The Spring 2019 edition of
The Resource has arrived!
The latest edition, which can be found on
NACD's website, emphasizes partnerships.
On page 12, you'll learn how the
Jefferson Conservation District in Colorado is partnering with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to deliver conservation; the Northeast Region district spotlight on page 16 describes how Maine's districts partnered with the
Aroostook Band of Micmacs to raise funds through a trout sale; and on page 14, you'll learn more about how
Spokane Conservation District in Washington state partnered with veterans to educate and support them as beginning farmers.
You'll even find partnership exemplified in the Soil Health Champions spotlight on page 22 by
Bobby Whitescarver and
Jeanne Hoffman in Swoope, Va., who found a collaborative approach in improving the health of the Middle River.
Rod Snyder, President of Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, describes in Another Perspective the organization's partnership with NACD, as well as with stakeholders throughout the agriculture supply chain.
At NACD, as with conservation districts across the nation, we know that partnerships offer us strength, providing us with an avenue to explore new, mutually beneficial ideas. We hope you enjoy this spring edition and find inspiration for new projects for your district or state or territory association.
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YOU'RE INVITED: NACD TO BEGIN CONDUCTING LISTENING SESSIONS
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Beginning this summer, NACD will host a series of listening sessions, allowing members the opportunity to provide feedback on our programs and guidance of how we can improve our value as a national association.
These member-focused listening sessions will be hosted across the country, giving our members the opportunity to learn more about NACD and its services while expressing their views to NACD’s leadership and staff.
Each listening session will provide an overview of NACD’s current services, followed by discussions with members about NACD’s communications, government affairs and stewardship and education work, as well as the Soil Health Champions Network, Technical Assistance Grants Program, Urban Agriculture Conservation Grant Initiative, Conservation Planning Boot Camp, annual meetings and more. These sessions will help NACD determine what programs and services conservation districts want and need, and how the national association can help advance their mission.
NACD's first listening session is on
June 12, 2019, at 1:00 p.m., in
Gothenburg, Neb., during the Northern Plains Region Meeting.
A schedule of upcoming listening sessions can be found on
NACD's website. Additional information will be posted as it becomes available.
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NACD SUMMER MEETING ROOMS FILLING UP QUICKLY
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The meeting will be held at the Drury Plaza Hotel; however, NACD has recently acquired an overflow room block at the Hilton Santa Fe Historic Plaza. Rooms must be reserved by
Friday, July 12, at either hotel, and both hotels' room rate is $209 per night. For more information on lodging accommodations, please
visit NACD's summer meeting webpage.
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NACD ENCOURAGES LOCAL INPUT FOR ESA DELISTINGS
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Today, NACD submitted
comments to the Fish and Wildlife Service regarding the proposed delisting of the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Gray wolf populations have been federally protected under endangered species legislation since 1967.
“NACD is encouraged by the agency’s decision to review releasing the gray wolf from the ESA’s endangered and threatened list,”
NACD President Tim Palmer said. “The nation’s conservation districts and landowners know the land and its natural resources and are best-equipped to make decisions regarding its management.”
In the letter, Palmer underscores the efforts put forth by Minnesota, Wyoming, Michigan and Wisconsin to maintain abundant wolf populations and emphasizes how state-level decisions allow for greater local control of protection of the species.
“After decades of species conservation, gray wolf populations have rebounded and have sufficiently recovered,”
Palmer said. “NACD, our member conservation districts and their customers will continue to ensure voluntary conservation practices are utilized on private and public lands to prevent the return of the gray wolf to the threatened or endangered list.”
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In 2016, Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) in Ohio was awarded funding through the NACD Urban Agriculture Conservation Grant Initiative, made possible through partnership with NRCS. The primary deliverable of Cuyahoga’s SWCD’s project was a ‘Blueprint to Urban Agriculture' (website photo below), intended to be a one-stop shop for agriculture producers, urban farmers and community gardeners to assist them with everything from sales to finding insurance.
Cuyahoga SWCD interviewed 53 urban agriculture constituents in Cleveland, Ohio, and a few in the west suburbs. Often, these interviews were conducted on farm or garden sites. Most of the constituents were urban farmers, but some were landlords, community garden managers, colleagues from Ohio State University Extension and other peripheral community agriculture members.
The Blueprint was designed as a website, so that content could be continually updated and added. It is now available at
http://www.blueprinttourbanagriculture.com
. The “Resources” page can be used as a fact sheet.
