NACD is now soliciting applications for breakout sessions for the 2021 Annual Meeting, which is currently being planned as an in-person meeting. Applications must be submitted by Friday, Sept. 4, 2020.

NACD offers a number of informational breakout sessions during the annual meeting, focusing on the work of districts and their partners across the country. Sessions typically run 60-90 minutes, and in most cases, showcase several speakers at 20-30 minutes each. NACD's breakout sessions are some of the most popular activities among attendees at the meeting.

This year, NACD is seeking proposals that fit within five themes:

Proposals will be evaluated based on the innovation and quality of the proposal; its relevance to one of the themes; and the applicability to other conservation districts across the country. Preference will be given to proposals submitted by a conservation district, state/territory association or partner.

NACD’s 75th Annual Meeting will put heavy emphasis on NACD’s legacy and focus on where the conservation movement is headed. We encourage proposals that explore the legacy of conservation districts, the way conservation districts are rising to meet the current moment, or proposals that explore the future of the conservation movement.

If your company or organization would like time at the meeting to present to NACD members about your products or services that support conservation district work, please contact info@nacdnet.org.

To learn more and submit a proposal, visit NACD's Breakout Sessions webpage. If you have any questions, please contact NACD Government Affairs Manager Eric Hansen at

eric-hansen@nacdnet.org.

S.T.A.R. INITIATIVE ANNOUNCES START OF 2020 ENROLLMENT

The S.T.A.R. (Saving Tomorrow's Agriculture Resources) initiative recently announced open enrollment for farmers for the 2020 crop year.

S.T.A.R. is an innovative conservation program in Illinois and several other states that helps farmers and landowners track how well they are caring for our soil and water while producing their crops, via the free, handy S.T.A.R. field evaluation tool.

S.T.A.R. participants complete a field form, which assigns points for everything from cover crops used and the kinds of fertilizer used for nutrient management at different points before and during the growing season, to various possible conservation practices used on that field to prevent runoff into nearby water sources.

S.T.A.R. uses a science committee of industry experts, university researchers and farmers to ensure the field forms accurately represent nutrient loss reduction and how those affect the natural resources of the state. Fields are then ranked on the five-star scale, and participants can receive a free sign for their fields to identify their S.T.A.R. designation.

The initiative touts several key benefits, including decreasing nutrient loss from the soil, improving water quality, helping farmers show their stewardship, increasing farm resilience, and positioning farms for future market opportunities.

S.T.A.R. was created by the Champaign County Soil and Water Conservation District (CCSWCD) in 2017 to meet agricultural goals in the state’s nutrient loss reduction strategy plan. That plan, developed by the state’s Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Agency, lays out a comprehensive suite of best management practices for reducing nutrient loads from wastewater treatment plants and urban, and agricultural runoff. Similar strategies have been developed by 11 other states in the Mississippi River Basin since 2015.  

S.T.A.R. has been well-received in its short lifetime. In 2019, 214 participants on 1,175 fields and 83,592 acres embraced the power of S.T.A.R., and organizations in Iowa and Missouri plan to offer the tool as well.  

Participation is free, and as simple as completing a field form at the S.T.A.R. website . Paper field forms are also available for download from the site. 2020 field forms will be available through next January. If S.T.A.R. participants are interested in getting field forms locally, several county soil and water conservation districts (SWCDs) or farm bureaus serve as local administrators of the program. To learn more, visit NACD's blog on the S.T.A.R. initiative.

Pictured above: Joe Rothermel , farmer from Broadlands, Ill., and chairman of Champaign County SWCD .

BOONE COUNTY SWCD, MO.

In 2016, the Boone County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) in Columbia, Mo., received an NACD Urban and Community (UAC) Conservation Grant to help create a new agriculture park (the Ag Park), in partnership with the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture (CCUA), located at the site of the original Boone County Fairgrounds.

The SWCD helped oversee the initial planning phase of the project, which included completion of the site design and outdoor classroom design, marketing and promotional materials, and publication of growing guides for urban growers.

The Ag Park opened to the public in the summer of 2019. Phase One of the project is complete, with Columbia Farmers Market operating year-round at the site in the newly constructed MU Health Care Pavilion.

Starting in 2019, gardening workshops and children’s activities were offered to the public for free every Saturday. A one-acre stormwater retention area has been planted and designed to attract local wildlife and pollinators. The 0.8-mile paved recreation trail has been poured, and a farm-themed playground has been built.

