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.
Editor’s Note: Due to NACD’s 2022 Summer Conservation Forum and Tours there will not be an edition of Conservation Clips on July 15 or July 22.
This blog post is part of a nine-part series highlighting technical assistance (TA) grant recipient participation at NACD’s 76th Annual Meeting in Orlando, FL. This post’s author, Lucas Patzek of Napa County Resource Conservation District in CA, attended the meeting with a TA stipend.
The National Conservation Foundation (NCF) announced the opening of the application period for the Next Generation Leadership Institute (NGLI) 2023 cohort. NGLI is an NCF program aimed to equip conservation district leaders with the tools to become national leaders. Upon completion of the program, participants will fulfill their potential to be the trusted voice of locally-led conservation efforts from the local to the national level. The program will train seven applicants over the course of 2023, with one participant selected from each of the National Association of Conservation Districts’ (NACD) regions.
The House Agriculture Committee has conducted a number of hearings in Washington, DC focused on the 2018 Farm Bill and improvements that can be made in the 2023 Farm Bill and is continuing with field hearings. This allows House Agriculture Committee Members to gather input from producers and consumers on the ground across the country. The Committee will hold a field hearing in California on July 7.
Plowing and tilling on hilly slopes is causing farm soils to thin and threatens future crop yields, a new study finds. Tilling soils, which includes plowing, is known to move significant amounts of soil down slopes and adds to erosion caused by weather. On sloping land, tillage causes soils to move down off the concave parts of hills, and is deposited in valley bottoms.
Cheatgrass first spread across the U.S. West in the 1800s, carried by settlers and in contaminated seed and straw. Targeted grazing could reduce an invasive grass that has fueled an explosion of wildfires and threatens native species. But it’s not a silver bullet.
Improving habitat quality for wildlife on your property or within your yard increases wildlife viewing and recreational opportunities and helps maintain the health of local ecosystems. There are simple ways to make your property more inviting to wildlife. Not every strategy is meant for every property, but some practices are universally helpful.
Off the coast of Massachusetts, the island of Martha’s Vineyard is bustling with summer tourists packed into beaches, yacht clubs, and restaurants. But Aquinnah Wampanoag elders are working to restore the land on the island to what is was thousands of years ago, by bolstering native plant species and other natural resources.
Twelve Wake County teens are joining more than 100 high school students from around the state in a summer conservation camp in Raleigh this week, hopefully inspiring them to pursue careers focused on protecting our areas farms, forests, waterways and wildlife.
District staff with the Trinity-Neches Soil and Water Conservation District attended a community organization meeting to spread awareness about the role that the district plays in supporting local landowners.
Reid Suelflow is doing his best to make a difference on the White Lake, South Dakota, farm his family homesteaded in 1884. So far he has seen substantial benefits to the health of his soil, herd, and crops due to rotational gazing and planting cover crops, among other practices.
Wheat harvest has started in southern Pennsylvania, and balers will be running closely behind the combines to get the straw baled and soybeans planted. With the spike in fertilizer prices this growing season, the nutrient value in the straw is higher than ever.
Officials in Florida are moving quickly to eliminate an invasive and exotic fruit fly spotted in Pinellas County. People living in St. Petersburg and Pinellas Park are urged to take caution with any fruits or vegetables growing on your property. The goal is to stop the pest before it spreads through the state to our commercially grown crops.
Tivon Freely joins the segment to discusses in-depth the challenges of invasive species in Iowa and what the Department of Natural Resources is doing to combat invasive species and spread awareness.
The Sublette County Conservation District provides an article to discuss the importance of conservation planning. Specifically speaking about natural resources and their conservation, everyone can make conscious decisions regarding water usage, whether it’s brushing your teeth or irrigating your fields.
Firefighters in Northern California were battling a fresh wildfire that broke out Monday east of Sacramento at a recreation area packed with Fourth of July revelers and forced a number of evacuations. The fire burning in Amador County quickly spread to 959 acres as of just after 7 p.m. Monday, according to Cal Fire.
An explosive wildfire that erupted in California on Fourth of July more than doubled in size overnight, quickly consuming more than 3,000 acres by Tuesday morning. The fast-moving Electra fire, burning through the dried grasses and steep, rugged terrain east of Sacramento has forced hundreds of evacuations and continues to pose threats to critical power infrastructure according to CalFire officials.
The Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources is awarding $843,851 in grant funding to three local governments for water storage grants to improve water quality and to help make landscapes more resilient to severe weather events due to climate change. Recipients include Lyon and Le Sueur Soil and Water Conservation Districts.
The Delaware Soil Health Partnership will hold an in-person soil health field day on Tuesday, Aug. 16, from at 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. A guest speaker will discuss farming green and his experience with organic no-till on nearly 7,000 acres. University of Delaware extension agents will provide the latest research updates and Jay Baxter, owner of Baxter Farms, will discuss experiences in the field.
An unusual spate of lightning has ignited more than 50 new wildfires in Alaska, worsening air quality, spurring communities to prepare to evacuate and exacerbating an already historic fire season in the state. More than 2.4 million acres have burned across the interior this year, among the most burned acreage so early in the year in at least eight decades.
Water in Utah’s Great Salt Lake has fallen to its lowest level ever recorded, authorities announced this week, a result of the ongoing drought impacting the western United States which scientists warn has been exacerbated by climate change.
