AUBURN — Jim Hotaling started working with the Cayuga County Soil and Water Conservation District as a technician holding a survey rod. More than 43 year later, he retired as executive director Friday.

There have been plenty of other changes in the district that has five times as many staff as it did in 1964. Hotaling said the key remains creating conservation programs at the local level that serve needs in the county.

The district has routinely preceded or trumped state and federal requirements with locally developed programs, Hotaling said. An aquatic weed control project created in the mid-1970s to combat milfoil in Cayuga Lake is one early example.

“From that, all kinds of programs evolved,” Hotaling said. “There was a change in technology and the district wanted to promote that.”

Identifying needs and searching for funds to accommodate those has become a model for the SWCD. The district maintains no-till, reforestation, wood recycling and mowing programs with equipment it’s invested in over the years, to name a few.

Most of the money comes from grants and fees it charges users, which include county farmers and municipalities.

“We have been a pilot to other districts in the state to show here’s what you can do with a soil and water district,” Hotaling said. “And now we learn from our neighboring districts.”

The programs and public projects are key highlights of Hotaling’s career, which began on the Ibert farm in his hometown of Marcellus.

“I came right off the farm,” Hotaling said. “I loved farming, I loved agriculture.”

But, he didn’t have a family farm to inherit. In high school, Hotaling was advised to find another career path.

“I wasn’t going to sell seed and fertilizer and I wasn’t going to sell machinery,” he said. “The farm I worked on had a lot of conservation practices I became interested in.”

Hotaling became a SWCD technician and eventually earned his degree in business administration from Cayuga Community College.

“Anyone who has retired with the years that I have in - it’s not easy to walk away,” Hotaling said. “I think it’s time to step back.

“I’m not completely walking away from here.”

Hotaling will remain the project manager for a biodigester several years in the making. The multi-million-dollar project will eventually convert farm animal waste into power with marketable applications for the biproduct.

After several funding and other delays, Hotaling believes the public will see some physical development begin in spring and completion in fall 2008.

“It is a good project for the district,” Hotaling said. “I don’t think any other district has taken on a four- or five-million-dollar project like that.

“Right now were looking to hit the construction heavy in April,” he said, using his hand to wave bid sheets that will be advertised within a few weeks.

It’s another project that sought a solution to an environmental problem - in this case reducing odorous and sometimes dangerous waste from dairy cows. Hotaling likes to think the SWCD has developed with society, which has shifted from smaller farms and stores to industrial-sized agriculture and big box merchants.

“The district has had to adjust its programs,” he said.

An agency that had two people when he started now employs 11. The staff also includes a nutrient management specialist that works with farms to develop practices that reduce runoff, increase efficiency and protect the environment.

Hotaling’s work goes beyond the projects and finances that he manages for the district. He also championed the Envirothon high school competition in New York, the first of which was hosted by CCC.

The district developed a Youth Conservation Corps and eventually worked closely with AmeriCorps, a volunteer program that played a large role in construction of the Natural Resource Building on County House Road in 1994.

“I think that’s the exciting thing about this job after all these years,” Hotaling said. “I’ve never done the same thing as the day before.”

In addition to seeing the biodigester project through, Hotaling will continue to serve as Brutus Town Supervisor and sit on two county boards. Consulting work isn’t out of the question, but Hotaling plans to spend more time with his wife, Chantell, and his four grown children.

Back at the office, many of Hotaling’s colleagues will miss him.

“Basically, he does live and breath conservation,” said district technician Doug Kierst. “That’s what he focuses on every day.”

Kierst often meets people that have worked with his boss over the past 40 years.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “Just about every farm in the county has a story about Jim coming out to help them.”

Staff writer Shane Liebler can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or shane.liebler@lee.net