Plains woman honored for conservation efforts

Blanche Richardson, a long time resident of the Plains area, was recognized at the annual Eastern Sanders Conservation District Dinner for her conservation accomplishments.  Blanche has put three parcels of land under permanent conservation easements through the Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) between 2001 and 2009.   WRP is a program of the United States Department of Agriculture administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service Field Office in Plains.

Two of the parcels are NW of Plains and contain 42 acres and nearly a mile of Lynch Creek.  The riparian vegetation was removed and the stream channelized many years ago for forage production.  Under the WRP program the stream channel and riparian vegetation will be restored to its original condition.

The other parcel contains 167 acres and has over _ mile of spring fed stream and _ mile of Swamp Creek in it.  This tract was restored in 2002 by removing flood control dikes upstream from the large wetland complex.

Blanche has allowed Carl Benson’s biology class to access her Lynch Creek property for monitoring and educational purposes.  They use the easement area to learn about stream monitoring, stream flow measurements and water quality.

Blanche has a long history of conservation in the area.  She grew up North of Plains on a ranch and her father was a United States Forest Service Ranger.  Her land management strategy has been to put the most sensitive land into conservation easements and develop only tracts of land that are well suited for building and are near existing roads and services.

The land that Blanche put in the WRP program is set aside for wildlife and watershed protection in perpetuity.  It is her conservation legacy for the Plains area.