About

Oxford County Soil & Water Conservation District

Our Mission

The mission of the Oxford County Soil & Water Conservation District is to provide leadership, education and technical assistance in the management and conservation of agricultural and natural resources by integrating and disseminating local, state and federal resources.

We administer Education and Outreach Programs such as:

Agriculture & Conservation Day at Oxford Fair
Agriculture & Conservation Family Day at Waterford Fair
Oxford County Register of Big Trees
District Day at the Hall of Flags in Augusta
Envirothon
LakeSmart Presentations
Native Plant Sale
OCSWCD Photo Contest
Ossipee Fair
Plantings for Wildlife Habitat Enhancement
Skidder Bridge Rental
Tenmile River Demonstration Forest in Brownfield/Hiram
Water Quality Protection for Homeowners
Watershed Model Demonstrations in Classrooms
Yardscaping: Chemical Free Lawn Care

We provide Technical Seminars and Workshops such as:

ATV Trail Maintenance Seminar
Basic GIS Mapping Applications
Farm Pond Construction & Trout Stocking Workshop
Gravel Road Maintenance
Introductory GPS Unit Use Class
Invasive Aquatic Plants
Invasive Forest Pests
Invasive Terrestrial Plants
Septic Installation & Maintenance Training

We oversee Resource Planning and Protection Projects such as:

Coordinate and conduct Watershed, Riparian Habitat and Stream Corridor Surveys
Plan, apply for and implement conservation related grant projects
Stream Culvert Assessments for Fish passage

We assist with Technical Assistance and Fee for Service support such as:

Best Management Practice (BMP) Evaluations
Erosion & Sediment Control Plans and Plan Review
GIS Mapping
Gravel/Camp Road Evaluations and Maintenance Plans
LakeSmart Evaluations
Permit by Rule Assistance for landowners
Shoreline Stabilization issues
Site Plan and Subdivision Peer Review for Town Planning Boards
Storm Water Control Plan Review
Town/Municipal Assistance: 3^rd Party Compliance Inspection (ME DEP Certified)
Vegetative Buffer Recommendations and Designs

History

Soil and Water Conservation Districts arose as a result of the environmental disaster of the 1930’s known as the “Great Dust Bowl”. This event brought the nation’s attention to the fact that soil is a precious natural resource as it takes approximately 100 years for only 1 inch of topsoil to form. During the 1930’s, farmers were losing about 3 to 5 inches of topsoil per year due to poor farming practices and dry windy conditions. Soils were being carried away by wind and deposited hundreds of miles away. As this life-giving soil literally rained down on Washington D.C., there was a federal call to action by soil scientist Hugh Hammond Bennett to create laws to provide the basis for creating local conservation districts. The Districts worked with local farmers, connecting them to valuable federal government programs designed to help them adopt practices which aided in soil and water conservation. Maine joined in by ratifying the authorizing legislation in 1941 to establish Soil & Water Conservation Districts in every county in the state. Today, we are losing topsoil to erosion at the rate of about 5 tons per acre a year, or about the thickness of a dime. The function of conservation districts was, and still is, to address the needs within the district for maintaining or improving soil and water quality.