July 29, 2022
In 2020, NACD featured the Skagit County Conservation District and their efforts to revise their 2008 county-wide CWPP. The District led the revision effort and included updates to their Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan (NHMP), working with the community and community partners like the Department of Emergency Management, county officials, and state and federal partners.
This June, NACD released the updated “Desk Guide to Accelerating Implementation of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy.” As part of that release, we revisited with Jenny Coe, Skagit & Whatcom County Conservation District Resource Specialist, Community Wildfire Resilience, to dig in further on how districts can show up when considering drafting or revising a Community Wildfire Protection Plan.

What prompted Skagit County to draft the initial CWPP document?

The original CWPP was drafted in 2009 by the Skagit Conservation District and was a supplement to the NHMP being updated. At the time of the NHMP update process, the Conservation District had received Title III funds from Skagit County to support Firewise USA Program efforts and a wildfire risk reduction coordinator (me). We also had a veteran Forester on staff who was well informed on the NHMP update process. Recognizing that we were in a good position to provide guidance on the wildfire section of the NHMP plan, we started attending update meetings and offering our services. From there, we recognized that we should have a stand-alone CWPP that accompanied the NHMP that could address more specifics. We had the staff and the funding to develop the CWPP, so we did!
Woman Owned Woodlands and Developing the Next Generation of Forest Landowners is a resource for women landowners and forest stewards. According to their website, "The Women Owning Woodlands (WOW) web project strives to bring topical, accessible, and current forestry information to woodland owners and forest practitioners through news articles, blogs, events, resources, and personal stories. We support women in forest leadership, women who manage their own woodlands, and all who facilitate the stewardship of forests."

The WOW network is national in scope and works at the local level with chapters and conservation professionals to offer women-focused woodland management content. They support female forest landowners in seeing their woodland management goals realized through skill-building opportunities and connecting them with necessary resources.
Conservation Districts show up in various ways in this work by offering these workshops, engaging with the local WOW chapters, and supporting these female forest landowners in realizing their management goals. In Maine, Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD) has been engaged in WOW for some time. They offer chainsaw safety 1-3 and a variety of management workshops geared towards female forest landowners and provide the skill-building opportunities necessary to make them successful woodland managers. Like many districts, the community's needs drove the interest towards offering this type of specialized content, and they've seen continued and growing interest in attendance.
Pennsylvania
Conservation Districts Offering Trees
The Adams County Conservation District is partnering with the Watershed Alliance of Adams County and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership to offer free native trees and shrubs to the residents of Adams County. The district will supply more than 10,000 trees and shrubs of various sizes along with a tree shelter and a shrub shelter, stake, zip-ties and bird-netting.

The district's is requiring that for that recipients share the tree or shrub's location as well as photographs of the planting process. The deadline to order a free tree or shrub is August 23, 2022. All plantings should be completed by November 1.

For more information please visit the Adams County website or contact Sarah Spencer.
FORESTRY NEWS
CALENDAR
August 1-4 – NACD Forestry RPG Summer Meeting l Columbus, OH

Sept. 19-22 – NASF 2022 Annual Meeting l Stevenson, WA

Sept. 20-24 – 2022 SAF National Convention l Baltimore, MD

Minneapolis, MN