Terry Williamson

"Mike is truly one of those rare individuals who has the insight and motivation to make an environmental difference for his legacy to follow," say Terry Williamson, NRCS District Conservationist.

(L-R) Terry Williamson, NRCS District Conservationist; Mike and Annie Dee.
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Terry Williamson, NRCS District Conservationist, said, "Annie and Mike Dee are good stewards of the land.

Natural Resources Con-servation Service Officer Terry Williamson spoke to the audience about the En-vironmental Quality Incen-tives Program (known as EQIP) and how it can help farmers and landowners who raise cattle.

Williamson explained how persons can apply for the program, how it is scored and how and when it is funded by the USDA.Pickens County received $206,000 in cost-share funds last year.Applications are taken year-round, and applications can be obtained at the NRCS office in Room 308 in the Service Center in Carrollton, he said.

Williamson had a display at the meeting with some before-and-after pictures which his agency had worked on through such programs as EQIP.

Terry Williamson, District Conservationist with the NRCS, talked to the Commission about some of the programs of the NRCS and its past accomplishments.Williamson noted that two commissioners (Colvin of District 4 and Summerville of District 2) had asked for assistance in establishing basketball courts in their districts.
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Williamson said Colvin had a court erected in Macedonia, but the NRCS did not know what happened to the basketball equipment purchased for District 2.
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Williamson said the Tombigbee RC&D also provides funds for projects in Alabama, and Pickens County is represented by Susan Wolfe (as an at-large member), Eric Smith (representing the Pickens County Soil and Water Conservation District) and Summerville (representing the Commission).
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Summerville has not attended any of the recent TRC&D meetings and Williamson said the Commission needs to have representation on the board to assure that Pickens County can make its needs known to the agency.
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Williamson also had three requests related to the Pickens County Service Center, the location of the NRCS offices.He asked that the Commission consider installing emergency lighting in the building because during a recent tornado warning, the employees had to go into the basement and there was no lighting when the electricity went out (except for one person's flashlight).

The second request concerned a metal gate that is closed every day at 4 p.m. separating one part of the building from another.Williamson felt that the gate could cause a hazard for the elderly if an emergency arose.He asked that the gate only be closed and locked on the days that an after-hours meeting is to be held in the Service Center.

Williamson's third request concerned the heating and cooling system of the building.He said the part of the building housing his department stays about 85 to 86 degrees during the winter while other parts of the building are cold.The situation has been a problem for years, and Williamson said the NRCS has spoken with previous commissions about the problem to no avail.Other offices in the building have windows they can open to let in outside air, but his department does not.The Commission agreed to look at each request.

OTHER ACTIONIn other action, the Com-mission:

voted to approve a $9,235.50 contract with TTL of Tuscaloosa for semi-annual monitoring of wells at the site of the old Pickens County Landfill.

During the open forum part after their regular meeting last Tuesday, the Commission heard from Pickens County,s District Conservationist Terry Williamson and his counterpart Jimmy Ruffin, District Conser-vationist from Lowndes County, Miss.