Conservation Clip List for Friday, February 4th 2022
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Conservation Clips is a weekly collection of articles distributed by NACD that provides our members and partners with the latest news in what’s driving conservation. These articles are not indicative of NACD policy and are the opinions of their authors, unless otherwise noted. If you have a relevant submission or need assistance with accessing articles, please contact the NACD Communications Team.
Editors Note: NACD will not issue editions of Conservation Clips on February 11 and 18 due to NACD’s Annual Meeting.
The officers appointed to lead Field to Market’s Board of Directors through December 2023 include Vice-Chair Jeremy Peters, Chief Executive Officer for the National Association of Conservation Districts.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is awarding the Erie County Conservation District grant money geared to address local environmental concerns.
The focus was on the latest issues related to water and agriculture at the Morgan Conservation District’s (MCD) 2022 Annual Meeting on Thursday, Jan. 27 at the Riverview Event Center in Brush.
The Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District is once again sponsoring a poster contest linking art and creative thinking for Cuyahoga County students in grades K-12.
When Kolby Beehler, conservation agronomist at Morrison County Soil and Water Conservation District, applied for the position, she didn’t know the significance of it. Not only is she the first woman, but also the very first to hold that position in Minnesota. Across the United States, there are only 17 conservation agronomists.
The Clinton County Conservation District was recently awarded a grant to help farmers and landowners install Best Management Practices (BMP’s) and other conservation measures to prevent pollution in our local streams, lakes, and rivers.
Two area farmers are among those who received a 2021 Clean Water Farm Award for demonstrating a commitment to practices that protect the soil and water. The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation announced nine Virginia farms were honored on Tuesday, one for each of the major river basins in the Commonwealth.
Regardless of age, soil health proponents believe that increasing knowledge and putting it to practice nurtures the ground and ensures long-term profitability.
(Subscriber Only) With the state’s ongoing budget surplus, the Newsom administration is looking to revamp California’s program for Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation (SALC). Years of adjustments to the program have led to a complex application process that often screens out the prime farmland the state seeks to protect.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack selected 12 members to serve on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) inaugural Secretary’s Advisory Committee for Urban Agriculture to provide input on policy development and to help identify barriers to urban agriculture as USDA works to promote urban farming and the economic opportunities it provides in cities across the country.
Without cattle of his own, he used to sell his hay until he realized he was also selling all of the nutrients off of his land. Bringing the cows to his place instead means that the nutrients used for growing the crop get recycled in place.
The Soil Health Institute (SHI), the non-profit charged with safeguarding and enhancing the vitality and productivity of soils, has released “Exploring the Relationship Between Soil Health and Food Nutritional Quality: A Summary of Research Literature.”
House Democrats have reupped calls for President Joe Biden to move ahead with the $555 billion in climate change investments already passed by the House as part of the Build Back Better Act.
(Subscriber Only) The House Agriculture Committee launches an in-depth examination of farm bill programs this week, starting with a hearing on conservation spending, and the full House will debate a competitiveness bill that seeks to bolster trade remedies and address trade with developing countries.
The Ecdysis Foundation is launching a study that aims to investigate regenerative agriculture across the United States. The 1000 Farms Initiative is one of the largest projects to date that will gather data on agricultural management practices, soil and water health, biodiversity, and profits on more than 1,000 farms and ranches.
“These farms are examples of how soil health practices can support resilient, thriving farms, while still protecting local water resources,” said Ben Wickerham, Saginaw Bay project manager for TNC.
California water officials warned on Tuesday that the state is set to face another dry year after experiencing a significant lack of snow in January, potentially marking its third consecutive year of dry conditions.
The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has entered into a cooperative agreement with Polk County, the City of Des Moines, and Des Moines Water Works to help increase and expedite the amount of cover crops planted in the Des Moines and Raccoon River watersheds.
As preparation gets underway for the upcoming work season, the Wyoming Conservation Corps is tweaking its model this year by creating an all-women crew for the first time.
“RCPP is public-private partnership at its best,” said Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Georgia State Conservationist Terrance O. Rudolph. “We’re harnessing the power of partnership to create lasting solutions to global challenges, like climate change, and support producers and communities who have been underserved in the past.”
(Subscriber Only) “While a number of conservation programs can clearly provide climate benefits, the broad emphasis of (the conservation title) must remain on the proven conservation practices that would directly benefit the producer and support the sustainability of American agriculture,” Thompson said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is continuing an effort to enhance the adoption of soil health practices through the establishment of Soil Health Management Demonstration Projects. Landowners interested in applying should submit their application to NRCS by Feb. 18.
“There have been individual studies regarding urban activities or population growth, but the joint impacts of climate change and land use changes have not been assessed at the local level,” Alamdari said. “Using new modeling procedures, we can accurately reflect the impact of urbanization and climate change on hydrological processes.”
Thirteen projects in eight Southcentral Pennsylvania counties, aimed at watershed restoration and protection, have been awarded more than $4.7 million in funding through this year’s Growing Greener grants, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
(Opinion) Twenty years of UW Discovery Farms research has shown that soil loss and surface runoff don’t necessarily peak during the same months. A majority of soil loss occurs during May and June in Wisconsin.
Between now and May, if residents of the county don’t develop some type of a suppression plan, the outbreak of Lymantria dispar — formerly known as the Gypsy Moth — could become “quite a large problem,” Sarah Johnson, a forest health specialist with the state Bureau of Forestry, told the Lycoming County Commissioners at their meeting recently.
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are currently studying the practice of managed flooding to create temporary wetlands in the Delta’s Sunflower River Basin and are finding ecological benefits in their research.
The Maine State Legislature Committee for Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry held a public hearing on a bill that would provide assistance to areas in Maine severely impacted by browntail moths.
The most vulnerable state in the nation is finally getting a billion-dollar boost to its plans to protect itself against the rising sea, the tip of the trillion-dollar iceberg of climate change expenses the state faces.
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation manages the Conservation Partners Program in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and General Mills. The program awards competitive grants aimed at accelerating the adoption of regenerative agriculture principles and conservation practices on private working lands in priority geographic areas.
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