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.
