In Wasatch County, Utah, Deer Creek Reservoir serves as the main drinking water source for 65 percent of all Utahans; however, water quality and other resource concerns have been identified by local landowners. Total maximum daily load (TMDL) and water quality studies showed that phosphorous loads in the reservoir were very high, and that Main Creek was a big contributor. The studies found that while Main Creek contributes eight percent of the flow into the reservoir, it contributes 17 percent to the reservoir’s phosphorus load.

County partners set out to address this issue, and the Wasatch Conservation District became the lead agency for watershed improvement. In 2012, the district conducted a series of landowner meetings to help brainstorm ways to solve this problem.

“It was really neat that it happened this way,” said Daniel Gunnell, the district’s resource coordinator. “It wasn’t the Utah Division of Water Quality going in and telling them what they need to do to fix it. It was the conservation district bringing all the landowners together and saying, ‘We have a problem, what can we do to fix it?’”

According to Gunnell, these meetings were extremely successful. The landowners identified all the major problem areas in the watershed and where they should first focus their stream restoration projects.

“By doing stream restoration and keeping the banks in place, we were getting the best bang-for-our-buck to control phosphorous loading into the Deer Creek Reservoir,” said Gunnell.

Read the full story on NACD's blog.

In Sussex County, Delaware, any individual or company working to prepare, protect and preserve land and water resources in the county can become a cooperator with the Sussex Conservation District. By entering into a landowner or non-landowner cooperator agreement with the district, these individuals and entities receive expertise, customized plans and technical and financial assistance with any of their conservation projects.

In 2021, the district created a cooperators page on their website to highlight these cooperators and expand upon their cooperators network by encouraging others to join. Some of these highlighted individuals are previous winners of the Cooperator of the Year Award, an award given annually to a cooperator that has accomplished outstanding conservation work.

Currently featured cooperators include Blaine Hitchens, an NACD Soil Health Champion and 2021 Cooperator of the Year Award winner, who operates a no-till and cover cropped operation of nearly 1,000 acres. Hitchens annually participates in the district’s cover crop cost-share program and has implemented nutrient, irrigation, pest and best management practices through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and other Farm Bill programs.

The Town of Frankford, Delaware, is another featured cooperator. With help from the district, the town has made great strides in improving drainage within the community by implementing over a dozen projects, including pipe replacements and catch basin installations.

Siobhan Kelley, the district’s communications and outreach specialist, hopes that this website will bring awareness to the district and its efforts, as well as the benefits it can provide to landowners, business owners and other individuals and entities across the county.

Visit the district’s ‘Featured Cooperators’ page to learn more about the highlighted cooperators. You can learn more about the Cooperator Network and how to apply here.

On Saturday, July 25, NACD celebrated its 75th anniversary in Chicago, Illinois, where the association was founded in 1946.

The national association hosted a 75th Anniversary Celebration at the Hancock Center, which featured remarks from United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, as well as a historical presentation from Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) Historian Joe Otto.

“NACD and NRCS have forged an important bond that has helped to deliver conservation to millions of acres across our country, and over the years much has been done to reduce soil loss, to improve water conservation, and to advance the conservation of natural resources and wildlife across America’s working lands,” Secretary Vilsack said. “Happy 75th anniversary, and please know that all of us at USDA look forward to working with you to advance conservation for years to come.”

In attendance at the celebration were numerous NACD past presidents and NACD's current president, pictured left to right in the above photo: Tim Palmer, Brent Van Dyke, Earl Garber, Michael Crowder, Lee McDaniel, Steve Robinson, John Redding, Gary Mast, Rudy Rice, Gerald L. Vap, Billy Wilson and Gerald Digerness.

Read the full press release about the 75th celebration in NACD's Newsroom.

This edition features Lee McDaniel of Darlington, Maryland. McDaniel has served the Harford Soil Conservation District in many forms, starting as a supervisor around 1990 and serving as a chairman of the board since 2005. He has also served as the Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts president and as an NACD president, board member and executive board member.

"NACD matters because it is the voice of conservation districts at the national level," he said.

"Anybody that wants to get involved with NACD should get involved because you're making a better world for the future," he said. "Whether it's conservation, education, environment, economics - we need to have the next generation to have an opportunity to have a better world than the way we found it."

To watch McDaniel's interview, click the image above or watch it here. To view other videos in the series, visit NACD's YouTube channel.

For questions, please reach out to [email protected].