Soil Conservation District director to retire this year

Judy Egeler took a small clerical job with the Soil Conservation District in 1968 as respite from her chores as the mother of five. Later this year, she will step down from her role as the district’s executive director after nearly 40 years of service.

“Theresa Walter called me and asked if I’d be interested in going to board meetings once a month and typing up their minutes,” said Egeler, the daughter of former Enterprise owner Dino Ziebell. “I was glad to get out (of the house). My pay was $1 per hour.”

After a few months, she was asked by the Conservation District Board to type letters and file papers a couple of times a month. With the increased time, she also received a 50-cent bump in pay to $1.50 per hour.

“I thought I had the world by the tale,” said Egeler.

Judy Egeler, who started at the
Soil Conservation District in 1968,
will retire from her role as executive
director later this year.

By the time her youngest child was in school, Egeler’s position had grown to 35 hours per week, and her title was “district aide.” As the workload increased, she became more involved with management decisions.

“The board decided that our books shouldn’t be kept in a shoebox under the treasurer’s bed,” joked Egeler, who ultimately took over bookkeeping for the group. “It made easier to see where we were financially.”

The federal government established conservation districts in the 1930s to help farmers control wind erosion in the Plains states during the Dust Bowl. Under the guidance of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the goal was to provide technical assistance to farmers. Each state adopted enabling legislation, and created districts.

Organized in 1943, the Leelanau Conservation District had 131 farmers engaged in conservation practices. The district began operations with a $100 contribution from the county Board of Supervisors, the predecessors of the current Board of Commissioners, since no funding was attached to the legislation that created the districts. Over the years, conservation districts were given small base operation grants and other program-specific allocations.

The focus of the Conservation District was initially farmers. With a dwindling number of farmers over the years, however, the district’s services have shifted primarily to the those with large tracts of land.

“Instead of 100 percent with farmers, it’s more like 25 percent,” Egeler said. “And the remaining 75 percent of our time is spent teaching mini-estate landowners how to care for the lakeshore by establishing greenbelts and keeping chemicals from going into the water … To use their land in ways to protect the resource and provide, when possible, an economic return.”

The annual seedling sale has been an integral part of conservation districts, which realized they could assist farmers in controlling wind and water erosion by selling large quantities of small trees and shrubs for reforestation, windbreaks, critical areas and wildlife habitat.

“It was, and is, a win-win situation,” Egeler said. “It resulted in a lot of conservation put on the land and augmented the slim conservation district coffers.”

In the mid-1980s, county commissioners began contracting with the conservation district to provide forestry, water quality and conservation education. The district also took on enforcement of the state soil erosion and sedimentation control act.

In addition to Egeler, the public is served through the district erosion control officer and county drain commissioner Steve Christiansen. District staff members also include native plant specialist Chris Garthe, and administrative assistant Susan Cordes.

The Leelanau Conservation District shares a state forestry grant with the Grand Traverse District, which pays for forester Daniel Schillinger and groundwater specialist Dan Busby. Each county has a base operations grant of $19,200, which are slated for elimination in the proposed 2008 state budget.

Egeler said her retirement is being precipitated by a couple of factors: her age, and the need for a calendar separate from that of the district’s. In the absence of a bonafide “retirement program,” she has been saving money in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA).

“I turn 70 years old this year and will no longer be allowed to fund my IRA,” she explained. “For the past 40 years, I’ve built my personal calendar around the district calendar. I’ve never missed a board meeting in all these years. And just when I begin thinking, it’d be nice to go away in the spring … there’s the seedling sale.”

She and her husband, Cliff, plan on doing some traveling and making more extended trips to their cabin, which lies on the north shore of Lake Michigan between Gulliver and Manistique. Egeler, who is also president of ShareCare of Leelanau, plans on increasing time spent with the organization as well as time as a volunteer for Leland Public Schools.

“All we’ve ever spent (at the cabin) is a long weekend,” Egeler said. “I’m looking forward to having my own calendar.”