DOVER — Gov. John Carney, along with Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Shawn M. Garvin, Delaware Association of Conservation Districts President Richard Carlisle and Natural Resources Conservation Service State Conservationist Kasey Taylor, led a virtual ceremony Thursday recognizing this year’s Conservation Award winners.

Gov. Carney also signed a proclamation officially designating April 25 through today as Soil and Water Stewardship Week in Delaware, under the theme “Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities.”

“Stewardship Week helps to remind us all of the power each person has to conserve natural resources and improve our world,” Mr. Carlisle said. “As a farmer and a conservation district board supervisor, I have long been aware of the importance of conservation to my farm and to our local communities.”

Gov. Carney noted the importance of taking care of the state’s watersheds.

“During Soil and Water Stewardship Week, it’s a good time to think about the importance of clean water and caring for our state’s watersheds,” he said. “Each of the award recipients have made improving our watersheds a priority on their farms, in parks and in communities statewide.”

Mr. Garvin added, “These honorees worked with Delaware’s conservation partners to implement model conservation practices on their farms and in their businesses and projects. I would also recognize a great partnership between DNREC and Delaware’s conservation districts, who provide invaluable support to DNREC’s conservation mission.

“These awards highlight the beneficial outcomes of these relationships, and we’d like to take a moment to recognize the hard work that’s been done.”

Delaware’s conservation districts, one in each county, are unique governmental units that partner with DNREC.

Their mission is to provide technical and financial assistance to help Delawareans conserve and improve their local natural resources, including solving land, water and related resource problems; developing conservation programs to solve them; enlisting and coordinating help from public and private sources to accomplish these goals; and increasing awareness of the interrelationship between human activities and the natural environment.

Delaware’s district supervisors have a statewide organization, the Delaware Association of Conservation Districts, a voluntary, nonprofit alliance that provides a forum for discussion and coordination among the districts.

This year’s Kent County Conservation Award winners are:

•  AGRICULTURAL — L&J Farms, Harrington. John and Linda Brown started with two poultry houses and have since expanded their operation to six. They recently converted their operation to organic, growing for Coleman Organic, and have installed solar panels to assist with the energy efficiency of their operation. They also drive an electric car.
•  URBAN — William Owen, PTV 1024 LLC and Jonathan Street of the Becker Morgan Group for the Kenton Dollar General project. This project overcame challenging site conditions using a submerged gravel wetland facility. Due to the high groundwater table at this location, as well as the presence of environmentally sensitive areas, traditional stormwater-management practices were ruled out by Becker Morgan Group. This project represents the first use of a submerged gravel wetland approved by the Kent Conservation District for use in Kent County. Having this first project constructed helps demonstrate the cost-effectiveness and applicability of submerged gravel wetland facilities.

This year’s Sussex County Conservation Award winners are:

•  AGRICULTURAL — Blaine Hitchens, near Laurel. Mr. Hitchens is following in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps, farming nearly 1,000 acres in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The operation consists of cropland in a corn, soybean and cover-crop rotation and six poultry houses with a capacity of 150,000 broilers. Mr. Hitchens began his soil-health journey with no-till over 15 years ago, adding cover crops over 10 years ago. More than five years ago, he began planting green; now, every acre has a living root growing year-round.
•  URBAN — Michael and Angela White for the Trap-White Floodplain Creation Project. Completed in October 2020, this project was designed to alleviate drainage challenges on the Whites’ property and reconnect the Beaverdam Branch channel to a wetland floodplain. Beaverdam Branch continuously flooded the property where it crossed East Trap Pond Road during significant rain events. The newly created floodplain provides temporary storage space for floodwater, which slows water velocity, helping to recharge groundwater.

This year’s New Castle County Conservation Award winners are:

•  AGRICULTURAL — Marianne Hardesty, longtime USDA and conservation district employee. In Ms. Hardesty’s 40-year career, the summary of conservation activities in her work with farmers in New Castle County would fill a library. She and her team have worked on projects on just about every farm in New Castle County. The types of projects include a variety of practices for on-farm conservation for soil erosion and nutrient management. Ms. Hardesty also provided producers with expert technical guidance for various wildlife practices, while contributing significantly to the New Castle County agricultural land-preservation program.
•  URBAN — Skyline Orchard Civic Association and General Excavating Inc. for emergency road repairs, near Hockessin. The August 2020 storms caused significant damage on the private roads in the community of Skyline Orchard, causing severe erosion, filling drainage pipes with sediment, flooding roads and creating a large sinkhole. The repairs required the removal of the accumulated sediment from the pipe and inlet basin on Dogwood Drive, followed by the extension of the pipe and restoration of the embankment on the outlet side, and placement of riprap and repair of the road. The Hemlock Drive repairs included excavation of the sinkhole and pipe repair, sediment removal from the stormwater basin and roadway repair.