After four decades with the Davidson County Soil and Water Conservation District, Andy Miller is packing up his maps, his memories and a lifetime of lessons \u2014 but not his passion for the land or the community\u2019s children.<\/p>\n
In a time when few stay with one employer for more than a handful of years, Miller\u2019s 40-year commitment stands out like a sturdy oak in shifting soil. He stayed, he says, for the kids \u2014 for the chance to shape future stewards of Davidson County\u2019s natural resources through hands\u2011on programs like the Envirothon and county fair projects. Of all the roles he has held, it was those one\u2011on\u2011one moments with students that he treasured most.<\/p>\n
As Miller, 66, steps into retirement, his one hope is simple: that he leaves the county\u2019s soil and water healthier than he found them, and that the young people he once taught \u2014 now adults \u2014 carry forward the skills and responsibility to protect them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the Envirothon, it led me to be in closer contact with students,\u201d he said. \u201cWe developed relationships. Working with kids is something I have always enjoyed. I like seeing them discover something through their eyes. I\u2019ve had some really good students. … Some of the students had never really thought about their environment in this way. They came to see that what we do now is important to the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller, a 1977 West Davidson graduate, didn\u2019t grow up dreaming of a career protecting natural resources. He really wanted to be a cowboy, driving cattle or horses over open land. Then, at age 7, he decided he didn\u2019t want to leave his family to live in the West. Next, he turned his sights on farming but later realized the amount of capital and land it would take to begin a farm was not in his inheritance or future. Finally, he focused on a love that developed in Boy Scouts \u2014 Miller really enjoyed forestry.<\/p>\n
He took that spark and turned it into a bachelor\u2019s degree from North Carolina State University in 1981. He married his hometown sweetheart, Kim Snider Miller, and moved to Greenville to allow her to finish her nursing degree at East Carolina University.<\/p>\n
He had a degree in a subject for which he was passionate, but the job market was in a huge drought. He took a job working for Agri Supply.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember Dean Eric Elwood coming into graduation to give us a pep talk. He said, \u2018Boys, it\u2019s (job market) the worst it\u2019s been in 20 years. Good luck.\u2019 Unless you had been fortunate to get an internship with the USDA or Weyerhaeuser (a lumber company), you didn\u2019t get a job, and there were maybe two or three from my graduating class that did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once his wife graduated, she took a job at what was then named Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, and they moved home to Davidson County. Miller landed a job with Eddy Koonts at Old South Craftsman, making furniture accessories and selling them. His aunt saw a job posting for a soil and water district specialist and told him he should apply. He did, and got the job.<\/p>\n
Up until 2006, the county soil and water conservation district employees were managed or supervised by USDA Soil Conservation Service, working from the same building on East Center Street. In 2006, the federal government made several changes that separated the federal and county conservation agencies. Miller was named the first director of the Davidson County Soil and Conservation District.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur focus has always been on soil and water,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I first started, we did a lot of (soil) erosion control. We helped design and supervise the construction of farm ponds. These provided a collection area for rainwater that could be used to irrigate crops, provide for livestock and more.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the 1990s, massive environmental disasters in eastern North Carolina, including a 25 million-gallon hog lagoon spill in Onslow County that flooded the New River and killed millions of fish in 1995, brought about new, stricter laws regarding the storage of hog and other animal waste.<\/p>\n
The district employees became more involved in the design and oversight of construction of animal waste lagoons, as well as the use of animal waste to fertilize crops. That flowed into a huge uptick of poultry operations in Davidson County, where the local district worked with operators about the storage of the chickens\u2019 dry waste so rain did not turn it into a sludgy mess that could get into water systems.<\/p>\n
While the focus of programs and funding to cost share with land owners and farms has changed over the years, the mission has not \u2014 preserving quality water and soil for future generations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI realized a while ago that I am no longer capable of performing at the level, I believe, is acceptable, mentally and physically, to do this job,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I decided the time was right to retire. Also, my wife thought that while we are both at a level to enjoy our lives and do things we want to do it would be a good time to retire.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davidson County Manager Casey Smith praised Miller for his dedication to his work and the county. Miller\u2019s last day of work was Jan. 30.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor 40 years, Andy Miller has led the Soil & Water Department. Andy is the epitome of what a public servant should represent and will be missed by all within Davidson County,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
Miller said his career has been filled with amazing staff and co-workers, and he has always felt supported by the commissioners and treated fairly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that these young people I have worked with over the years will remember and share with their children and grandchildren what they have learned and that Davidson County will be a better place because of that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After four decades with the Davidson County Soil and Water Conservation District, Andy Miller is packing up his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[92603,192,63357,207610,207609,188450,79,69534],"class_list":["post-440310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-andy-miller","tag-environment","tag-environmental-education","tag-envirothon","tag-kim-snider-miller","tag-land-management","tag-science","tag-soil"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}