Over three acres are in vegetable and cover crop rotations at the Ag Park and will host farm and garden demonstrations. A maintenance barn and one-room schoolhouse are currently under construction, while an ag-themed playground and edible landscaping throughout the park have been completed. Additional garden spaces will be constructed soon, including an area of raised beds for use around the schoolhouse, and a “backyard garden” space, dedicated to teaching citizens how to plan and produce in the space limitations of their city lots.

All of these features have been funded by over $4,700,000 raised in the first two phases. Fundraising is currently underway to complete the second, and final, phase, which includes completion of the MU Health Care Pavilion, additional parking, and a 10,000 square-foot kitchen/event/resource center.

The project has overwhelming support from the community, the City of Columbia, and the Columbia Farmers Market and has garnered a much greater interest in urban agriculture. CCUA is able to produce on more acres, which yields an increase in food donated locally. CCUA’s move to the Ag Park has allowed the transformation of their original farm into a therapeutic and skills development farm in partnership with the local Veteran’s Administration hospital.

The SWCD is now working to assist those interested in pursuing urban agriculture as a business/career and in educating the community at large on urban agriculture and conservation.

Learn more about the project here.

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE IN THE EVERGLADES AGRICULTURAL AREA

The Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) is an extremely environmentally sensitive area that loses approximately half an inch of soil every year. In this area, sugarcane and vegetable rotations are extremely prevalent, and unlike the rest of southern Florida, most of the soils are organic/muck soils. Here, irrigation water management plans are crucial for maintaining crop and soil subsidence, as well as reducing runoff. The Palm Beach Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) plays a major role in assisting producers in both writing and implementing these plans.

Thanks to a 2018 NACD Technical Assistance Grant , the district was able to bring on professional engineer Ramon Santiago as a full-time Land Management Manager. For one year, Santiago assisted the NRCS field office in developing irrigation water management plans for producers throughout the area.

However, writing these plans was no simple task. Santiago worked with the producers to consider factors such as weather, irrigation methods, system conditions, crops and more. The plans he created taught the growers when to turn on/off their water pumps, what level to keep their water at, where to set water elevations to retain or release water, and how to adjust the system to the crops’ needs.

Santiago was also able to evaluate the producers’ systems to ensure they were working as they should and give suggestions on system improvement, helping some producers update their system by replacing structures that were falling apart.

Santiago also helped producers receive funding for the implementation of Best Management Practices (BMP) through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and other entities.

“The TA grant allowed our office to assist growers by completing the BMP details needed in order to conclude the project,” said Laura Bloom, Palm Beach SWCD Director.

The irrigation systems that were designed and installed helped producers keep phosphorus on their farms, instead of running off the field and/or leaching into groundwater.

“We’re helping them run their farms in a good, safe and efficient manner, which will both benefit their agricultural operation and keep Florida’s waterways clean,” Santiago said.

“Through the NACD grant given to Palm Beach Soil and Water Conservation District, the office was able to write irrigation water management plans, and at the same time, talk to farmers about the importance of proper water management,” said Rosa Reyes, NRCS District Conservationist. “The grant allowed our field office to expand our outreach to farmers and other land users.”

To learn more about NACD’s Technical Assistance grants or to read other TA success stories, visit the NACD Technical Assistance Grants webpage .

Deadline Extended:

Last Call for

NCF Feedback

The National Conservation Foundation (NCF) has extended the deadline to fill out its 2020 NCF Survey to this Friday, July 17 . 

We value your input and opinions, and we plan to use your responses to improve the work of the board and the NCF-Envirothon and the Next Generation Leadership Institute (NGLI) programs.

Upon completion of the survey, you will be entered for a chance to win a Yeti coffee cup from NACD's Marketplace. To take the survey,  click here .

Submit Your Ideas:

NACD 2021 Annual Meeting Theme

Help us come up with a theme to celebrate NACD's 75th Annual Meeting in New Orleans, La., scheduled for Feb. 6-10, 2021.

The winning submission will also earn a complimentary full registration to the 2021 Annual Meeting. To submit your theme idea, please fill out the form  here .

