NACD's Virtual Annual Meeting officially launched yesterday, Feb. 1! Have you registered? There's still time to register for only $50—don't miss out on the next six days!

This week and next, we'll be celebrating NACD's legacy and future with the theme, "NACD's 75th Anniversary: A Diamond Out of the Dust."

The Community feature is now live on the Annual Meeting platform! Begin connecting with your fellow conservationists and start saving the agenda items you’ll know you want to attend. Login instructions were emailed directly from events@nacdnet.org and will be sent again over the coming days, or you can click on the upper right-hand corner to log in using your email if you’ve already registered. Be sure to check your inbox next week for Daily Digests, recapping this year's most exciting moments of the Annual Meeting.

Be sure to check out our virtual Parade of States (pictured above) on our virtual meeting hub! Click the states and territories on the map to view welcome messages, photos and videos from our state and territory associations of conservation districts. You can connect directly with your fellow conservationists using the Community feature.

Access speaker bios, breakout session descriptions and this year's reconfigured meeting agenda on NACD's virtual meeting hub.

Since President Biden was sworn into office on January 20, he has issued a series of executive orders (EO) that pertain to conservation and natural resource protection. On President Biden’s first day in office, he issued an executive order, “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis,” which included a list of agency regulations that will be reviewed to ensure they do not conflict with the EO’s objectives and goals.

Included among these are the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s final Navigable Waters Protection Rule, which redefined what is considered jurisdictional under the Clean Water Act. NACD was supportive of the Trump Administration’s repeal of the 2015 Waters of the United States rule and submitted public comments in support of the new rule to define which waters are jurisdictional for purposes of the Clean Water Act, now known as the Navigable Waters Protection Rule. Additional regulations related to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) were also included on the list, such as the recently finalized Critical Habitat Designation Rule, for which NACD provided comments.

On Wednesday, Jan. 27, President Biden issued a separate EO on “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” which includes several provisions related to agriculture and natural resource protection. The EO commits the U.S. to “the goal of conserving at least 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030.” It states that the Secretaries of the Interior, Commerce and Agriculture should solicit input from a diverse set of stakeholders including state, local and tribal governments, along with agricultural and forest landowners, to identify what strategies can achieve this goal. A report to the newly created national climate task force is to be submitted within 90 days with the recommended steps.

See NACD’s submission to the House Select Committee on the climate crisis for more information on how existing programs and authorities can make a difference. Read more at NACD's blog.

Carl Struck and Johanne Riddick own Spirit Hill, a 40-acre certified family forest, which sits at an elevation of 8,500 feet in Vadito, N.M. The forest has had a very active past, with the harvesting of an old-growth Ponderosa pine forest in 1910 and the second growth harvested in the 1950s. In combination with the overgrazing of the forest by various livestock through the years, the forest soils were left depleted and eroded of carbon cycling nutrients.

Struck and Riddick experienced a steep learning curve as new tree farmers, but in 1992, they reached out to the New Mexico Tree Farm System and created a forest stewardship plan with the assistance of the New Mexico State Forestry Division. This set them on a path to restoring the forest and gave them the needed expertise, support and strategies to achieve numerous management goals.

As New Mexico certified tree farmers, Struck and Riddick are not your typical Soil Health Champions, but their restoration efforts of the Ponderosa forest habitat have a direct impact on the health of their soil, enhancing the support of the forest soil micro-organisms and general biodiversity as well as increasing water quality and quantity for traditional farmers downstream.

For more information on Struck and Riddick, Spirit Hill and their restoration efforts, visit NACD’s website for their profile and view the “Tree Farm Bulletin” published by the N.M. Tree Farm Committee.

If you or someone you know would like to become a member of the NACD Soil Health Champions Network, please visit the NACD website for more information or contact Beth Mason at beth-mason@nacdnet.org with your questions.

NACD is currently seeking a Southwest Region Representative to provide assistance to the national association's member conservation districts and NACD Board of Directors to advance conservation, resource development and to assist in the implementation of the association’s policies related to the Southwest Region (AZ, CO, NM, NV, UT, WY).

Interested applicants should be based in NACD's Southwest Region and should send a resume, cover letter and two writing samples to hr@nacdnet.org with the subject line "Southwest Region Representative" no later than Friday, Feb. 12 to receive priority conservation. Learn more at NACD's Careers webpage.

The National Conservation Foundation (NCF) Virtual Auction is now open for bidding online!

The bidding window will close at 1:30 p.m. Eastern on Feb. 10. Be sure to place your bid on items like the Florida fruit basket donated by the Association of Florida Conservation Districts.

NCF is still seeking donations for this year's Virtual Auction. Donate items for the auction today! This year, with the online format, we are asking that contributors hold onto items until after the auction and ship their donations directly to the winning bidder. Any and all items are welcome.

For more information, please contact NACD South Central Region Representative Keith Owen.

To learn more about the program or to support the 2022 NACD District Grant Program visit NACD's Friends of NACD webpage.

Minority Landowner Magazine's 2020

The deadline has been extended for nominations for Minority Landowner Magazine's 2020 Farmers of the Year issue. This is an opportunity to extend support to your producers and submit them for recognition in the magazine's annual Farmers of the Year issue for their work representing good agriculture in their community.

The Minority Landowner Magazine chronicles the challenges and successes of minority farmers, ranchers and forest landowners across the country. Its mission is to help minority, limited resource and small farmers, ranchers and forest landowners improve productivity, increase profitability, and maintain ownership of their land.

The deadline to submit a nomination is Feb. 15. To submit your nomination, complete this form and send it to the magazine's Farmer of the Year email. It is important that you include one or two high quality, high resolution digital photos (preferably 300 dpi) with your nomination form. 

Platinum, diamond and gold level NACD members making a single purchase of $100 or more from the Marketplace can benefit from 20 percent, 15 percent and 10 percent discounts, respectively. To learn more about NACD's membership incentives and levels of discounts, please visit NACD's Membership webpage or email 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!