Shroyer receives service award

Rural communities are only functional if there are dedicated residents willing to stick around and step into important roles.

One such resident in Eddy County is Danny Shroyer, who first joined the board for the Eddy County Soil Conservation District (SCD) back in 1998, and has stuck with it ever since.

Now, he's in his 25th year on the board, and the good work he's done hasn't gone unrecognized.

At the 85th annual meeting of the North Dakota Association of Soil Conservation Districts held Nov. 13-15, Shroyer was recognized for his many years of service to the county and its environment.

Soil conservation districts were originally created to provide conservation, protection, improvement and profitability of agricultural land, after hard lessons were learned during the "dust bowl" of the 1930s.

For agricultural communities like Eddy County, they're a crucial entity, making it all the more important that folks like Shroyer are willing to step up and get the work done.

Shannon Anderson, the current District Manager of the Eddy County SCD, said Shroyer has been an integral member of the district ever since he got involved more than two decades ago.

"He has helped amazingly," said Anderson. "He has volunteered a lot of his services for repairing equipment or checking it out to see what repairs are needed.

"He always takes time to ask the employees how they're doing, and if things are going well," she added. "He's very knowledgeable, very smart, researches things thoroughly and is very giving. ... He's just good, and I think he should be honored for 25 years of service here."

Shroyer said he first got involved because others were practically begging him to get on the board, but that he stayed because he knew how important the work is.

"It's something we do for our future generations," said Shroyer. "With planting trees, of course they don't grow out for 40 years, so it's something you do for the future generation. That's the nice thing about it, you got grandkids and future generations that are going to enjoy it."

As the old saying goes, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago – the second best time is now.

"We plant a lot of trees and we help producers out," said Shroyer, "and I guess that's the major point of [the district], otherwise it just won't get done."