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By now, many of you are aware of the good works put into motion by the Mower County Soil & Water Conservation District.

Over the years, they have worked with local partners toward the betterment of our water and soil resources.

And now, the SWCD has been recognized on a state level, having been awarded the Minnesota Association of Soil & Water Conservation Districts SWCD of the Year award.

This is no small award, and is vindication of the hard work put in by Mower’s SWCD.

To list all of its projects in recent years would take up a significant block of newsprint. One area in particular over recent years has been flood mitigation, something that county and city entities have been concentrating hard on since the flood event of 2004.

But it’s important to understand that this isn’t simply the SWCD pushing programs into the field. It has to be recognized that everything the SWCD does is built on a foundation of partnerships.

Historically, the SWCD in Mower has fashioned strong working relationships with county and city governments as well as landowners and farmers.

Simply put, the SWCD could not make these important changes without this foundation.

“The biggest thing for us is we don’t own a lot of stuff,” said Mower SWCD District Manager Justin Hanson last week. “All we have is our relationships and our trust. It reinforces that we’re doing things the right way for partners, hopefully to see that they see how involved their board and their staff are. It’s fun for me to see that recognition for the work that gets done.”

It’s a bullseye example that more things get accomplished when working together toward a common goal. Along that logic, it’s important to recognize those people that the SWCD works with, who see and understand the necessary steps needed to improve Mower County’s future.

This award not only reflects what the SWCD does day in and day out, but the collective vision all in Mower County share for a clean and durable future.