Linda O'Neil, manager of the Ellis County Conservation District, told the Ellis County Commission that the district and its partners put nearly $1 million in conservation practices on the ground during the most recent spending year.

O'Neil said the district's combined federal, state and county cost-share spending totaled about $970,000. "We've spent almost a million dollars getting practices on the ground in Ellis County," she said.

The district reported specific activity totals: 15 miles of terrace rebuilds in the 2024–25 period (compared with 14 miles the prior year), 7.5 acres of waterways constructed in 2024–25 and 1,424 acres of cover crops this year compared with about 1,285 the prior year. O'Neil also said the district obligated 15 acres for brush management and expanded farmstead windbreak work from two farmsteads in 2023–24 to five in 2024–25, with plans for further growth in 2026.

The district announced a personnel addition: Mackenzie Kane, who had served as a KACD intern and part-time employee while finishing coursework at Fort Hays State University, started as a full-time district technician. O'Neil introduced other conservation district representatives to the commission, including Travis Groff, chairman, Alan Roth, supervisor, and Steven Walters, NRCS district conservationist.

Walters placed the local work in a statewide context, saying Ellis County "ranks in the top 10 counties for the amount of contracts and the amount of money that we spend in cost share." O'Neil outlined a schedule of upcoming events and outreach, including a district annual meeting and a farmer-to-farmer discussion series.

O'Neil also provided a breakdown of recent awards and allocations: state water resources funds ($78,027 total after an extra award), state nonpoint source funds (about $79,589 total), $32,000 of the district's own funds used for terraces and cover crops, and federal cost-share funds listed at about $791,809 for the 2024–25 spending year. She said the combined total of state, county and federal cost-share spending was about $970,000.

Commissioners praised the district's leverage of county funding. Chair Nathan Leiker noted the county's allotment of roughly $76,000–$77,000 to the district and described the return in outside funding as "a pretty good bang for our dollars."

The district asked commissioners who want to attend its annual meeting to notify the office; O'Neil said the district plans to hire another summer intern and will attend advocacy and training events at the state and national levels.