2007 Cooperator's Dinner
The Montgomery Soil Conservation District (MSCD) 2007 Cooperators Dinner was held on September 6, 2007 at The Linden Farm in Dickerson, MD. The weather was exceptional and the historic Linden Farm provided a wonderful venue for participants. Over 100 people attended the Dinner, including several local, state and federal legislators. In attendance were Senator Rob Garagiola (District 15), Delegate Karen Montgomery (District 14), County Councilmembers Mike Knapp and Marc Elrich, Ken Reichard, Assistant to Senator Ben Cardin, Miti Fiqueredo for Congressman Chris Van Hollen, and MDA Secretary, Roger L. Richardson.
Participants enjoyed a variety of topics and activities during the event. The Linden Farm featured a renovated dairy barn with a number of green building technologies. Attendees had an opportunity to tour Montgomery County’s Leaf Composting facility and a local organic farm. The composting facility can handle over 70,000 tons of material a year and is operated by the Maryland Environmental Service. Leaves from all over the county are converted into a product called LEAFGRO which is sold at retail outlets. The tour also included a stop at the historic Inverness Farm, where Jim Evans provided an in-depth look at the benefits and challenges of organic farming. And MSCD Associate Supervisor Tim McGrath again provided the entertainment of his “pumkin chunkin” cannon.
Part of the focus of the evening was to showcase the tremendous amount of conservation going on in Montgomery County. J.G. Warfield, the District Conservationist, presented a slide show to introduce participants to some of the great projects being accomplished within the agricultural community. Finally, the evening was capped off by recognizing Montgomery County farmers for their contributions to agriculture and conservation.
The 2007 Volunteer of the Year Award went to Robert Resnik. Robert has provided assistance in the Close Encounters with Agriculture program for many years. He helps out with various areas of the Environmental Track of the program. Over 2,500 4th grade students participate in this program every year.
Lori Larson of Wyndham Oaks was the recipient of the newly established Equine Conservation Award. Lori has worked with MSCD on several projects at Wyndham Oaks including a manure storage structure, pasture management, rotational grazing, and a heavy use area. In addition, she also hosted the 2006 Cooperators Dinner.
The Cooperator of the Year was presented to Savage Acres and was accepted by Laurie Savage. Savage Acres has done a tremendous amount of conservation over the years. Best management practices installed by Savage Acres include a manure storage pit, roof runoff management, grassed waterways, stream fencing and solar powered watering trough.
The 2007 Contribution to Agriculture Award was presented to Drew Stabler of Sunny Ridge Farm. The MSCD recognized Mr. Stabler for his lifetime commitment to conservation and his contributions to the agricultural community in Montgomery County and the State of Maryland. Over the years Sunny Ridge has installed roof runoff and manure management systems, Ag-Chemical Storage facility, thousand of acres of cover crop and a number of other conservation practices. And Mr. Stabler has served as an ambassador for agriculture on county and state committees and national organizations.
The MSCD would like to offer special thanks to all of our sponsors and those that helped make the Cooperators Dinner such a success: Marchwicki Excavating Co., Willard Agri-Service, Forestry and Conservation, Inc., William E. Barnes Excavating, Laytonsville Landscaping, Inc., J. David Mullinix & Sons, Inc., Chesapeake Green Fuel, Inc. and Special Thanks to the Sugarloaf Citizens Association for the use of the Linden Farm facility and Calleva Outdoors for providing buses.