A representative of the Southside Soil and Water Conservation District (SSWCD) provided an update on the organization’s activities during the Dec. 13 Lunenburg Board of Supervisors meeting.

Buck Tharpe, chairman of the SSWCD Board of Directors, presented on the district’s activities. The SSWCD services Lunenburg and Charlotte counties.

Science-based programs that SSWCD held at area schools included holding a program describing watershed and erosion pollution for the fifth grade class at Kenbridge Elementary School, holding a program on rock cycles at Kenbridge Elementary School, holding a field day program at Kenbridge Elementary School and participating in an Arbor Day program held at the Kenbridge Town Park for the Kenbridge Elementary School fifth grade class. The Victoria Elementary School Arbor Day program was held at the school’s classrooms.

SSWCD also participated in Central High School’s Career and Expo event in April. Students from Lunenburg County Public Schools recently attended a Watershed Adventure Camp by the SSWCD.

Eli Hall, a Victoria resident who attended Fuqua School, was a co-recipient of the Joe and Helen Vaden Education Scholarship. Hall received $500. He is currently a freshman at Virginia Tech interested in pursuing a degree in animal and poultry science to become a veterinarian.

Tharpe noted that Lunenburg had few to none submissions for various SSWCD contests, citing the annual poster contest, youth conservation camps for high school and middle school students.

Participants of the high school conservation camp allows campers to spend a week at Virginia Tech.

Scholarship application information are sent to area schools, Tharpe said.

The SSWCD approved eight erosion and sediment control plans in its service district that included Kenbridge Baptist Church.

SSWCD, in fiscal year 2018 allocated $127,099.76 to assist producers on 882 acres in Lunenburg and Charlotte counties with cost-sharing and best management practices in the two counties, such as cover crops and stream exclusion that would increase water quality, soil health and overall production in the two areas, according to documentation from the SSWCD.

Richard Hite was one of 10 recipients of the statewide Virginia Grand Basin Clean Water Farm Award, announced in December. Hite was nominated by SSWCD for his farming practices by the Chowan River Basin.

Recipients of the annual SSWCD Clean Farm Awards in 2017 included Tom and Josephine Mariannino with Sunnyfield Farm in Lunenburg. Their award concerned the Chowan River Basin.

Beaver Creek District Supervisor Dr. Frank Bacon asked whether LCPS could encourage students to apply for the SSWCD scholarships. Bacon said his son attended a conservation camp at Virginia Tech.

To learn more about SSWCD, call (434) 542- 5405.