NACD’s 66th Annual Stewardship Week begins Sunday! This year's Stewardship Week will take place April 25 to May 2 and will celebrate the theme “Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities."
Trees are not only beautiful and majestic, but they also support and sustain life by providing us with food and oxygen. Forests are invaluable and play a major role in every community. In addition to food, medicine and shelter, trees provide shade, help clean the air, save energy, clean our water, and offer many other benefits and value to your home and community.
It is important that each of us understands how much trees matter and how simply planting one tree in your yard can significantly improve your quality of life. Before you do any planting, make sure you have a proper plan to ensure you get all the benefits of adding trees to your community. Contact your local conservation district to get help with tree planting, care and maintenance, as well as learn how to protect trees from invasive species.
We can all play a part in creating a beautiful urban forest and enjoy how trees enhance our health, communities and environment. Join us to celebrate and honor trees during Stewardship Week to foster education and awareness.
NACD established Stewardship Week 66 years ago to educate the public on the importance of soil health, water quality, pollinator habitat and other conservation topics. Stewardship Week helps to remind us all of the power each person has to conserve natural resources and improve the world.
For more ideas about how your conservation district can make a difference in your community during Stewardship Week, visit NACD's Stewardship Week webpage. Let us know how you plan on celebrating Stewardship Week by emailing us.
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WYOMING DISTRICT EMPLOYEES MEET FOR ANNUAL TRAINING |
While many conservation districts may have been limited in their abilities to get to the office over the last year, conservation districts across the nation have still been very successful in supporting conservation out in the field. Wyoming conservation districts are no different and were able to come together for the annual Wyoming Conservation District Employees Association (WCDEA) meeting last week with the theme “Getting Conservation on the Ground.”
During three days of training sessions, district staff heard from a variety of partners, including the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Wyoming Department of Agriculture and the Department of Environmental Quality. Sessions covered topics like soil health, how to use online tools like Google Forms and Quickbooks, and how to sell the district story.
NACD Southwest Region Representative Rachel Theler and NACD staff Meg Leader and Ariel Rivers joined the group on Tuesday morning to share information about NACD’s programs and opportunities for conservation districts.
Importantly, while some districts in Wyoming have been able to participate in NACD’s Technical Assistance Grants, they are still exploring how to expand their urban and community programming. As a relatively rural state compared to others, the districts are looking forward to supporting their communities with small-scale conservation practices, and the NACD Urban Agriculture Conservation grants may provide that opportunity.
“This annual training has always been an opportunity for district staff around the state to bounce ideas off each other in order to be more effective at reaching constituents," says the WCDEA Training Committee Chair Shari Meeks. “The districts, in turn, benefit, as their employees are equipped to help get Conservation on the Ground. Annual training provides an opportunity to come together, share ideas, and help each other navigate everyday life as a conservation district."
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NACD’S DEI TASK FORCE ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF LOCAL WORK GROUPS |
In July 2020, NACD’s Board of Directors produced a statement on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), which called for the formation of a DEI Task Force. The Task Force reviewed NACD internal governance and examined programs, policies and procedures. Conservation is important to all communities, and to be effective, we must improve our reach into communities and actively engage people and communities that are not normally reached or face additional barriers to access services.
The following is an excerpt on the Significance of Local Work Groups from the Task Force’s final report:
The locally-led conservation effort is the foundation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s conservation program delivery process. The local working group supports the locally-led conservation effort by coordinating USDA programs with other federal, state, tribal and local conservation programs to provide an integrated solution to addressing natural resource concerns.
Local working groups, convened by the local conservation district, provide recommendations on local natural resource priorities and criteria for USDA conservation activities and programs. Local working group membership should be diverse and focus on agricultural interests and natural resource issues existing in the local community. Meetings should occur at least once a year and should be open to the public. For more information, contact your local NRCS District Conservationist.
There are a variety of factors to be considered when conducting local work group meetings, which could in fact be limiting/affecting meeting access to some members of the local community.
