WHAT WE DO
Conservation at Work
Facts
What do you know about the SWCCD? The district board members want you to know how we are involved in the County and how we affect you as residents.
SWCCD has adopted a Land and Resource Use Plan and Policy pursuant to the Wyoming Conservation Districts Law in order to guide the Board of Supervisors in their participation in numerous local, state, and federal land planning processes and the Conservation District projects, all in order to protect and conserve our soil, water, forest and rangeland resources, and tax base.
As part of the Conservation District Land and Resource Use Plan and Policy created a Land and Resource Advisory Committee in order to form and support the Bitter Creek and Killpecker Creek Watershed Advisory Group and Community Watershed Plan and created the objective to guide water quality sampling and provide the best management practices/projects in the Bitter and Killpecker watershed and reduce the E. coli and chloride pollution to meet Wyoming water quality standards and de-list the streams to protect the beneficial use of water and the multiple resource use in the watershed.
SWCCD also recognizes that the natural resource-based industries (mineral, energy, and agriculture) provide more than 84% of all tax revenue generated in the County for local government operations (e.g., county, school, cities, and towns) and that the Conservation District is the local government that can and has effectively put money on the ground for natural resource improvements implementing the Conservation Districts’ responsibilities and duties found in the Wyoming Conservation Districts Law.
Through the Conservation Districts’ involvement in federal land planning processes as a cooperating agency worked to protect not only public access to federal lands for recreation, fishing, and hunting but also to support the continued multiple-use of the over 70% federally managed and controlled lands and resources in Sweetwater County.
SWCCD is a founding member of the Coalition of Local Governments for Southwest Wyoming (counties and conservation districts), and we are representing our constituents by participating in Bureau of Land Management (BLM) resource management plans and amendments; US Forest Service forest management and revision plans; federal, state, and local water use plans; reclamation planning; energy projects, and transmission corridor planning because of their cumulative impacts to our intertwined environmental, social, and economic futures in Sweetwater County and Southwest Wyoming.
SWCCD is involved with coordinating and supporting the accelerated Soil Survey partnering with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Sweetwater County Commissioners to implement the Conservation Districts’ responsibility to make science-based recommendations concerning subdivision development in the County and the growth management area; and in partnership with the County, the BLM and NRCS and the Conservation District prioritized the areas experiencing energy development like Moxa Arch, Hiawatha, and Continental Divide-Creston in order to have the soils information necessary to implement successful reclamation for energy development.
SWCCD sells seedling trees for conservation windbreaks for use on residential and small acreage lands in the County, and that the Conservation District sponsored a series of small wastewater (septic tank and leach field) workshops to learn how to properly site, construct, and maintain on-site wastewater systems in the unincorporated areas of Sweetwater County.
SWCCD participates in the Southwest Wyoming Resource Rendezvous, where local industry mining, oil and gas, agriculture, and recreation and service-related businesses provide school-age children with interactive and educational exhibits on the important role the industry plays in our community.
SWCCD partners with their neighbor, Little Snake River Conservation District, to address and implement natural resource projects in the eastern part of Sweetwater County, making science-based technical expertise available to individuals and industries, including assistance for successful reclamation in oil and gas and gravel mines, wild horse management, water planning, water storage projects, and land use planning.
Education
Sweetwater County Resource Rendezvous
As landowners, managers, and resource providers in southwest Wyoming, we are in the midst of difficult and challenging times. Society’s changing and controversial attitudes concerning the management of public lands become more pressing and closer to home each year. We must take the lead in fostering an attitude within our communities on the positive influences and benefits of business and industry in the West.
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The Resource Rendezvous has been developed to educate the public on social, economic, and environmental issues. The event is being organized by people from mining, oil and gas, timber, agriculture, recreation, education, and service-related industries. Tours and booths will help educators, students, and the general public to understand how industries provide social and economic stability within the community.
Participation in the Resource Rendezvous is being encouraged and may be in a variety of manners:
Those willing to participate in any manner are encouraged to contact 307-875 4995 or assistant@rockspringschamber.com.
Ag in the Classroom
Its purpose is to encourage interest and the teaching of agriculture within the state. The web pages include teaching materials for sale, kids’ contests, workshop schedule, and farming literacy quizzes.
CONSERVATION EDUCATION
Mission Statement
Provider Pals© is a cultural exchange program that links urban classrooms, rural classrooms, and the people who get their hands dirty every day – farmers, ranchers, miners, loggers, oil field workers, commercial fishermen, and others who provide the basics of everyday life. These diverse cultures join together to teach each other about their very different ways of life and to address the fundamental question, “Where does my stuff come from?”
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Use It Wisely conservation campaign makes smart water use fun, easy, and practical for everyone. This campaign is all about giving voice to water – your voice. No matter where you need to get the water word out – business, home, classroom, or municipality – we’ve developed a variety of ways to use WUIW as a tool to help spread your own unique water conservation message.
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The goal was simple: to encourage, inspire, and inform people about the benefits of a simpler, less-material lifestyle, and the importance of protecting our natural environment as the source of our well-being.
What Is a Watershed?
A watershed is the area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same place. John Wesley Powell, a scientist geographer, put it best when he said that a watershed is “that area of land, a bounded hydrologic system, within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic demanded that they become part of a community.” Watersheds come in all shapes and sizes. They cross county, state, and national boundaries. In the continental US, there are 2,110 watersheds. Including Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico, there are 2,267 watersheds.
Sweetwater County, WY
(These are all external links to the www.epa.gov.)
This county crosses 11 watersheds.
Find environmental information for each of these watersheds:
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10180006 Sweetwater; State(s): WY
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14040101 Upper Green; State(s): WY
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14040103 Upper Green-Slate; State(s): WY
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14040104 Big Sandy; State(s): WY
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14040105 Bitter; State(s): WY
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14040106 Upper Green-Flaming Gorge Reservoir; State(s): CO, UT, WY
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14040107 Blacks Fork; State(s): UT, WY
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14040109 Vermilion; State(s): CO, WY
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14040200 Great Divide Closed Basin; State(s): WY
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14050003 Little Snake; State(s): CO, WY
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14050004 Muddy; State(s): WY
Plans & Policies
SWCCD Land and Resource Use Plan and Policy – January 2011
The SWCCD (“the District”) developed the Sweetwater County Conservation District Land and Resource Use Plan and Policy (“Plan”) to translate its statutory mandate into land management policy and direction. The Plan identifies and applies goals, objectives, and policies to the state and federal regulatory framework that governs the management of the private, state, and federal land and the rangeland, soil, water, and wildlife resources. The Plan will guide County, private, state, and federal decision-makers in addressing federal and state natural resource management issues.
SWCCD Land and Resource Use Plan and Policy – January 2005
The SWCCD (“the District”) developed the SWCCD Land and Resource Use Plan and Policy (“Plan”) to translate its statutory mandate into land management policy and direction. The Plan identifies and applies goals, objectives, and policies to the state and federal regulatory framework that governs the management of private, state, and federal land and the rangeland, soil, water, and wildlife resources. The Plan will guide County, private, state, and federal decisionmakers in addressing federal and state natural resource management issues.
