National Association of Conservation Districts

News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NACD CELEBRATES HISTORY, LOOKS TO THE FUTURE

HOUSTON, TEXAS—February 2, 2006—One thousand conservation leaders from across the nation gathered this week in Houston, Texas to discuss natural resource issues. The 60 th Annual Meeting of National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) convened January 29 – February 2, 2006 in Houston, Texas with the theme “Living a Legacy, Leaving a Legacy.” The conservationists met to set policy, discuss key conservation issues, elect officers, recognize national award winners and celebrate 60 years of conservation.

NACD President Bill Wilson, a rancher-surveyor from Kinta, Okla., noted in his address to the crowd that “Much has changed over those 60 years, but the core components that constitute the drive to achieve the right policies for America are alive and well here today. They exist in each of you, and no task is too great when your heart is in it.”

Representatives from the Bureau of Land Management, the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Forest Service, the Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resources Conservation Service reinforced the idea of cooperative conservation to meeting participants. Speakers focused on a commitment to work more closely with landowners and associations, such as NACD, that work with landowners.

NRCS Chief Bruce Knight emphasized the staying power of the partnership. “NACD, through local commitment, has worked with NRCS for 60 years to develop practical ways to help landowners accomplish sensible conservation,” Knight told the crowd. “This has changed the American landscape. Your success makes the USDA a leader on cooperative conservation,” he added.

“We want to seek cooperative ways to work with agriculture producers to get the desired results,” said Jon Scholl, EPA counselor to the administrator. “We see agriculture as a solution, not the problem.”

Speakers from each agency stressed that just as agriculture is changing, the approach to dealing with agriculture producers is also evolving. They addressed how technology is advancing to enhance productivity and overall health on agriculture land.

The meeting also featured coalition partner representatives including Sherman Reese, President of the National Association of Wheat Growers; John Tomke, Chairman of the Board of Ducks Unlimited; and Jean-Mari Peltier, President of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives.

Finally, Chuck Leavell, a well-respected conservationist and the keyboardist for the Rolling Stones, engaged the crowd with a lively discussion about the importance of forest stewardship. “The land is in our charge for a time,” he said. “It is up to us to manage it and hopefully improve it.” Leavell also shared stories from his family forest in Dry Branch, Ga., and finished the show with live music.

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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.