What are the opening hours?

Monday 8am - 4:30pm Tuesday 8am - 4:30pm Wednesday 8am - 4:30pm Thursday 8am - 4:30pm Friday 8am - 4:30pm

Orange County Soil & Water Conservation District

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Orange County Soil & Water Conservation District

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Orange County Soil and Water Conservation District is a county organization set up to provide assistance to farms, municipalities, and landowners.

Welcome to the Orange County Soil & Water Conservation District's page. We hope that you will use our page to discover some valuable and useful information in the area of conservation here in Orange County. The District was created in 1967 by a resolution from the County Legislature, with a mission to protect the natural resources of Orange County, particularly our soil and water. Originally almost all of the District's work was with the agricultural community. As the county has grown and the landscape has changed over the years, we now assist various municipalities and help landowners with conservation issues.

11/06/2026

Added 70 trees to one of our river bench/riparian buffers today to beef up the density a bit. River Birch, Tupelo, Red Maple, Silver Maple, even a few Red Buds! Plus, 20 Atlantic White Cedars (future onion crates and corduroy road bases, they still build those, right?).

No wonder the agenda went out late today - the office manager was lounging around in the field.

10/20/2026

Attention Orange County livestock farmers:
We are looking into purchasing a supply of Secure Covers (as seen in these pictures) or a similar product that would be made available to O.C. livestock farms at a significantly reduced price. These covers are in use by numerous farms to replace or augment the use of tires to hold down trench silo covers. Many farmers also find them effective to deter bird damage from Ag Bags.

This is a proposal at present, not a sure thing. But if you might have interest in obtaining these covers, email [email protected] to express your interest, and expected quantity/sizes if possible.

This is one small effort to support farms, particularly livestock farms.

08/14/2026

https://www.ocsoilny.org/
We are trying to make it as easy as possible for farmers to obtain incentive payments for using cover crops. For the past few years, our Board of Directors has approved local funding. Unlike many NYS and federal cost-sharing programs that can be cumbersome, our local program is muy facil. The application is available on our website. Apply by September 11th for best chance of getting approval for all applied-for acreage.

07/24/2026

Haven't made a Friday Field Day post in a while. Fortunately, a couple construction projects got me out of the office today.

06/05/2026

Today's Friday Field Day post is a quiz.

Is 6 inches of bank run with fabric enough to hold up triaxle traffic?

The winning answer gets a 5- gallon bucket of bank run, choose boney or sandy.

05/27/2026

In cooperation with Cornell Cooperative Extension we will be assisting farms with and monitoring various no-till planting techniques. One of the more innovative techniques is to roll/crimp winter rye cover crop either before or after planting the target crop. We will have trials with corn, soybeans and pumpkins. We are already learning that the effectiveness of the roller crimper can be quite variable depending on multiple factors.

05/21/2026

We thought this roller/crimper was coming from I&J, but apparently it came from I kea. Luckily, our assembly team, Kristen, Mike and Ron, were up to the task. Let's roll some Rye!

05/19/2026

First time out with new Kinze 3005 No-till planter. Soil and Water Director Paul Ruszkiewicz substitutes his County Legislator hat for farm hat today. Row cleaners appear to be doing a good job sweeping heavy trash from last year's corn crop. This is black dirt, we'll see how she does when we get to good ole' Orange County upland soils.

04/22/2026

Following up on her appearance at the Hudson Valley Envirothon last week, Office Manager Emily continues to rock the District's Outreach and Education efforts at the SUNY Orange Earth Day event.

04/17/2026

The District attended the Hudson Valley Regional Envirothon today at Croton Point Park in Croton-on-Hudson, NY. We supported Northern Academy of the Arts, which is in Middletown, and worked with the Academy’s teacher Anh Cao and his students. Given that they are the only school from Orange County participating, they will advance to the State Envirothon competition on May 27th & 28th at SUNY Cortland. The District looks forward to participating in future Envirothon competitions and recruiting more schools from the County to attend. Congrats to all the students from the fourteen schools that participated in this year’s event.

Address

225 Dolson Avenue, Ste 103
Middletown, NY
10940

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 4:30pm
Tuesday	8am - 4:30pm
Wednesday	8am - 4:30pm
Thursday	8am - 4:30pm
Friday	8am - 4:30pm

Telephone

+18453431873

Website

http://www.ocsoilny.org/

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