Factors:
- Lack of outreach to underrepresented/underserved communities, different disciplines and stakeholders
- Lack of access to meetings (too far away, lack of transportation, inability to access remotely, no phone conference/listening capabilities provided by the conservation district, lack of internet access, lack of phone services, translation services, sign language)
- Public notice/announcement: Timing of publishing; funding to cover the expense can be a challenge for some districts; translation of announcements
- Materials – have documents translated into other languages spoken within the CD and appealing depending on the audience
- Equipment
Recommendations:
- To keep communities engaged, tell stakeholders what the conservation district and NRCS will do for them and how we will use their input with the input they have provided. Plan for the next meeting of the Local Work Group, including a date, location and agenda.
- Newsletters – include community members on distribution for local newsletters to keep in contact with them on what CD is doing. Communication more than one time a year.
- Develop materials such as public notice/announcements, agendas, materials presented at meeting, etc., in other languages to reach non-English-speaking producers/partners
- Place announcements in locations underrepresented/underserved communities meet and congregate; visit in their languages and provide information for special accommodations if needed
- Look for ways to meet remotely by using new technology, phone lines, etc. If no access to new technology, use newspapers or local media to share information.
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Register Now:
Winds, Water And Wildfires Summits
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Join NACD for the upcoming Winds, Water and Wildfires Virtual Summits throughout the month of May, where we’ll host speakers discussing how disasters such as high winds, wildfires and flooding cause significant damage to natural resources in the South, North, East and West.
These needs are identified in the three goals of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy. The virtual sessions will be held over the month of May, and session dates coordinate with specific regions (West, Southeast and Northeast). Click the button below to register. For questions, please contact NACD's Natural Resource Policy Specialist Mary Scott at mary-scott@nacdnet.org.
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Guide on Windbreak Adoption Now Available |
What are the key drivers to windbreak adoption? Learn about this and more through this comprehensive synthesis investigating windbreak and shelterbelt use across the U.S.
Written by staff of the National Agroforestry Center, the review addresses a range of topics, including key drivers leading producers to use or remove windbreaks, and covers adoption studies from 1949 – 2020.
Highlights include:
- Producers most value windbreaks for indirect economic benefits (soil erosion control, livestock protection, wind protection and snow control).
- Windbreaks are also valued for direct benefits (increased crop and livestock production) and intrinsic values (aesthetics and wildlife habitat).
- The benefits of windbreaks are variable and dependent on whether the system is a field, farmstead or livestock planting.
Increased tree planting in the form of windbreaks/shelterbelts can be a strategic way to address climate mitigation while accruing economic and ecological benefits.
The full open-access article can be viewed or downloaded here. |
USDA Extends Deadline for Comments on Conservation Standards |
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced it will extend the deadline for public comment on proposed revisions to 23 national conservation practice standards through a posting in the Federal Register.
The proposed revisions were published March 9 with comments originally due April 8. Comments will now be due April 22. To learn more, click here.
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New Report Highlights Successes in USDA-Funded Conservation Finance Projects |
Since 2015, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has funded a diverse cohort of conservation finance projects through its Conservation Innovation Grants program, ranging from consumer-driven certification and labeling programs to urban green infrastructure, as well as pay-for-success approaches for water quality improvements.
A new report shows that conservation finance can lead to on-the-ground conservation outcomes. To read the report, click here.
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Register Now:
Estimating the Greenhouse Gas Benefits of NRCS's Applied Practices
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Join the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) next Thursday, April 29 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern for a webinar on the greenhouse gas benefits of NRCS's applied practices.
NRCS works with agricultural producers across the country to deliver voluntary climate solutions through climate-smart production decisions and practice applications. NRCS has established conservation practice standards to guide the design, installation and maintenance of conservation practices, and there are approximately 35 NRCS conservation practice standards that deliver quantifiable carbon sequestration and/or greenhouse gas reductions.
In this presentation, Dr. Adam Chambers will provide an overview of the quantification methodologies used by NRCS to estimate those potential climate benefits from NRCS practices like windbreaks, cover crops, no-till and many more.
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Promote your conservation district or state association's tree sale, annual meeting, webinar, field day or more on NACD's Calendar of Events!
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