National Association of Conservation Districts

News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONSERVATION LEADERS WEIGH IN ON NATIONAL POLICY
AT ANNUAL CONFERENCE

WASHINGTON, D.C.—July 23, 2009— Conservation leaders from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C. this week to learn about legislative initiatives and regulatory programs impacting the country's land, air and water, and to visit with lawmakers about the changing face of conservation and to help shape the national debate on conservation policy.

The National Association of Conservation District's (NACD) 2009 Legislative Conference, held July 18-21, featured leading experts from several federal agencies, including Dave White, Chief of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). White, who was recently appointed Chief of NRCS, reiterated his agency's commitment to working with state and regional conservation districts. "Locally-led programs are the best vehicle to deliver conservation," said White.

Conference attendees also heard from Anne Castle, Assistant Secretary for Water and Science with the U.S. Department of the Interior; Larry Elworth, Agriculture Advisor to the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Ned Farquhar, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the U.S. Department of the Interior; Bill Hohenstein, Chief of the USDA Global Change Program Office; Paul Ries, Director of Cooperative Forestry with U.S. Forest Service; Carole Jett, USDA Deputy Chief of Staff, and Ann Mills, Deputy Under Secretary of the USDA Natural Resources and Environment.

The conference also included a Resources Conservation Act (RCA) listening session, during which USDA leaders listened to NACD members discuss their program and funding needs and offer suggestions for meeting those needs. NACD President Steve Robinson moderated the session, calling it "a golden opportunity for conservation in America." NACD members' comments ranged from technical assistance to watershed programs, forestry issues, climate change, topsoil erosion, woody biomass as an alternative fuel source, and the need for conservation education.

District leaders carried those messages to Capitol Hill as well, meeting with their representatives in Congress to discuss conservation policy issues during Hill visits and at NACD's Congressional Reception.

Said Robinson: "With the Climate Bill recently being passed in the House and currently under review in the Senate, it was enormously effective to have a diverse group of members from across the nation deliver the same message and priorities to their legislators on Capitol Hill."

Click here for additional conference details.

###

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.