WOTUS Update: Finalized Navigable Waters Protection Rule and Current Litigation

The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic hasn’t prevented the Navigable Waters Protection Rule from being finalized, nor has it stopped litigation forecasted in NACD’s last blog on waters of the United States (WOTUS). Revision of the 2015 WOTUS rule comes from a campaign promise made by the Trump Administration and is consistent with an Executive Order (EO) issued in 2017 by President Trump.

NACD has previously advocated for the reversal of the 2015 WOTUS rule and engaged in the new rulemaking process. NACD submitted public comments on the proposed rule defining “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act (CWA) last spring.

Under the new 2020 rule, broad definitions set forth in the 2015 Obama Era WOTUS rule have been tightened in an effort to provide more clarity. Highlights include the continued protection of tributaries; but ephemeral tributaries, which are only present during precipitation, have been removed in the 2020 rule.

To read the rest of the blog, visit NACD's website.

Save the Date:

SHI's 5th Annual Meeting

The Soil Health Institute (SHI) will hold its fifth annual meeting virtually from July 30-31, 2020.

NACD Soil Health Champion Matt Griggs from Tennessee will be one of the guest speakers.

Registration is free and required for all attendees. To learn more and register, visit SHI's website, where you can find the agenda, speaker bios and more.

Tim Palmer Joins ESMC's Inaugural

Board of Directors

Recently, the Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC) announced the members of its board of directors, which was established in May 2019.

NACD President Tim Palmer joins four other agricultural leaders in ESMC's inaugural board of directors. The board will provide leadership as ESMC continues to develop and test its program to scale soil health and beneficial agricultural outcomes in the U.S., leading to the national market launch in 2022.

To learn more about the inaugural members of the board, visit ESMC's website.

Register Now:

NRCS Soil Health Webinar Series

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)'s Conversations in Soil Health Webinar series will hold its fourth webinar on Thursday, July 23 , from 1:00-2:30 p.m., Eastern .

The series is intended to help conservation planners gain ideas from across the country that can be implemented locally. Each webinar will introduce the session’s topic through speakers sharing their experience and includes time at the end for the audience to ask questions and create discussion.

No registration is required. To join the webinar, click here .

Tune into "The People of Soil Health" Podcast

The Soil Health Partnership (SHP) is producing a number of podcasts aimed at providing a direct connection into the network of soil health professionals who are focused on the on-farm economic and environmental benefits of soil health.

On The People of Soil Health podcast, host John Mesko discusses soil health practices and management systems, issues facing farmers, and insights from soil data sets. Podcasts produced to date include discussions about growing cover crops, building research partnerships that help address soil health and water quality, how soil health is a win-win-win situation and more.

Learn more and listen to the podcast here.

Phil Campbell Named Chair of Oklahoma Conservation Commission

Pictured : Seated: Phil Campbell , Area II, Chairman. Standing from left to right : Trey Lam, OCC Executive Director ; Gary Crawley, Area V ; Clay Forst, Area IV ; Scotty Herriman,  Area III ; Karl Jett, Area I .

On July 6, Phil Campbell of Luther, Okla., was named as chair of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission for Fiscal Year 2021. Campbell, who serves as the Area II commissioner in Oklahoma, is among the seven participants in the inaugural cohort of the National Conservation Foundation (NCF)'s Next Generation Leadership Institute (NGLI).

Check it Out:

Book Provides Roadmap on Conserving Wildlife

Saving Species on Private Lands: Unlocking Incentives to Conserve Wildlife and Their Habitats by Lowell E. Baier with Christopher Segal was recently named a 2020 Next Generation Indie Book Award winner by the Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group.

In the book, Baier provides landowners and their partners with a roadmap to achieve conservation compatible with their financial and personal goals. This guide is a great resource for private landowners who want to conserve fish and wildlife on their lands.

You can learn more about the book and purchase it here.

NACD's 2021 Stewardship Materials Now Available for

Print-On-Demand

Conservation districts interested in purchasing printed 2021 Stewardship Week educational materials can now order high quality, on-demand printed materials through Goetz Printing. Next year's theme, "Healthy Forests = Healthy Communities," celebrates the importance of conserving and protecting our trees and forests.

The materials are also available for free download on NACD's Marketplace. To learn more about NACD’s Stewardship program, visit NACD's Conservation Education Hub or contact us at stewardship@nacdnet.org.

Promote your conservation district or state association's tree sale, annual meeting, webinar, field day or more on NACD's Calendar of Events !