National Association of Conservation Districts

NACD U&C Resource Policy Group

The NACD Board of Directors established the following Foundation Committees to carry out the business of the Association: District Operations and Member Services; Communications; Legislative; Stewardship and Education; and Natural Resource Policy. NACD board members are the voting members of the committees. It’s the duty of each Committee to explore the functional area for which it is responsible, to formulate proposals for action, to submit those to the appropriate Officers and Official Bodies of the Association and to keep the members, Officers and Official Bodies of the Association informed of their work, their problems and their proposals.

The Natural Resource Policy Committee (NRPC) deals with all natural resource concerns, including urban and community conservation, and may recommend the appointment of Resource Policy Groups (RPG) for in-depth review of specific policy issues and development of policy recommendations.

The Urban and Community Resource Policy Group (U&C RPG) was established in July 2007, and assumed the Strategy and work of its predecessor committee. Members include a district official from each of the seven NACD regions, an NCDEA non-voting member, a NASCA non-voting member, and advisors from various agencies and organizations as needed.

Several ongoing projects include:

• Technical Tools for Districts
  This effort is two-fold. The RPG members are working with NRCS to make technical tools more accessible via a national and state websites. At the same time, an advisory team of district employees is working with NACD and NRCS to develop online natural resource assessment and community decision-making tools.


• Urban and Community Conservation Training for District Employees
  A partnership team with NACD, NCDEA and NASCA representatives is researching the currently available sources for U&C-related training and certification (eg CPESC, CPSWQ, green infrastructure, certified arborist). As these are identified, the team will work with those entities to make the training/certification more accessible to district employees.


• Small Acreage Conservation
  Members of the RPG are investigating programs and resources that can help conservation districts best assist small acreage resource concerns. The group is also looking at the gaps and how these can be filled over the long-term.

For information on the U&C RPG and their current work, contact Debra Bogar at deb-bogar@nacdnet.org.