Mower Soil & Water Conservation District has a new board member to fill a vacant seat representing four townships in the Grand Meadow and Racine areas.

Micah Peterson, 36, of Pleasant Valley Township, has been appointed by the Mower SWCD Board of Supervisors to fill the District 2 seat vacated by Rick Gehling, who opted not to seek re-election last fall.

No candidates filed for the District 2 position, which covers the townships of Pleasant Valley, Racine, Grand Meadow and Frankford in Mower County’s northeast corner.

Mower SWCD Board members voted Jan. 11 to appoint Peterson to a special two-year term as supervisor; elected SWCD supervisors serve four-year terms. Peterson’s seat will be up for election in 2018 along with the supervisor positions in District 3 (Clayton, Bennington, Lodi and LeRoy townships) and District 4 (Windom, Marshall, Lyle, Nevada and Adams townships).

Peterson grew up on a family farm in northern Iowa, helping to raise hogs and crops. He now owns a lawn care and snow removal business, and has a wife, Heather, and daughter Alyssa, age 9.

“Serving on the SWCD board fits well with my background and my love of agriculture, wildlife, fish and habitat,” Peterson said. “I’m looking forward to helping with Mower County’s already strong conservation efforts.”

His background also includes various work over several years with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, including one year as a fisheries technician doing creel surveys. For another two years, he worked as an Iowa DNR wildlife technician, working to restore and build wetlands; restore native prairies; build and maintain hunting areas; and plant food plots.

Peterson also spent one summer in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, volunteering for the U.S. National Park Service.

“We’re excited to have someone with Micah’s experiences and personality join our team,” Mower SWCD district manager Justin Hanson said.