County hears updates from Conservation District

The Marion County Board of Commissioners met for their regular meeting on Monday.

They heard from Greg Bowers and Lori Siebert from the Marion County Conservation District who gave a budget presentation. The pair talked about some of the accomplishments the district has accomplished this past year including having 2,880 acres of no-til with cover crops, 4 acres of grassed water- ways, created livestock alternative watering systems which allowed for two systems of 247 head of cattle to be removed from the South Cottonwood River and they were able to con- vert 64 acres of cropland to grassland. For the Marion Reservoir area specifically, they had 1,178 acres of no-til cover crops, created livestock alternative watering system with one system of 78 cattle removed from French Creek and one log jam removed on French Creek as well as a stream crossing installed.

The group also held several important meetings including several soil health ones in the fall and winter. A livestock field day was held in February and a 4th grade water festival was sponsored as well.

They asked for $39,500 for the county allocation to help fund the programming they are doing. That amount helps pay for one full-time and one part-time employee. The rest of the funding comes from grants. The board approved the amount. More information on the Marion County Conservation district and the work that they are doing can be found on Facebook or a newsletter can be requested by emailing the Conservation District office.

In other business, the board:

■ approved raising the county mileage reimbursement rate from $.058.5 to $.062.5 to match the IRS raising the rate. It will be effective July 3.

■ discussed bids for security cameras for the courthouse and county shop. The board did not make any decisions.

■ met in executive session for property acquisition. No action taken.

■ met in executive session for personnel performance for non-elected personnel. No action taken.

■ heard Road and Bridge updates from County Engineer Bryce Goebel.

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