NACD Forum - Recent Topics

NRCS Watershed Structure Office Help

Heather Duncan — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 12:51:04 +0000

Does anyone have NRCS supplied employees that work specifically on watershed structures (specifically with PIFRs and all of the new funding) and are to act as a liaison between NRCS and districts? If so, would you mind sharing what the roles and responsibilities look like in your state? Also, how many districts/areas/structures they're assigned to. Thank you :)

Water Milfoil

Janelle Mead — Sat, 09 Jul 2022 15:17:33 +0000

Friends, many of you may remember Mindy Bankey who was the me before me. She is now at our natural resources department and asked that I share this question with you -- do any of you have information on treatment of water milfoil in ponds and lakes? If you do, you can either respond directly to her at mindy.bankey@dnr.ohio.gov or send me a message and I will forward to her. Thanks so much!

Tribal Representation on CDs

Connie Lee — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 22:47:16 +0000

Our Nevada Revised Statutes are somewhat restrictive regarding who can act as a supervisor (namely those residing in incorporated cities, etc) which by default does not include tribal representation and communication. I am wondering what other states have done to ensure First Nations are included in decision making within their CDs.

Supervisor Per Diem/Pay

Heather Duncan — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 03:04:11 +0000

Sorry for all of my posts and if this has been covered somewhere else. I have tried looking at individual states and not necessarily seeing what I'm looking for. Some supervisors in WV are curious what other supervisors are paid for their per diem, etc. It's my understanding that some states have no payment whatsoever while other states only do reimbursements. WV follows GSA rates for mileage and meals and also allows up to $80/full day compensation. Could you please tell me what your state covers for your supervisors? Thank you!

Communications Surveys of Districts?

Matt Krueger — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 17:06:06 +0000

Hi all, Our state association has an outreach committee that had been mothballed for a few years, but with the hire of our new association communications manager, we've taken the opportunity to revive the committee's efforts. One of the first initiatives we are undertaking is to survey our 72 "districts" (in Wisconsin's case, you'll recall, we have county conservation departments, not districts) to determine their communications needs. We are hoping to answer a few major questions with the survey: - Who are the audiences of importance that need to know about the department's work/services? - What methods of communication is the department using to reach these audiences? - What methods of communication are working well? - What methods of communication do they need assistance with? I'm wondering if any of my ED colleagues whose associations have communications staff (or other comms capacity) have undertaken a similar type of survey of your districts, and if so, whether you would be willing to share the survey design (and results)? Thanks, Matt

Soil Health Programs in State Associations ?

Connie Lee — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 15:39:56 +0000

Hello, this is Connie Lee from Nevada Assoc. of CDs. We are stating discussions about how to develop a statewide soil health partnership. The question is: Does your State Association facilitate or act as an umbrella organization for a soil health program of any kind ? Thank you !

Board Self-Evaluations

Beth Mason — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 13:30:59 +0000

Heather Duncan, the new Executive Director of West Virginia has contacted NACD with the following question. "Is there any self-evaluation set up by NACD or other states that you know of that could be like a checklist for a supervisor. Kind of like a “am I doing my job” goal." I sent these two documents we have in our archives from a while back. I thought I'd send these as starters and ask if any of you have self-evaluation surveys or tools you use for your local boards. She's also consulting the online modules submitted by other states for the District Official Training Program Recognition. So that's another source for folks to possibly consider if you're looking as well. Thanks for any help you can provide. Please post your documents/tools here!

BOARD-SELF-assessment-survey.doc

Looking for "how to" guides for CD annual and long-range planning

Thomas Salzer — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 20:19:09 +0000

Hi folks. I'm leading a session on January 12th on conservation district annual and long-range plans as part of our "Building Better" leadership and management community series: https://www.wactd.org/training/building-better I'm looking for any "how to" guides in our national community aimed at conservation districts that are developing or evolving their annual or long-range plans. In exchange, I may be able to share the recording of the January 12th Zoom session so that you can glean some ideas from the various examples and discussions our Building Better group will have. Thanks much, Tom Salzer, Executive Director Washington Association of Conservation Districts tsalzer@wadistricts.org

CD Supervisor recruitment

Michael Leff — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 16:54:14 +0000

I imagine we are hardly alone here in Massachusetts facing the challenges of recruiting and retaining Supervisors for the various CDs. MACD recently hosted a discussion of the topic among several active Districts, and I know folks would appreciate any helpful materials or other guidance on how to take on that challenge. Perhaps we could share helpful items here. Thanks!

State Association Standing Committees

Heather Duncan — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 17:16:02 +0000

West Virginia is trying to get caught up to speed as an association. They have recently hired their first ED (ME!) and I'm trying to bring everyone together. One of the most unorganized and inefficient parts of the WVACD are their standing committees (lack of agendas, purposeful conversations, pre-planning, etc). Have other states implemented any strategies to encourage supervisors to be more productive and to meet more than once per quarter prior to the state-wide quarterly meeting? I thought about getting committee chairs to meet with me to discuss their agendas and to make sure they had meeting materials ready for distribution prior to committee meetings as a start. Has anyone else had to start from scratch or aid in re-vamping supervisor-led programs? Also- feel free to spam me with any other tips and tricks ;-) hduncan@wvca.us