2016 Conservationist

Andresen named Chippewa County Conservationist of the Year

Mike Andresen, of Montevideo, has been named the

2016 Chippewa SWCD Conservationist of the Year.

The Chippewa Soil and Water Conservation District

nominated Andresen, and he received the honor at

the Minnesota Association of Soil & Water Conservation

District’s (MASWCD) annual state convention recently held in

Bloomington. He was one of 64 other conservationists who were

honored from other counties in the state.

Andresen farms a corn and soybean rotation with conservation

tillage on 125 acres. He has previously been an Minnesota Pollution

Control Agency water quality volunteer. In 2015 he worked with

NRCS and the SWCD to install two water and sediment control

basins and one grade stabilization structure. He also installed

a native grass wildlife habitat planting and seeded a critical area

planting in 2015. From 2013 to 2015 he maintained

nutrient/pest management on 205 acres.

Andresen has 4,700 feet of established field windbreaks on

one of his farms, as well as a farmstead shelterbelt. He has a

total of 74.86 acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program

(CRP) and has 28 acres of pasture land. Mike is also a conservation

contractor and did all of his own work, installing the erosion

control practices on his own.

Andresen is also an avid sportsman. Recently, Mike and fellow

members of the Tri-County Sportsman Club built and opened

Mills Creek Gun Range on five acres of Mike’s land just north of

Montevideo. He was recognized locally at the SWCD board

meeting in early December with a gift from the

Chippewa SWCD, which was a rustic, custom made sign that was

made out of black walnut, deer antlers, and a painting of a whitetail

deer scene by local craftsman and artist Doug Pederson.

Mike Andresen, of Montevideo, has established conservation practices

on much of his land in Chippewa County, including 28 acres of

pasture land and 74.86 acres in the Conservation Reserve Program.

Scott Roelofs (right), district supervisor of the Chippewa SWCD, presented

Mike Andresen with a gift that Andresen will display in his hunting

shack.