The Mecklenburg Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) is helping to shape policy for tree canopy conservation in North Carolina.
Earlier this year, the city of Charlotte created a Tree Canopy Action Plan Stakeholder team in response to public outcry to a tree ordinance amendment. Mecklenburg SWCD already works closely with the city’s Stormwater Committee, contributing to solutions toward impervious areas and groundwater issues, so City Planner Andrew Ausel approached the SWCD to be one of 20 stakeholders on the Tree Canopy Committee.
“We wanted a multidisciplinary approach, and we saw the conservation district as an important thought leader, as well as a voice that should be involved in any strategy we come up with to preserve trees in Charlotte,” Ausel said.
The city currently has a relatively healthy canopy for an urban area at 45 percent. Still, that has fallen from 49 percent in 2012. The city’s existing ordinance was written when Charlotte was still relatively suburban and focused primarily on preserving canopy on sites with lots of existing trees. As the city grew more urbanized, the tree canopy requirement became onerous, Ausel said. Last year, the city decided to update it.
Originally a small amendment to a larger ordinance, the tree requirements and conservation efforts that move forward out of the Tree Canopy Action Plan will be finely tuned by the project stakeholder team, which meets once a month. The Action Plan will include development policies and programs that will be included as part of the city’s new comprehensive plan.
|
The Root River Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) in Minnesota is using Watershed Conservation Planning Initiative (WCPI) funds to expand landowner projects, including into wooded areas.
WCPI aims to increase Minnesota Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)’s and SWCDs’ ability to work with landowners on conservation planning. The initiative is funded through a three-year, $3 million agreement from the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) and NRCS through December 2021. Historically, grants have focused on cropland issues related to watersheds, but Root River SWCD is using its grant to assist landowners in a comprehensive manner.
“Whole-farm conservation planning leads to new and different projects compared to what we usually do, like ponds and grassed waterways,” Root River SWCD Water Planner/Technician Dan Wermager said. “If there is a small patch of woods on a farm that is mostly open cropland, with a whole-farm plan, we would look at this forestland, too, and not just the gully in the cropland that the farmer points out to us.”
“We’re reaching a new demographic of landowners – people who have never even heard of us – and getting new people involved in conservation, not just the usual farmers,” he said.
Through the grant, Wermager has done a lot of outreach. He has mailed information out twice to the 511 landowners in the two priority watersheds: Money Creek and Torkelson Creek; both are tributaries to the Root River. He also has made follow-up phone calls to more than 80 percent of those landowners, held five outreach events prior to COVID-19 (coronavirus) restrictions, and completed 120 conservation plans – 20 percent more than the grant’s goal.
|
NACD FORESTRY RPG WEBINAR SERIES |
The NACD Forestry Resource Policy Group (RPG) hosted a series of seven Zoom discussions on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
Each 50-minute session covered a different topic relevant to conservation district forestry professionals. An archive of all seven webinars is now available on NACD's website.
|
|
Maine
SWCDs to present forest pest webinar series
|
The Maine Association of Conservation Districts is offering free regional webinars to highlight how to protect Maine forests from invasive forest pests. Webinars will be presented by local soil and water conservation district (SWCD) staff and will focus on statewide and regional pest problems. The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry staff will be on-hand with information on current local forest pest management issues.
Presentations are scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 23; Thursday, Oct. 1; Wednesday, Oct. 7; and Tuesday, Oct, 13. Webinars are free and sponsored by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
|
Colorado
Districts among partners to establish shared vision for forestry efforts
|
Federal, state and local governments joined with nonprofit entities in Boulder County in late August to establish a shared vision for reducing the risk of wildfire to its residences, recreation areas and natural resources through closely coordinated forest management across all lands.
With the signing of the agreement, the U.S. Forest Service and Boulder County have identified a shared vision for the future of Boulder County forest management together with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Colorado State Forest Service, City of Longmont, City of Boulder, the communities of Nederland, Gold Hill, and Lyons, the Boulder County Firefighters Association, the Longmont Conservation District, the Boulder Valley Conservation District and Colorado Forest Restoration Institute at Colorado State University.
|
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. |
|
