for their conservation stewardship and improvements made to soil, water, air, energy, plant, and animal life. Soil conservation has always been an important part of how they manage their farm near Beaver Dam, and CSP was a natural fit.

Improving soil quality and crop yields with conservation in mind …

“We’ve always been conservation minded because the soil is so important to us. The soil is our strength, as our sign says,” says Nancy.

Charlie and Nancy have practiced no-till since 1985 with a corn-soybean-wheat rotation. They have also been experimenting with cover crops such as alfalfa, red clover and hairy vetch following wheat to secure nitrogen and provide soil protection and enhancement. Other innovative techniques they use include precision agriculture that consists of grid soil sampling, yield monitoring with GPS, and also GPS to control wheel traffic to reduce compaction. Tractors, combine and grain cart are also equipped with tracks to minimize compaction.

“We know that you can’t abuse the soils and get good yields. It’s always been our goal to try and have the best soils we can,” says Nancy. That was demonstrated very effectively at the CSP Field Day held on their farm. A soil pit was dug in one of their fields, vividly showing the organic matter, worm activity, lack of compaction, and tilth.

This year, they advanced to Tier III in CSP by improving the red-headed woodpecker habitat on their farm.
 

 

Wisconsin Featured NRCS Employees

Clarin on 4wheeler photo

Caroline Clarin Agricultural Engineer
Jefferson Field Office, Wisconsin

  

Caroline Clarin joined NRCS on July 19, 1999 and the very next day, started work on a new 1,800 acre showcase Wetlands Reserve Program project. Back then, she knew next to nothing about wetlands, but immediately fell in love with wetland restoration and has been rebuilding 24-carat wetland jewels ever since. Except for a notable stint working on Katrina recovery, Caroline has engineered over 10,000 acres of wetland restorations in southeast Wisconsin.

Here’s what Caroline has to say: “I feel privileged everyday to work for NRCS. I realized the impact that the Wetlands Reserve Program is making on the landscape one day while flying from Chicago to Madison. Looking down from 20,000 feet, the 1,860 acre Turtle Valley Wildlife Area WRP site jumped out on the landscape. Next, less than 20 miles to the north, I could see the 535 acre addition to the Prince’s Point Wildlife Area, and beyond that to the northwest, the 1,740 acre Jefferson Marsh WRP, and last but not least the 1,500 acre Zeloski Marsh WRP addition to the London Marsh Wildlife Area. Each of these projects bloomed because of the professional harmony of the NRCS team working on them, and the strong ties to our public and private partners. I was proud to have had the opportunity to do the engineering planning and design for these projects and watch them come to life.”

Caroline’s restorations are so well done, that birding groups from all over the state travel to visit them. Each year during the spring bird migration, she receives a flurry of emails from birders listing their sightings from WRP sites - dunlins, hudsonian godwits, black-necked stilts, snipes, and spotted sandpipers as well as the awesome and endangered Wilson’s Phalarope and Whooping Cranes. “I love driving around the berm at Prince’s Point listening to the overwhelming sound of literally thousands of ducks and geese stopping for a rest on their way further north and watching each year as more stay and nest in southeast Wisconsin. As the spring and summer continues, I watch for the yellow headed blackbirds, dickcissels, meadowlarks and in the heat of the summer the Egrets and Herons begin to gather in the shallow marsh areas. In the fall, the pheasant and duck hunters share their “opening day” stories with me including tails of “hundreds of ducks” and “easily bagging my limit”. I can’t imagine a greater reward for a job well done!”

 
photo gilbertson

Randy Gilbertson
Tribal Resource Conservationist and Soil Scientist
Spooner Field Office, Spooner, Wisconsin

  

Randy Gilbertson is a jack of all trades, and contrary to the axiom, a master of all trades as well. He is a soil scientist for all of northern Wisconsin, assisting the Soil Survey MLRA project office. He also provides program and technical resource conservation assistance to field offices in northern Wisconsin. And he serves as Resource Conservationist for special projects on tribal lands, statewide. Randy is universally highly regarded in the agency for his technical skills and his passion for natural resources and conservation.

In the 1930’s, the US government created the Chippewa Flowage by damming the Chippewa River to create a hydroelectric plant, and in the process submerged a Lac Courte Oreilles Indian village called Post. Although the village was moved and rebuilt nearby as “New Post”, the tribal ricing grounds and burial grounds were submerged beneath the flowage, or isolated as islands in the river. Over the years, wave damage began to expose and destroy the remaining burial grounds on the islands.

Through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Randy worked with the Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO) tribe to develop a multi-year shoreline restoration project to protect the tribe’s cultural heritage. Using concrete toe stabilization, with willow plantings above and log wave deflectors, the islands were stabilized and further erosion prevented. It was a difficult project, as there was no road access, and all materials were floated out to the islands on pontoons. And it was also a sensitive project, trying to protect the remains of the tribal burial grounds

NRCS and the tribe have come a very long way, and it takes people like Randy to establish trust and solid working relationships. When working with the tribes, Randy’s goal is to help them protect and enhance their resources and their ability to sustain themselves on the land. Every day is a new challenge and after 30 years, he counsels everyone that the key is to keep on learning – new techniques and new ideas – if you want to keep on helping people help the land.
 

 


Wisconsin Featured Earth Team Volunteers

photo of volunteer

Jonathan Barten, Earth Team Volunteer

  

Since October 2007, Jon Barten, a Geography Major at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, has been working as an Earth Team Volunteer at the Onalaska Field Office. Jon came to us to fulfill an internship requirement at UWL and to learn more about Geographic Information Systems as it is used by NRCS in Wisconsin.

Jon volunteers an average of 4 hours per week. Most of his time has been spent creating conservation map and soil map layouts for the field office customer files. Jon uses ArcMap GIS software to accomplish these tasks. Jon has also helped out with field surveys and designs using the GPS differential receiver to collect data points. This has been very helpful in getting correct distance measurements for such practices as grass waterways and streambank protection.

Besides his GIS work, Jon has been an asset to the field office creating and organizing customer files. Jon will graduate with a geography degree in May and hopes to find a position as a GIS specialist in the public or private sector.

When he is not volunteering for NRCS, or attending college classes, Jon works part-time at Home Depot in Onalaska. He enjoys riding his motorcycle for the fun and the good gas mileage and plans a trip to Sturgis this summer, as well as a trip to Florida over Spring Break. By the time Jon’s internship is complete, Jon will have volunteered 120 hours on the Earth Team.
 

 

Visit the National Conservation Our Purpose Our Passion

Contact: Renae Anderson, renae.anderson@wi.usda.gov

 

< Back to About Us