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In addition to designing the Blueprint website, district staff provided technical assistance to local urban agriculture operators, such as interpreting soil tests and making recommendations; installing drip irrigation; weaving tomato trellises; assisting with fire hydrant permitting processes; creating a high school garden plan; and developing a farm management and volunteer plan for a creek preservation committee.
The Cuyahoga SWCD enhanced the project through an Ohio Department of Agriculture Healthy Soils Grant to create two cover crop demonstration sites (photo below) and a subsequent workshop. A proposal was also submitted to the NRCS Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) for the Greater Cleveland Reforestation Project. An expected $77,000 investment will be made for Cuyahoga County landowners to help restore soils and the declining urban tree canopy on private lands.
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A special partnership with the Ohio State University (OSU) soil lab resulted in pawpaw orchard installation and experiments. The process was turned into a time-lapse video now posted on the District’s
Facebook page and
YouTube.
Additional partnerships continue through the Great Lakes Urban Agriculture Integrated Pest Management Working Group and OSU Extension’s Working Group.
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NACD Announces 2020 Stewardship Theme
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The NACD Stewardship and Education Committee announced the release of the 2020 Poster Contest and Stewardship Week theme:
“Where would we BEE without Pollinators?”
Pollinators form the foundations of a healthy and sustainable future for food and the environment, but in recent years, they have shown concerning signs of decline. It’s important that we work to help them prosper by enhancing native pollinator habitats and protecting against pollinator declines.
Rules, entry forms and other resources for the 2020 NACD Poster Contest will be available for download later this summer.
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Southeast Region Welcoming Nominations for Conservation Hall of Fame
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The Southeast Region Conservation Hall of Fame annually recognizes and honors individuals from
NACD's Southeast Region who have had a significant impact or influence on conservation practices and partnerships.
Each year, districts submit nominations to their state/territory associations, and the associations select one nominee to induct into the Southeast Region Conservation Hall of Fame.
This year’s inductees will be recognized at the Southeast Region Conservation Hall of Fame Luncheon being held on
Monday, Aug. 12, 2019, during the Southeast Region Meeting in
Gatlinburg, Tenn.
For more information about the nomination process, including upcoming deadlines, please visit the Tennessee Association of Conservation Districts'
2019 Southeast Region NACD Meeting webpage and click on the Hall of Fame tab.
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Save the Date: Farm Bill Programs Hearing
On
Wednesday, May 15, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, the House Committee on Agriculture's Conservation and Forestry Subcommittee will hold a hearing to review USDA's Farm Bill Conservation Programs.
Tune into the hearing
here.
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Now Open: Northern Plains Region Meeting Registration
Registration is now open for the 2019 Northern Plains Region meeting in Gothenburg, Neb.
District leaders from Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota will gather
June 12-14
for a lineup of presentations and tours specific to the important resources of the region.
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NRCS Announces Expansion of State Technical Committees
On May 6, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) released an interim rule to make changes included in the 2018 Farm Bill.
Changes include an expansion in the membership of State Technical Committees to strengthen technical input in conservation programs, among other alterations.
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NACD Welcomes New Lifetime Friend
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NACD would like to welcome our new Lifetime Friend of NACD,
Diane Edwins.
Interested in becoming a Friend of NACD? Learn more on
NACD’s website
.
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U&C RPG Seeks Webinar Topics, Speakers
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Is there a conservation topic you would like to learn more about? The NACD Urban and Community Resource Policy Group (RPG) invites your input for the urban and community (U&C) webinar series beginning in October 2019.
Help us design webinars that help you! Offer to give a presentation by sending a brief paragraph describing the program or project you would like to showcase or tell us the urban and community conservation topics/issues and/or speakers you would like to have covered.
Email your proposals and topic/speaker ideas to NACD Senior Advisor
Debra Bogar
at
deb-bogar@nacdnet.org
by
July 1, 2019
.
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DOI Seeks Resource Advisory Council Nominations
The Department of the Interior (DOI) published in the Federal Register requesting public nominations for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)’s
31 statewide and regional Resource Advisory Councils located throughout the West.
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Add your conservation district's tree sale, state association meeting, field day or celebration to NACD's calendar!
Click the button above to submit an event. Events will be reviewed by the website administrator and published to
NACD's online calendar when approved.
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