BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — The Martin County Soil Conservation District is urging local farmers to apply for cost-share grants of up to $5,000 through the County Agricultural Investment Program (CAIP), a state initiative that helps producers improve and diversify their operations. District director Vicky Evans outlined the program’s benefits Thursday as the guest speaker at the Kiwanis Club luncheon at Giovanni’s in Inez.
Administering the program has been a top priority for Evans since she took the job last fall. The grants, funded through Kentucky’s share of the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, can support a wide range of projects — from fencing, barns and livestock to horticulture, beekeeping, timber, water improvements, farm infrastructure and much more.
“It’s really easy to get approved for this,” Evans said. “You have to have a farm number. Then you have to get a plat map from the PVA.”
The county’s CAIP funds have supported several projects, she said. Those include a mountaintop sheep farm, a water well, beekeeper equipment, fencing, livestock purchases, farm equipment and a market stand for a local flower grower.
For Evans, overseeing the CAIP program was an unexpected turn in a second career. A lifelong Martin County resident who lives on Riverfront Road in the Oppy community, she retired two years ago from her job as an English professor at Southern West Virginia Community & Technical College in Williamson. She then spotted a newspaper ad for the conservation district position.
“I thought, ‘I would really like that,’” Evans recalled. “I like to garden and I have goats, rabbits, ducks and chickens — and you know, it’s pretty much that.”
She applied, interviewed and got the job. In her first week, she learned the district received a $95,000 CAIP grant and she would be responsible for managing it.
“I was scared to death,” Evans admitted. “I thought, ‘What have I done?’”
Encouraged by her board, she embraced the role.
“I really like soil conservation,” remarked Evans. “I’m passionate about conservation, about conserving things that are really precious to us, our natural resources.”
The work, she explained, goes beyond meetings and paperwork.
“We do try to take care of the natural resources and things like that. Not just talk about them, but we volunteer for cleanup efforts,” Evans said. “A lot of my board volunteers on things like the Promise Trail and walking trails, keeping them up. They give back a whole lot to the community because they, too, are passionate about this.”
Education and outreach are core to the district’s work, including the annual Jim Claypool Art & Essay Contest. Each September, the district hosts a breakfast with school principals to promote the contest, which this year carried the theme “Protecting the Forest Together.” About 80 students and family members attended an awards banquet in April at the Martin County Cooperative Extension Service office.
The district has been in operation for 75 years. Evans brought along historic meeting minutes dating to 1959 to the Kiwanis gathering.
She closed her remarks by asking members to envision a county that preserves natural resources, the environment thrives and residents have opportunities to prosper.
“This is the culture that I hope the soil conservation district is cultivating here,” said Evans. “We have the resources, the drive and people such as yourselves who are service-oriented and want to promote our county and help give our children a future.”
The district’s office is at 387 E. Main Street, Room 308, in the Collier Center in Inez. The phone number is 606-298-3595 and the email is district@suddenlinkmail.com.