Photo Winner - Ohio River
2022 science camp at Camp Oyo
Photo provided by Ohio Division of Wildlife
Photo Winner - Ohio River
Current Events
2024 CSI SHAWNEE
CSI: Shawnee Science Camp is hosted right here in Scioto County at Boy Scout Camp Oyo in the Shawnee State Forest Region. This camp is an overnight camp with hands-on nature experience for students entering 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grades.
Campers will get to explore and learn about the natural world and build skills that will strengthen their science experience. Most of the educators at the camp are working professionals and share real world insight and application of skills to their career. This combination of real world learning and career introduction is just the right combination for a fun learning camp.
Details about camp arrivals, packing lists, and more are available once camp registration is received. For more details please contact us.
Camp this year will be held July 1st, 2nd & 3rd and is capped at 45 campers.
We are currently accepting registration applications which must be received by June 7th. Camp acceptance letters and registration packets will be sent out at a later date to be returned to Scioto SWCD before camp along with payment if not applying for a camp scholarship. Do not send any payment with initial registration application.
2024 Beginning Gardener Programs
The 2024 gardening season is here for cold hardy crops and getting close for our other vegetable and herb plants. As part of our desire to see more folks raising some of their own food, and thanks to an urban community conservation grant received from the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD), we are continuing our series of beginning gardener programs. These programs are very informal and aimed at answering questions and providing useful information for those wanting to get involved in or increase their knowledge of gardening and raising some of their own fruits, vegetables and the like.
The year's fourth program is scheduled for Thursday evening April 25 from 5:00-6:30 PM at the Scioto SWCD office location. The plan for this program is to further our discussion on preparing your garden and planting specific plants for your 2024 garden. We will also continue our discussion on raised bed and container gardening.
If you are seriously interested in attending, as space is limited, please send an email including your name and phone number to info@sciotoswcd.org or call our office at 740-259-9231 ext. 4.
Rain Barrels and Kits
Scioto SWCD currently has rain barrel kits for sale. The kit includes a 55-gallon food-grade barrel. The kit contains everything needed to connect to a roof downspout, except for a couple of tools, providing a way to collect and store rainwater runoff.
This can help with stormwater runoff as well as providing a source of water for watering plants and animals. The cost for the kit is $50 including tax. Due to the limited number of kits, there is a limit of 2 kits per person. If interested, call our office to check on availability.
Report Wildlife Sightings
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife is seeking reports of gray foxes, river otters, black bears, and other furbearers. Reports can be submitted to the Wildlife Reporting System at wildohio.gov and on the HuntFish OH mobile app. Wildlife biologists use public reports to monitor populations of these secretive species.
Please contact your County Wildlife Officer to submit river otter and gray fox carcasses. Submitted carcasses can be from harvests or roadkill, although it is not permitted to collect roadkill carcasses. One can report the location of roadkill to their local wildlife officer. Other furbearers that citizen scientists can report include fishers, badgers, weasels, and bobcats, as well as other wildlife species found on the wildlife reporting system webpage.
The ODNR press release can be found at Report Furbearer Sightings to Contribute to Wildlife Research.
More information on individual wildlife species in Ohio can be found at the Ohio Division of Wildlife online Species Guide.
Milkweed Seeds Available
Scioto SWCD has a limited number of small packets of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) seeds available for distribution. Each packet contains approximately 50 seeds. The seeds can be sown this spring but would need to be cold stratified for 30 days before sowing. They are available at no charge, but currently there is a limit of 1 packet per person. If interested stop by our office to pick one up. Please call first though to make sure someone will be in the office.
Southern Ohio Grazing Council
Keep checking back for the next meeting date.
Public Notice:
The Scioto Soil and Water Conservation District's Board of Supervisors will meet in 2024 on the first Tuesday of every month, unless otherwise stated, at 8:00 AM at the USDA Service Center, 12167A State Route 104, Lucasville, Ohio. The Scioto Soil and Water Conservation District strives to work with local landowners, residents, businesses, organizations, and units of government in providing a partnership effort to help conserve, maintain, and improve Scioto County's natural resources. Anyone interested in conservation practices can find more on the District website at www.sciotoswcd.org or call the District office at 740-259-9241 ext. 4. The District was formed in 1946 as a legally organized subdivision of the State of Ohio that is governed by a volunteer Board of Supervisors elected by Scioto County residents. The 2024 Supervisors are Thomas Turner, Wheelersburg; James L. Pertuset, Portsmouth; Travis Garrett, Lucasville; David Otworth, Franklin Furnace; Matt Lewis, West Portsmouth. Meetings are open to the public and the media. If you would like to receive notices about special meetings, meeting topics or time and date changes for regular meetings, please contact the District Administrator.
Scioto SWCD 2024 Regular Board Meeting Dates
January 9
February 6
March 5
April 2
May 7
June 4
July 9
August 6
September 3
October 1
November 5
December 3
Scioto County Local Foods Guide
Scioto SWCD
12167A State Route 104
Lucasville OH 45648
740-259-9231 Ext. 4
info@sciotoswcd.org
Scioto SWCD has been working on compiling a local foods guide which was planned to be published early in 2023. We have been waiting to make contact with local producers and others and decided to post what we have compiled to this point. There are many more that could be added so if you are a local, small farm or business producing or offering foods for public sale and would like to be added please send your information to info@sciotoswcd.org or call our office at
740-259-9231 ext. 4 and we will add you to the guide. This guide is a work in progress and hopefully the list of local food sources will be expanded so check back for further updates. The guide can be found on the Links page accessed at the top of this page.