Richard “Dick” Lyons of Harvel was named the 2024 Illinois Leopold Conservation Award winner Friday August 9 at Agriculture Day during the Illinois State Fair in Springfield. The award honors farmers and forestland owners who go above and beyond in the management of soil health, water quality, and wildlife habitat on working land.
Lyons farms in Montgomery County, serves an associate director of the Montgomery County Soil & Water Conservation District, and as a director for the Illinois Association of Drainage Districts. The award comes with a $10,000 prize. Lyons says his conservation ethic began to evolve shortly after the death of his father. He began noticing things about the land they had farmed together. Crops wilted sooner over areas of compaction from tractor and truck tires. Water running from grassy areas after heavy rains were free of sediment.
Without a father or grandfather to explain how they had farmed in the past, Lyons began farming with an open mind to prevent soil erosion from wind and rain. With dual careers of farming and teaching agriculture, Lyons was in a unique position to give his students first-hand knowledge of what it means to be a conservation-minded farmer. During 37 years as a high school and college agriculture instructor, he taught students what he practiced on his own land.
Early on he retired his moldboard plow and began to chisel plow cornstalks to prevent erosion. In 1976, he also began planting no-till corn into soybean stubble to reduce fuel and labor costs. At that time, research showed that nearby Lake Lou Yaeger was Illinois’ fastest-silting lake. It provides drinking water for 10,000 Montgomery County residents. Determined to be part of the solution, Lyons took steps to improve the water quality in a creek that runs through his farm and into Lake Lou Yaeger.
Lyons undertook a ditch and streambank stabilization project using large rock to prevent the undercutting and eventual collapse of the streambank where it curves. He installed filter strips to capture runoff between farmland and the creek. These areas provide wildlife habitat in a region primarily used for row crop production. Improved nesting areas support pheasant and quail, and their predator, the coyote, which aids pest control in soybean fields.
In addition to contour planting crops parallel to the filter strips, Lyons has targeted nutrient management plans created for his farmland. He conducts soil tests every three years to guide the application of commercial fertilizer using variable rate technology. In 2012, Lyons began growing deep-rooted cover crops of rye, oats, and radish to improve soil health by encouraging biodiversity, breaking up soil compaction, recycling nutrients, and sequestering carbon. Covering soil with year-round living roots improves water infiltration while preventing erosion. Since 2019, Lyons has grown overwintering cover crops of winter barley and Austrian winter peas for their ability to further reduce sediment loss.
Lyons initiated a soil health training program by collaborating with individuals from various conservation organizations in Illinois. This summer he established pollinator-friendly habitat on a two-acre triangular parcel that was difficult to plant with large machinery. These are the latest examples of how Lyons’s readiness to embrace new ideas and technologies, while remaining grounded in practical considerations, sets an example for others.
