Welcome!
Foster County Soil Conservation District is here to promote soil, water, and resource conservation by offering technical, financial, informational, and educational assistance and opportunities to the people of Foster County.
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Check out our programs and services. Get in touch with us if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, or if you are interested in participating in any of our programs.
District Hiring Summer Crew and Technician
Foster County SCD is looking for two to four summer tree planting crew and one summer technician. Summer crew must be at least 14 years old and starting pay is $16 per hour. The technician must be at least 18 years old and starting pay is $18 per hour.
Work starts in May and runs into July, mainly Monday-Friday. Majority of work is outdoors, including machine and hand tree planting, weed barrier application, and other conservation activities. The district will try to work around summer activity schedules. For employees that don't have many absences planned, the SCD will pay for 40-hour work weeks during May and June, until the fabric application is done, after which hours will vary.
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Please apply by April 18th. Contact Dionn or Easton (Staff Page) or stop by the SCD office to pick up an application.
Planting Vegetable Pots at Carrington Elementary
Foster County SCD supplied the materials for Carrington Pre-K and 3rd grade classes to plant vegetable pots to grow in their classrooms. At the end of the school year, they can each take their plants home.
Foster County Extension Agent Jeff Gale led the lessons on tomatoes, plant growth, and vegetable life cycles. SCD District Manager Dionn Schaaf and former NDSU Extension researcher Greg Endres helped the kids plant their pots with tomato seeds.​​​​​​​
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Materials for planting tomato or pumpkin seeds were also provided to several classes at Midkota Elementary.
Not the Dirty Thirties, Spring of 2017!!
Photo: Storm Tracker Weather
Photo: Bev Nessler
These photos were taken spring of 2017, showing that soil erosion is still a threat to our farmland. These sights have been repeated more than once since then. See the "News and Information" page for photos from the dust storm of March 29-30, 2021. Parts of eastern North Dakota have lost over half of their topsoil since 1964.
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"Most of what we call topsoil today is a mixture of the remains of the original higher organic matter topsoil mixed through tillage with some subsurface horizon. Loss of soil in millions of acres can be measured in feet over the past 120 years. Most lost soil...is going high into the air, and only a small amount lands in a roadside ditch." (Dave Franzen, NDSU) For more information, see the video "The History of Soil Erosion in North Dakota" on YouTube.
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There are things we can do to prevent sights like this. Windbreaks that help decrease wind erosion are being removed and not replaced. There are other practices as well that promote soil health and will also help decrease erosion, such as keeping the soil covered with vegetation or residue, minimizing soil disturbance, and keeping live roots in the soil for as long as possible with practices like cover crops.
June 6, 2024
One of the SCD Board members took this photo through his windshield while stopped on the road. Soil erosion continues to be an ongoing problem in Foster County.
Photo: Sam Partlow
When land does well for its owner, and the owner does well by his land; when both end up better by reason of their partnership, we have conservation. -- Aldo Leopold