Conservation Volunteers Honored

Dennis and Ireta Schwant were recognized in January at the Pottawatomie County Conservation District annual meeting for 48 years of dedicated service to the Pottawatomie County Conservation District.  

Dennis was a conservationist long before joining the local conservation district board as he and his wife, Ireta, were presented the Bankers’ Award in 1975 along with Dennis’s father. Dennis was elected to the Conservation District Board of Supervisors in 1976. He has served diligently over the past 48 years having held all offices on the local board.  Ireta has also been a dedicated member of both the Pottawatomie County Conservation District and the Kansas Association of Conservation District’s (KACD) auxiliary organizations.

In 1982 Dennis and Ireta became members of the KACD Conservation Education and Youth Committee. They were co-chairpersons on that committee from 1986 to 1993. The couple donated an enormous amount of time to this committee and helped promote the state conservation poster, limerick, essay and speech contests every year. 

The Schwants have illustrated their strength towards the conservation movement by giving voluntarily of their time and expertise to ensure the wise stewardship of our natural resources for future generations. There service and dedication to both the Pottawatomie County Conservation Distict and KACD have not gone unnoticed and their leadership will be missed.