Orleans County NRCD
Programs and Services Meet the Board and Staff Contact
Check out our 2019 District Highlights Newsletter
2020 Annual native tree and shrub plant sale
Orders are due by Friday March 27th and plant pick up is on Saturday May 2nd from 9 – 12
We offer a variety of bare-root plants, including fruit trees, berry bushes, native trees and shrubs. This year we are offering a selection of native trees and shrubs for enhancing pollinator habitat. Planting on your property with these native plants can provide many benefits: tasty snacks for you, beauty to your land and habitat for wildlife! We also have bee nesting blocks and rain barrels for sale. Bee blocks are being made by North Country Career Center (NCCC) Agricultural Sciences Department students and all proceeds go to Orleans County Future Farmers of America. Use barrels to collect and store rain water from your roof to reduce flow volume and pollution to storm drains and surface waters.
Click here for the 2020 PLANT SALE CATALOG
Click here for the 2020 PLANT SALE ORDER FORM
What’s Going on With Hemp in the NEK
Wednesday, February 19th, 2020, 12:30 – 3:30
Barton Municipal Hall (17 Village Square in Barton)
Join the Orleans & Caledonia Conservation Districts for a workshop covering what worked and what didn’t work – focusing on soil and water quality – during the 2019 hemp growing season. Topics to be covered include soil preparation, sourcing plants or seeds, fertility, irrigation, plastic mulch, harvesting, and finding a processor or buyer.
Nutrient Management Plan Update Office Sessions
Conservation Art Show 2019 call for artists!
The theme for this year’s conservation art show is “Ecosystem Services through an Artists’ Eye.” Many key ecosystem services – such as nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, pest regulation, and pollination – sustain agricultural productivity, so farmers often take on the role of stewards of ecosystem services. This year’s theme will raise awareness of this emerging field of environmental economics, and acknowledge the work that farmers are doing to sustain and enhance the ecosystems of the NEK. We are planning to have the art exhibit opening event on Friday April 3rd, 2020 5:00 – 7:00 at the Memphremagog Art Center in downtown Newport.
More information and application
Please contact Emily Irwin at 802-624-7022 or emily.irwin@vt.nacdnet.net for any questions, or to express interest in participating in the project.
Water Quality Reports and Resources
Conservation Matters Videos
During the winter of 2019 Newport movie theater showed two videos from the Faces of Vermont Agriculture series to 8252 people! The videos highlighted two Orleans County Farmers and is part of a collection of eight short video profiles that highlight outstanding stewards of the land who live and farm in the Green Mountain State.
Required Agricultural Practices (RAP) QUIZ
The goal of the RAP Online Quiz is to provide an accessible, informative tool for livestock farmers of all size operations and to raise awareness of the RAPs and water quality improvement practices available to Vermont farmers.
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The Orleans County Natural Resource Conservation District (OCNRCD) was established in 1946 as a non-regulatory organization led by local landowners. We strive to protect natural resources by seeking solutions to local environmental concerns and providing resources to address them.
Our current focus is to support Orleans County communities and landowners in their efforts to improve water quality issues. Our extensive partnerships with state, federal and local organizations enable us to coordinate resources locally to support conservation land use practices.
Mission Statement
Protect and enhance the waters of Orleans County by providing leadership, education and services for implementation of sound land stewardship practices in order to improve the quality of all of the county’s waters.
Contact us at:
59 Waterfront Plaza
Newport, VT 05855
(802) 334-8325 x 7008
sarah.damsell@vt.nacdnet.net
VACD Technical Staff: (802) 334-8325 x20
Upcoming Workshops:
What’s Going on With Hemp in the NEK?
Wed February 19, 12:30 to 3:30
Barton Municipal Building, 17 Village Square
Nutrient Management Plan Update Office Sessions
Thurs February 20 & Fri February 21, 10 – 3
USDA Office, 59 Waterfront Plaza, Newport
The Science of Water Quality: A Workshop For Farm Employees
Fri April 3, 9:30 – 3
Location TBD
Ecosystem Services through an Artists’ Eye
Opening reception Fri April 3, 5 – 7
MAC Center for the Arts, 158 Main St. Newport
No-Till Drill Field Day
Early May
Time & Location TBD
Manure Injection Field Day
Mid-August
Time & Location TBD
Conservation Success Story!
Orleans County NRCD and Memphremagog Watershed Association highlight local farmers in Newport, VT who reduced their nonpoint source pollution. With help from NRCS, the McCormicks installed best management practices that reduced phosphorous runoff in the Strawberry Acres tributary by 50%!
“I don’t think people realize the effect that these projects can have on the environment.”
“We are getting more milk and better quality since we completed all this work”, this is their third year of getting a quality milk award. Overall, the project “has brought us closer together as a family.”