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Moline set to retire from county position in early 2008

By Zach Jacobson, Staff Writer
Published/Last Modified on Monday, December 31, 2007 11:58 AM CST


Chances are you have seen the walls of trees on farm land surrounding Williston. How those trees got there are a different story.

Over the past 19 years the woman who has had a hand in those trees is Sharon Moline, the manager of Williams County soil conservation district.

It was a drought which led Moline to her position from which she will retire from in early 2008.

"I lived on a farm and we had been through 10 years of drought and we needed some cash flow to eat," Moline joked. "I had planned on, when my kids were raised, (to) go to town to work part time just to get a little income."

Moline explained the trees help protect the soil from erosion and can also lessen the noise from traffic. The district has been at it for a long time. "People that want trees, they come to us to plant them in large numbers for a reasonable price," Moline. "Just look at all the trees in all the rows and that's what the district's been planting since 1939."

Since Moline started working at the district office, a lot has changed.

"When we started we were in a little building on Main Street. There was no room for anything. We had one floppy disk computer," Moline said. "Over the years we've gotten to five people, three federal and two district. Our equipment; the computers, the printers, the copiers, the scanners are all state of the art."

Moline said her main duty is scheduling and has been working on the yearly banquet.

"(The banquet) is the time when the district honors a farmer or rancher for his outstanding achievement of (conservation)," Moline said.

For most people, their job ends the second they punch out, but Moline said she was always available.

"With a job like this, your work comes home with you. I have people call during tree season they want to know 'do you have any of this left or that left' and then they'll say 'I can't get in to get my trees when I'm supposed to,'" Moline said. "I said 'well ok you can come to the farm and pick them up. I'll bring them home tonight.'"

That might wear on some people, but Moline was just fine with it.

"My whole life is kind of interwoven with the district and I love it," Moline said.

Along with the new technology, Moline was also involved with knowing and preserving the history of the district.

"I have read all the minutes from 1938 forward," Moline said. "I scanned all the minutes so we have them on CD in the vault at the bank so if the building burns down at least we have that."

Even though she left the farm to pursue employment in town, Moline didn't see it as much of a departure.

"I've always looked at it as the next best thing to farming," Moline said.

With her new found free time, she hopes to spend some time on her painting. She has two murals, one at Williston State College and the other at the credit union, and said there are others floating around town and elsewhere.

Moline hopes that she made an impact on the department but isn't sure what she will be most remembered for.

"I don't know. Probably just brought it up to the 21st century," Moline said. "Way back when I started it was the 20th century and we were so behind in everything."
 

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