New District Conservationist joins Jackson County Conservation District

Meet Jed Kammerer, the new District Conservationist for the Jackson County Conservation District (JCCD). Kammerer grew up on a hobby farm with his family just north of Wall and attended school there, graduating in 2011. He attended Black Hills State University for one year before transferring to Chadron State college and achieved his bachelors degree in range land management. From there he worked for the Badlands National Park for three seasons and the Forest Service for two seasons. Kammerer then began working for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in 2017 in the Wall Field office as a soil conservationist. 

His official duties include helping farmers, private landowners and managers apply for government programs and getting them familiar with different practices and enhancing their overall productivity. He is married and has two children and they reside in Wall.

The two main programs that the NRCS offers are the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program or EQIP.

 

The CSP program helps agricultural producers preserve and upgrade their existing conservation systems and adopting additional conservation activities to address priority resource concerns. By providing payments through five-year contacts: CSP looks to help with soil quality, soil erosion, water quality and quantity as well as air quality, plant resources and energy. Those who apply must agree to meet or exceed the threshold for one additional priority resource concern by the end of the contract. Lands that are eligible include nonindustrial private forest land, private land, tribal land, rangeland, pastureland and cropland.

The EQIP program provides financial and technical assurance to producers to address the natural resource concerns one may have. Through the program you can learn how to improve the quality of the water and air, conserve the ground and surface water, help keep off soil erosion and upgrade or even create wildlife habitat. Eligible candidates include farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who have agricultural land. 

 

NRCS will help you develop a conservation plan that meets your goals and vision and Jed Kammerer can help you just about every step of the way. NRCS takes a look at the following in order to get the most efficiency out of your practice including agronomy, erosion, air quality, atmospheric change, animal feeding operation, confined animal feeding operations, biology, conservation innovation grants, conservation practices, cultural resources, economics, engineering, environmental compliance, field office technical guide, forestry, maps, data, analysis, nutrient management, range and pasture, social sciences and soil and water resources. 

 

For more information visit nrcs.usda.gov/farmbill or visit farmers.gov. Or you can give the Jackson County Conservation office a visit every Monday thru Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It is located at 805 Main St. #3 in Kadoka. You can also give them a call at 837-2166.