Did you know that every U.S. state and territory with conservation districts holds a seat on NACD’s National Board of Directors? We have 58 positions for NACD Board Members and their Alternates, and each of those individuals are responsible for representing the needs and interests of conservation districts within their home state or territory. If you have a specific advocacy issue, a question about NACD’s membership services, want to network with other districts around a specific project or conservation topic, or are looking for certain Stewardship and Education materials, your NACD Board Member is a great place to start!

NACD Board Members are volunteer leaders with our organization, and they must be a conservation district official on a local board (as is the case with all of our volunteer leadership positions, including NACD’s Officers and Executive Board Members and Region Chairs). However, they may come to NACD through a variety of pathways, depending on the requirements within their home state. For example, in some states, the State Association President or other officer automatically fills the role, some states have a separately elected role at the level of the state or territory association for the position, and some simply volunteer. Exemplifying locally led conservation, states and territories select who will represent their districts nationally via the process that best aligns with the goals, missions, and values of each individual state, territory, or nation.

Once the NACD Board Member is selected for each state or territory, they receive training about their role and immediately become involved in NACD activities and strategy. Throughout the year, NACD Board Members give their time to participate in our policy process at the NACD Annual Meeting, where they vote on key advocacy objectives for the organization. During NACD’s Summer Conservation Forum, they vote to approve our budget, which enables many of our grants for districts. At Spring Fly-In and through other opportunities, they represent their home state and advocate on behalf of all districts on important issues like funding for conservation programs or the need for specific natural resource management priorities for various federal agencies. And throughout the year, the NACD Board also actively participates in learning and networking opportunities, they share information about the opportunities and challenges facing districts (including through our various committees), learn from other partners like NRCS about ways districts and these partners can work together for mutual goals, and they expand their knowledge and skills to better support their home district, state, or territory.

The NACD Board is also very involved in many of our grants that we provide to conservation districts; some of our programs were specifically started thanks to conversations between these individuals and various partners (for example, our Urban and Community Conservation Grant Program began in 2016 due thanks to the efforts of NACD Board Members representing one of our former committees). NACD Board Members may also review grant proposals and select grantees, like for our Friends of NACD Grants. Our conservation district and state and territory association members can thus know that any grant program we provide has been vetted by conservation district officials, and that even though these programs are national in scope, they prioritize locally led approaches to conservation.

If you want to learn more about ways you as an individual or your district can benefit from NACD’s various activities, your NACD Board Member is an excellent place to start. We invite you to meet with these individuals at any time. Please let them know what programs at NACD you like, or which ones you need to learn more about, and we also love hearing about successful district programs and finding ways we can showcase successful projects. To best represent you, these individuals need to hear from you! You can find your board member in our Conservation District Directory or reach out to info[at]nacdnet.org.