Eight years ago, William and Jeannie Selembo started the practice of no-tilling on their dairy farm in Salem Township.
William Selembo, 51, has been farming all his life and when he learned that no-tilling meant saving the soil, he was all for it.
"No-till has been around for 30 or 40 years, but over the years it's been perfected. We've been getting good consistent results from it," he said. "When you till up the ground and then get a hard rain, it washes away the top soil and fertilizer. I've got specialized equipment that plants right into the existing field. The process is relatively new but it works."
Selembo has fenced around most of the creeks and streams on his 225-acre farm and practices rotational grazing. He also rents an additional 600 acres.
"If you keep the cattle out of the creeks it prevents the banks and creeks from becoming muddy and the water stays cleaner," Selembo said. "Grasses will grow along the streams and those grasses act as a filter for any sediment."
The Westmoreland Conservation District will recognize Selembo's conservation efforts with its Farmer of the Year Award.
The Conservation District's annual awards banquet will be held Friday at the Greensburg Country Club.
"We've been giving awards since the early 1950s when we began recognizing conservation farmers," said Greg Phillips, district manager. "We look at primarily the leaders in the conservation movement who epitomize the conservation ethic.
"We look for a history of conservation efforts and practices over the years," Phillips said. "There is an acceptance of conservation in this county and it's very easy to work with the farmers."
Southmoreland High School science teacher Lindsay Forys won the Conservation Educator Award for her work in teaching ninth-grade students about water quality.
Forys said she works with the Conservation District, the Jacobs Creek Watershed Association and Fayette County on local water quality. She involves her students in field-study projects and delves into water flow, erosion, mapping, and acid-mine drainage in an intensive 2 1/2-month course of study.
"The students look at water quality in the district's streams and try and come up with methods on how to clean the water," said Forys, 26, of White, Fayette County. "I take all of my students, about 100 this year, and we do four field trips to learn the differences between polluted and non-polluted water. The students love the trips and come back with bits and pieces of knowledge and experience."
Forys also serves as the Envirothon adviser, a program through the Conservation District in which students complete various tasks and stations at an annual interscholastic competition.
"Getting the award from the Conservation District is very exciting and extremely flattering," Forys said. "It lets me know that what I'm doing is important."
Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. won the Conservation Partner Award and the Conservation Student Intern Award was awarded to Amanda McMillian, of Herminie, who established a cataloging system for the Conservation District's new resource library. The Special Recognition Award goes to newsletter advertisers Adam Eidemiller Inc., J.W. Wilkinsons' Nurseries Inc., and Roth, Moore and Associates.
The district also will posthumously induct Elwood Leslie, the district's first full-time manager, and Frank E. Skacel Sr., a longtime board member and the district's first and only director emeritus, into its Hall of Honor.
Westmoreland Woodlands Improvement Association will receive the Conservation Organization Award.
Robert Ackerman, president of the association, said the group works to encourage good management of woodlands for aesthetics, timber, water quality and control, wildlife habitat, plant propagation and recreation.
"We are trying to get the word out through education for people to be advocates for forest stewardship and sustainable forestry," said Ackerman, of New Alexandria. "There are two main problems that reduce the quantity and quality of woodlands -- an overabundance of deer throughout the state and private logging."
Ackerman said the natural regeneration of trees has stopped because deer are eating all the seedlings. In addition, Ackerman said, 85 percent of logging in the area is done through diameter-limited cutting, or letting the loggers go in and take anything they want.
"Our woodlands are in a crisis situation all over Pennsylvania," he added.
One of the group's educational projects is a free seminar, "Woods and the Web of Life," to be held 7-9 p.m. Wednesday at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg's Village Hall.
The seminar will feature three keynote speakers, Tom Fitzgerald, a retired service forester with the state Bureau of Forestry; Kristin Sewak, director of Natural Biodiversity, a nonprofit group from Johnstown; and Tammy Deemer, a home schooling parent and Envirothon coach.
The awards banquet is unique in that it will feature foods from Westmoreland County agricultural producers, including Pounds' Turkey Farm, Leechburg; Hoffer's Ligonier Valley Packing; Jamison Farm, Latrobe; Friendship Farms, Lycippus; Schramm Farms and Orchards, Harrison City; Sand Hill Berries, Mt. Pleasant; and Wilson's Candy, Jeannette, among others.
"The dinner will feature everything from appetizers to desserts and all of it is local produce and products," said Phillips. "It's wonderful to feature the farmers' work. People like the rural characteristics of this county and there's no better way to support agriculture than this."
