After an unusually wet summer, Good Day Clermont! met with the team at Clermont Soil and Water Conservation District to discuss their role in protecting the local environment. John McManus and Elea Cooper outlined some of the programs they offer to schools, homeowners, and development agencies.
El Niño is a climate pattern that involves the large-scale warming of surface waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Its effects have contributed to record-breaking heat domes around the planet, impacting rainfall and glacial melt, and leading to droughts across the United States.
Farmers worry that the degradation of natural resources caused by El Niño and other climate-related disasters can lead to runaway soil erosion, worsening yields. For residents, concerns about how this will impact their local ecology grow every summer.
According to McManus, the residents of Clermont County are in a unique geographic location, surrounded by a range of high-quality natural resources. Today, it becomes clear that the skills and education to put conservation into practice and maintain these resources are critical to the community’s longevity and vibrancy.
John McManus and Elea Cooper.
In 2026, the Conservation District serves as a resource for engaging with the community and responding to questions and concerns about the environment.
“We are not a regulatory agency; we have no enforcement authority,” McManus told Good Day Clermont! “Everything conservation-related we do through education; through technical assistance.”
While the team leads workshops for the development community, elected officials, and K-12 schools, they also spend much of their time responding one-on-one to homeowners. Many residents in Clermont call for advice about drainage issues, erosion around their land, and more.
The Conservation District employs two staff members who work with the agricultural community. “We’ll work individually with the farmers to develop a very specific, tailored conservation plan for their farm, and then we will help connect them with possibly funding through different farm bill programs,” McManus said. He also mentioned that design work is a big part of what they do for the community.
Cooper highlighted the importance of educating students about their local environment to promote community understanding.
“We love to bring conservation into the schools so that we can teach children early on how to be a conservation-minded individual,” she said. The Conservation District offers outdoor field trips for students to study local wildlife and learn how changes in soil and water can impact habitats.
The school programs also supply teachers with the resources they need to lead their own classroom discussions about the environment.
“We have people who come back year after year because they love our programs,” Cooper explained. “We love reaching out to new groups as well.”
Clermont Soil and Water Conservation District offices.
Students often visit the Williamsburg Wetland Project as part of this educational experience. The Conservation District recently received grants for waders and boots, allowing the children to participate through hands-on learning.
“They get out there with the nets, and they're catching fish… just the enthusiasm and excitement that we see from them from being able to get in the water waist-deep like that is really special and really encouraging…” Cooper said.
High schoolers also have the opportunity to learn about career paths in conservation and ecology through this work. Many Clermont schools are adopting similar career development programs to encourage community engagement after graduation.
“There's no question that the county is going to continue to grow. My hope is, we do this in a way that is sustainable, and conservation-minded…” McManus told Good Day Clermont!
Rainfall increases in Clermont County. Image: Carbon Brief.
“What we seem to be seeing a lot more of is these intense events… we’re about eight inches above average in Clermont County,” McManus warned. “When we get that much rain in a short amount of time, it doesn’t have a chance to soak into the ground… it’s got a lot more energy to the runoff which, of course, increases erosion in the stream banks and the people who live along the banks.”
McManus also noted that Clermont County sizes its storm sewers to accommodate specific amounts of rain, and that sewers that can’t handle rapid, consistent flow throughout the season will cause localized flooding and backups.
McManus hopes that Clermont residents will continue to respect natural waterways, such as streams, which have a significant impact on soil and life quality.
“I would love to see more homeowners becoming engaged with us or with conservation activities,” Cooper said about her hopes for the future.
The Clermont Soil and Water Conservation District will hold its annual meeting September 10 at Winemiller Farms. It will be a chance for the local community to turn out and celebrate conservation efforts across the county. The organization is teaming up with the Clermont County Farm Bureau to serve locally produced food for the event.
The team also praised the continuation of local farmers' markets throughout Clermont County. Many townships host their own each weekend, providing shoppers with a chance to learn more about the farming industry and how to protect yields.
Learn more about Clermont County’s environmental programs.
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