National Association of Conservation Districts

News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONSERVATION PARTNERS EMPHASIZE NEED FOR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FUNDING

WASHINGTON, D.C.—January 30, 2007—On the eve of House consideration, four conservation organizations sent a united message to appropriators in the Senate and House of Representatives asking the lawmakers to fund conservation technical assistance at the highest possible level in the final funding resolution for fiscal year 2007.

The National Association of Conservation Districts, The National Association of RC&D Councils, the National Association of State Conservation Agencies and the National Conservation District Employees Association all work with local, state and federal partners to deliver conservation programs to the land. The four organizations all assist private landowners and local communicates to address natural resource concerns by providing technical assistance, advice and conservation planning resources.

In a letter to House and Senate Appropriations Committee and Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee leadership, the four partners emphasized the need for Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA), stating that CTA “provides for technical staff to leverage state and local funding by providing the needed advice and counsel on the appropriate conservation systems and practices to address a landowner’s resource concern.”

The letter goes on to say that “…frequently landowners do not need the financial assistance from the government associated with [Farm Bill conservation] programs and are willing to undertake practice costs themselves, but still need technical advice.”

“The Farm Bill conservation programs are very important in assisting many landowners, and we maintain our support for funding each of these programs as they were designed in the 2002 Farm Bill,” concludes the letter.

Full text of the letter is available on NACD’s website at PartnerLetterToAppropriationsCommittees.pdf.

# # #

The National Association of Conservation Districts is the non-profit organization that represents the nation’s 3,000 conservation districts and 17,000 men and women who serve on their governing boards. For almost 70 years, local conservation districts have worked with cooperating landowners and managers of private working lands to help them plan and apply effective conservation practices. NACD’s website is at www.nacdnet.org.