Steve Tennes, owner of the Country Mill and Sue Spagnuolo, Executive Director at ECD will give helpful tips and tricks on how to prune your fruit trees during this virtual workshop. There will also be time for questions. If you would like to pre-register and attend the workshop on zoom, please register below. Please note we are only accepting a maximum of 28 participants on zoom. If you do not receive a zoom registration link that means we have reached capacity on zoom and ask that you head over to our Facebook page to attend the workshop live (no registration required). Thank you!
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/.../tZcsdeGuqjwrE9J7Fujz05u6LRzdK...
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

The Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP) Technician will be offering free well water screening for Eaton and Ingham county residents on private drinking water wells during tree sale pick-up on Friday, April 17th. The screening will be for nitrates/nitrites only.

When: 8am-5pm: Friday, April 23rd
Where: Kardell Hall, Eaton County Fairgrounds: 1025 S. Cochran Ave. Charlotte, MI 48813
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The Sample Information Sheet must be included with your water sample. The sample information sheet, along with sample collection instructions, can be found below. Please call Allie at the office at (517) 588-6300 if you have any questions.

We are excited to announce that the Michigan Water Stewardship Program (MWSP) website has finally been released! MWSP is a program of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Environmental Stewardship Division. Broadly speaking, this grant funded program is made possible by the state of Michigan’s Groundwater/Freshwater fund. MWSP is a partnership of organizations that provide educational assistance to Michigan’s residents to identify and reduce contamination risks to water and other natural resources. The program encourages individuals to take voluntary proactive steps to protect Michigan’s water quality – our drinking water – as well as protect our other valuable natural resources while caring for our family’s health.

The new website features a Water Story that has three characters or 'paths' that users can navigate. They can choose between Professor Dew, Droplette, and Trickle. Each character explores different aspects of the water cycle and will help students and adults make important connections to our water resources and why its important we care for them.
Please see attachment below for official press release. 

​Water quality has been popping up on the news a lot lately and it may have you wondering what is being done to protect your water locally. The Barry and Eaton Conservation Districts were awarded a grant through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to fund Thornapple River Watershed Management Plan implementation starting back in 2017. We are now nearing the end of the grant, which will be wrapping up in November. This grant provides the funding for the Conservation Districts to be able to assist farmers and landowners in implementing agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) and proper septic system maintenance to improve the water quality in our community. Given the predominately rural nature of the two counties, the main focuses of the grant are agriculture and on-site waste water treatment (septic systems). On the land management side, we have money available to help farmers and landowners implement practices such as grassed waterways, filter strips, cattle fencing along streams and planting of cover crops just to name a few.  Alternatively, at the home owner level, we are offering funding to cover the costs of voluntary septic system inspections to look for failing septic systems as well as a cost share option to replace or repair any problem septic systems to help ease the financial burden of such a task. The funding for both aspects of the project could cover up to 100% of the costs of repairs and replacements. The project scope covers over 57,000 acres in three of the most impaired sub-watersheds in the Thornapple River watershed: Mud Creek, Fish Creek, and Milbourn Drain. The main goal of this project is to reduce pollutants within the watershed such as nutrients, sediment and E. coli. By accomplishing these goals, we will be contributing to better water health not only locally but downstream as well. This eventually leads to positive impacts all the way up to the Great Lakes level. With voluntary community support, we hope to work together with farmers and landowners to ensure clean water for many generations to come. If you live in one of these sub-watersheds, please feel free to contact David Comeau at 269-908-4099 to discuss ways in which we can work together to improve water quality in our community. See maps below to see if you live in one of the eligible subwatersheds. 

We are so excited to celebrate Conservation District Day on Friday, July 17 with the recognition proclaimed by Governor Whitmer. Click below to view the official proclamation!

Please join us Thursday, January 30th from 5:30-8:00pm at the Eaton Area Senior Center for our annual meeting, "We've Got You Covered". See flyer below for additional details. RSVP to the office by Friday, January 24th at (517) 543-1512 x5. This is a free event, with dinner provided, but space is limited. Get your RSVP in today!

Currently, Eaton Conservation District has two board member positions open.  ​Board members are elected at the District's Annual Meeting in January,  and serve 4 year terms. However, these terms may range from 1 to 3 years. A 2-year term and a 4-year term position are available.

If you are interested in joining our board, please fill out a nominating petition and have it turned into our office no later than Monday, December 2nd. Please make sure you choose the correct petition that corresponds to the term you are looking to fill. Nominating petitions, along with a complete description of the positions and board member duties, can be found at the links below. Please feel free to contact our office if you have any questions, or email our Executive Director, Sue, at sue.spagnuolo@macd.org.