Polk Soil & Water Conservation District

06/19/2026

Listen in on the wise words of Lua Siegel, Gardening Instructor for the Luckiamute Valley Charter School Gardening Program. Find out how she is using the garden as her classroom to teach her students about our environment, the food we eat and building relationships.

You can hear the full episode of Conservation Spotlight on our website: https://www.polkswcd.com/lua-siegel/

06/12/2026

The burn ban starts on Monday 🔥❌

06/10/2026

We're so excited for the return of the Pollinator Festival at Dancing Oaks!

We hope to see you on the 20th 🐝🐦🐞🦋

Join us for the Dancing Oaks Pollinator Festival 2026 to celebrate National Pollinator Week!

Date: Saturday, June 20th
Time: 10 am - 4 pm

The day will include local food vendors, educational activities for all ages, live music, rare pollinator-friendly plants for sale, and opportunities to connect with regional gardening and conservation organizations.

Pollinators of all kinds - insects, birds, and mammals - are vital to our food production systems and the vitality of our natural environments. As home gardeners, we have the power to support pollinators by dedicating even small corners of our gardens to plants that provide food and habitat. Together, we can create essential micro-ecosystems that support our pollinators.

The entire nursery will be open during the event for guests to explore throughout the day.

Local education partners will be on hand to answer all your questions about pollinators and gardening. Booth will have interactive learning and games for kids and adults alike!

Free activities throughout the day include:

• Guided Garden Tours at 1pm & 3pm
• “Show & Tell” and Q&A tables with participating organizations
• Pollinate-the-Flower Bee Toss game
• Pollinator Photo Opportunity & Photo Contest
• Hands-on activities for kids and adults
• Live Music
• Local Food Trucks

Bring your family, gardening friends, and curiosity, and spend the day celebrating the pollinators that help our gardens and wider ecosystems thrive.

Participating organizations include:

- Linn County Master Gardeners Association Master Gardener Programs of Linn and Benton Counties
- Mid-Willamette Bird Alliance Mid-Willamette Bird Alliance
- Oregon Bee Project
- Oregon Bee Atlas https://extension.oregonstate.edu/bee-atlas
- OregonFlora
- Oregon Trail Honey Farm http://www.oregontrailhoneyfarms.com/
- Pollinator Steward Program https://extension.oregonstate.edu/bee-steward
- OSU Extension Polk County Master Gardener Program Master Gardeners OSU/Polk County
- Polk Soil & Water Conservation District
- Wild Wisdom Wool https://wildwisdomwool.com/

Food Trucks:
Divine Distillers new owners of 1859 Cider Company 1859 Cider Co.
In-Fusion Coffee & Such
Vianney's Tamales https://www.facebook.com/vianneys.tamales/

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06/09/2026

We would love to see you at the Pollinator Garden Open House this Friday!

Where: John C Barnard Park, Dallas
When: Friday, June 12, 5:30-7pm
What:
🎉celebrating the garden
🪏garden maintenance - weeding, adding mulch where needed
🌿adding ID tags
🔎kids activities
🧚‍♂️feel free to come dressed as your favorite pollinator!

More info: https://www.polkswcd.com/event/pollinator-garden-open-house/

06/08/2026

🎉We’re excited to announce a new grant for our Salt Creek Focused Ag Solutions Program! Projects are for landowners and land managers with land in the Salt Creek Watershed. The application deadline is July 2, 2026.

🎯Goal of the grant program:
To work with Salt Creek watershed land managers to implement and promote agricultural practices that help prevent or control erosion or capture sediment in order to reduce the levels of sediment and mercury in the waterways.

☑️Eligibility:
Applicants must be a landowner or manager of land in the Salt Creek watershed with authorization to make decisions for the land, use the money on a project that will reduce sediment in streams, and be willing to share the results of your project with other land managers in the watershed. Ineligible project expenses: equipment, fencing materials or permitting expenses.

Find out more: https://www.polkswcd.com/salt-creek/

06/05/2026

Maybe you’ve noticed that the ash trees in Polk County don’t look so good this year. Leaves are already turning brown and dropping. Some crowns and branches never leafed out. It could be climate stress. It could be that Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) has now reached Polk County.

Polk SWCD is working in coordination with the Oregon Department of Forestry to put up and monitor traps for this highly invasive insect.

Thank you to the City of Dallas, Oregon and the Delbert Hunter Arboretum and Botanic Garden of Oregon Native Plants for their help and offering to host a trap.

The outside of the trap is coated in a heavy, non-toxic glue to capture the beetles. Research shows that EAB is drawn to purple because its visual signature is similar to the bark of ash trees where females lay their eggs. The color also mimics the purplish tinge of newly emerging ash leaves, and the physical coloring found under the insect's own wings.

We will return in July to check the traps and then take them down in September.

You can view the live web map of traps here: https://geo.maps.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?webmap=cd7f5da6130749a9b7b99a45844b0f24

06/01/2026

Our summer issue of Cultivating is out!

Inside this issue:
🎉 Polk SWCD 60th Anniversary
👩‍🌾 Ruddenklau Farm highlight
🌿 Tansy ragwort information
🔥 Defensible space

View here:https://www.polkswcd.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Cultivating-Summer-2026_compressed.pdf

05/23/2026

Find out what Pete predicts for our seasonal climate: https://vimeo.com/1184139772?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery