BANGOR – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is celebrating 70 years of conservation achievements this year, helping private landowners conserve their soil, water and other natural resources.

Conservationists across Maine work with residents to conserve natural resources and to create a healthy land. Leadership for the conservation of natural resources on private lands is provided by a partnership that includes the agency, soil and water conservation districts, state conservation agencies, other federal agencies and tribes. NRCS has established a conservation partnership with landowners in Maine. One example is the Brigeen Farm of Turner.

The Briggs family has had a long and successful relationship with the agency and the Androscoggin Valley Soil and Water Conservation District while operating Brigeen Farms, their 500-acre dairy farm, of which 350 acres are cropped.

Brigeen Farms maintains a milking herd of 240 cows, with another 250 head of young stock. The farm is owned and managed by Steve and Mary Briggs and Bill and Betsy Bullard.

With cost-share assistance through the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program, the Briggs will soon finish a second manure storage facility, have established conservation buffers and crop rotations and have installed barnyard water management practices that improve water quality.

“These practices have allowed for both improved agricultural production and environmental quality as well as being a strategic part of the farm’s comprehensive nutrient management plan,” said Mary Briggs.

Visit the Web at www.me.nrcs.usda.gov to learn about programs and services offered by NRCS.