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Thursday, December 27, 2007

Conservationist Surprised With Star Award

By Laura Nesbitt
Mountain View Telegraph
    A dedicated state worker from Mountainair was recently recognized for her many hours of paid and volunteer time devoted to natural resource conservation.
    Dierdre Tarr, district manager of the Claunch-Pinto Soil and Water Conservation District, received an Inaugural Star Award from the state Department of Agriculture.
    The award was presented to Tarr during a state meeting of soil and water conservation districts on Oct. 24 at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas.
    Because of a public relations department delay, the award was announced by Agriculture Secretary I. Miley Gonzalez on Dec. 12, according to Marsha Wright, soil and water conservation specialist with the state agency.
    "I was never so surprised in all my life," Tarr said in a phone interview Friday. "I'm not often caught with nothing to say, but they stuck a microphone in my face and I couldn't think of anything."
    Tarr, who has worked for the conservation district for 12 years, began as an administrative assistant working 20 hours a week— she was the only employee of the district, which now has three paid employees.
    "I've taken the district from a $15,000 annual budget to a $5 million annual budget," Tarr said.
    Tarr has accomplished that through federal and state grants, including five state Water Trust Board grants totaling about $3 million in funding used "to do watershed health projects which are (forest) thinning projects" in the Manzano Mountains.
    "That is a major (water) recharge area into the Estancia Basin," Tarr said Monday.
    Tarr also worked on the Abo Arroyo Watershed salt cedar project. The project received about $500,000 from various sources to address the invasive species.
    The Claunch-Pinto SWCD "is in the process of purchasing" more than 39 privately owned acres on N.M. 55 south of Mountainair, with plans to build a multipurpose building, Tarr said.
    The building will contain offices for the conservation district, the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service Center and the National Park Service. It will also have indoor and outdoor conservation practice display areas and historical information on the area.
    Tarr has been working for 12 years on plans for the building, which is designed as a "green" building using solar energy for heating, cooling and electricity.
    "We'll have a catchment area (on the roof) to at least water plants on the outside of the building. We want to set an example of green building with the limited water resources that we have," Tarr said.
    Draft architectural designs have already been completed using money received from last year's state Legislature.
    The building will cost about $2.5 million to construct, Tarr said.
    Tarr has been working with state Rep. Rhonda King, state Sen. Pete Campos and the offices of the governor and lieutenant governor to request capital outlay money in the coming legislative session.