T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK Pultney Township Trustee Frank Shaffer asks questions of Hannah Carpenter, operations manager with Belmont Soil & Water Conservation District, about ongoing and future projects after a presentation Feb. 27. Forestry/Wildlife Specialist Liza Butler observes and Belmont County Commissioner Josh Meyer speaks to another guest.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Representatives of the Belmont Soil & Water Conservation District are reaching out to teach and form partnerships with the public and other agencies.

Hannah Carpenter, operations manager, updated county commissioners about the district’s activities recently. Commissioners Josh Meyer, J.P. Dutton and Jerry Echemann were in attendance.

“Being that we are funded through taxpayer dollars, we try to be very conscious of how we spend those dollars,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter added that the organization has begun working with children being held at the Sargus Juvenile Detention Center on a composting program.

“We’re working with a group that we have never worked with in the past, but definitely a group that is reaching out for creative ways to inspire the kids that are there. We felt that we could really step in and give them a hand with that,” she said.

The project began shortly before the holiday season. Carpenter said the district recently applied for a grant of about $1,500 through the J.B. Green Team. District leaders will know if they will receive it in early April. She added that the money, if granted, will be used to build compost boxes.

“We don’t want something that will deteriorate in five years and have to be rebuilt,” she said.

“Regardless of whether we receive it, we’re going to pursue the composting program — we’ll just have to pursue a little more creative solutions to fund it,” she said.

She said the project is expected to benefit the young people by giving them a wider view of agriculture and its impact on their lives.

“These kids are in a place where they don’t know where their food comes from. They don’t know that there’s different types of lettuce. They think their meat comes from the store, they think their vegetables come from a can, so to be able to teach these kids what all goes into it, we’re hoping we can just change their mindset to be more responsible with the Earth, be more responsible with themselves and the choices that they make,” she said.

The district has begun teaching lessons in the detention center

“The kids love interacting with us. We get them up and moving. Their day is so regimented, we want to just change it up a little bit,” she said.

Carpenter said the district also recently entered the East Central Grazing Alliance, a partnership between Monroe, Noble, Guernsey and Belmont counties. Carpenter added that Jefferson and Harrison counties have a successful grazing council as well.

“We’re trying to implement a similar thing down here and really get a more unified group of people to build that community,” she said. “They’re going to be hosting a workshop in each of those counties — anyone who has grazing livestock, be it cows, horses, pigs or sheep.”

She added that the first meeting will be held in May, and the meetings will rotate among the counties.

“We only have four planned, but should it be successful. We plan to continue every month, probably until Christmas,” she said, adding that East Central Grazing also has Facebook page.

“That’s our goal in everything we do, to teach people to make wise use of their natural resources,” she said.

In December, the district’s watershed coordinator stepped down. Brooke Sanderson from New Philadelphia has been hired to the position. Sanderson has worked with the Rural Action Committee.

“She’s got a really great background,” Carpenter said, adding that Sanderson’s duties will include monitoring the water at Captina Creek.

“Captina Creek is a pristine waterway. There’s not many pristine waters in Ohio, let alone in the country. Her job is to kind of keep it that way, working with the oil and gas industry to keep an eye on the water that they withdraw.”

Sanderson will also work with the Ohio Division of Wildlife for the preservation of species such as the Hellbender salamander, which is found in Captina Creek.