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NACD's Annual Awards Program recognizes individuals and organizations for their outstanding work and leadership in soil and water conservation. Nominations are now being accepted for both NACD 2024 Awards. The 2024 awardees will be recognized at a ceremony held in their honor at NACD's 2025 Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, UT.
Distinguished Service Award
The NACD Distinguished Service Award recognizes an individual within the association, a conservation district, or a state association that has made significant contributions to the conservation and proper management of our nation’s natural resources. Nominees can be involved with districts or the association at any level, including past NACD officers. Nominations are also accepted for individuals posthumously and may be submitted by any individual, organization, agency, or conservation district. The recipient will be selected by the NACD Awards Committee.
Friend of Conservation Award
The Friend of Conservation Award recognizes an individual, business, organization, or agency outside the association for outstanding contributions to the conservation of our nation’s natural resources. Any individual, business, organization, or agency that is not directly associated with conservation districts at the local, state, or national level is eligible to receive this award. Nominations can be made by any individual, organization, agency, or conservation district. The Friend of Conservation Award recipient will be selected by the NACD Awards Committee.
Learn more and download nomination forms on NACD's website. Please submit nomination forms and any questions you may have to awards@email.nacdnet.org.
| FSH SEEKING FARMERS FOR COVER CROP ASSISTANCE |  | |
Farmers for Soil Health (FSH) is on a mission to improve soil health and farm profitability. Working with farmers to expand their adoption of cover crops, FSH aims to have cover crops on 30 million U.S. acres by 2030.
As a partner, NACD is excited to share that FSH is currently accepting enrollments from farmers seeking assistance planting cover crops in 20 states: Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
If you are a farmer interested in this opportunity, visit FSH’s enrollment page. Funding for technical and financial assistance is made possible by the USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative.
More information, including an extensive Frequently Asked Questions page is available on FSH’s enrollment page. The online initial enrollment step is relatively short, with a follow-up step to provide more farm information later in the process. Each of the states also has a designated Technical Assistance organization to provide help to producers.
Please help spread the word and share this opportunity with farmers in eligible states!
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WHAT'S UP IN WASHINGTON? GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS UPDATE
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Congress is scheduled to consider Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) spending bills this week. The House Appropriations Committee will markup FY25 U.S. Department of the Interior/U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Agriculture funding bills, both of which would reduce budgets for respective agencies and funding for NACD priorities. These bills are expected to be passed by the committee along party lines.
On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider several funding bills, including the FY25 agriculture spending bill. Text has not yet been released, but the bill is expected to include higher spending levels than the House version and garner more bipartisan support. The Senate and House must reach an agreement on and pass FY25 spending bills or advance a temporary funding measure (continuing resolution) before October to avoid a government shutdown. More information on scheduled committee meetings and links to watch are provided below.
Tuesday, July 9
9 a.m. ET – House Appropriations Committee meeting to consider the fiscal 2025 Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment and Energy-Water spending bills
Wednesday, July 10
9 a.m. ET – House Appropriations Committee meeting to consider FY25 Labor-HHS, Transportation-HUD and Agriculture spending bills
10 a.m. ET – Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on oversight of digital commodities
2 p.m. ET – House Agriculture Committee hearing, “Examining the Consequences of EPA’s Actions on American Agriculture”
2:30 p.m. ET – Senate Agriculture subcommittee hearing, “The State of Rural Infrastructure: Emergency Response, Recovery and Resilience”
Thursday, July 11
9:30 a.m. ET – Senate Appropriations Committee meeting to consider its FY25 MilCon-VA, Agriculture and Legislative Branch spending bills
|  | OXFORD COUNTY SWCD IMPLEMENTS AGROFORESTRY AND CLIMATE RESILIENCY PROJECT WITH FRIENDS GRANT | |
In 2023, the Oxford County Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) in western Maine was awarded a Friends of NACD District Grant to carry out an Agroforestry and Climate Resiliency Demonstration Project on a portion of the district-managed Tenmile River Demonstration Forest. The agroforestry project established demonstration plots to measure and illustrate the impacts of various woodland conservation management practices to help educate the public on the value of biodiversity, native plants, timber stand improvement practices, and the value of alternative forest products for income. These educative efforts will help build forest resiliency to climate change while enhancing wildlife and pollinator habitat, carbon storage, and soil health.
This project also enhances the district’s ability to host educational workshops and public tours, while measuring and sharing the impacts of various agroforestry management practices relevant to local forestland managers. Read more about the project in this blog post.
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The Friends of NACD District Grants Program is a grassroots-funded program for conservation districts to conduct new activities or test novel approaches to their operations. Stay tuned for the 2025 Friends of NACD District Grants Program opportunity to be released this fall. Learn more about current and past projects on the Friends of NACD website.
Consider becoming a Friend of NACD to help provide more grant opportunities like this to districts throughout the NACD network.
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NACD Seeks Northern Plains Region Rep | |
NACD is seeking a Northern Plains Region Representative. This full-time position is responsible for providing assistance to the member conservation districts and NACD Board of Directors to advance conservation, resource development, and to assist in the implementation of the association’s policies in the region.
This is a remote position based in KS, MT, ND, NE, or SD. See the full job description and apply by July 12, 2024 at NACD's website.
| Register for NACD's Summer Meeting! | |
Online registration for NACD's Summer Meeting closes on July 19, so save your spot today!
Hosted alongside the Northeast Region Meeting, the upcoming meeting will take place in Boston, Massachusetts, from August 9-14, 2024. Get all the details on NACD's website.
Join us for informative sessions, networking events, conservation tours around the greater Boston area, and more, all exploring the theme "Conservation is Revolutionary!" Learn more about the Summer Meeting, see the agenda, and reserve your spot amongst the action now.
| Nominations Open for Hugh Hammond Bennett Awards | |
The Hugh Hammond Bennett 2024 Award nominations are now open!
The producer award recognizes any producer working with NCPP partner organizations on conservation planning or implementation of a conservation plan.
The conservation planner award recognizes any NCPP partnership employees. Partner organizations are those recognized by NCPP at the national, state, or local level.
More information about the award and how to apply can be found on NCPP’s website.
| NCPP Offers Conservation Planning Training | |
The National Conservation Planning Partnership (NCPP) is offering Conservation Planning Part 2 training to Technical Service Providers (TSP) and Conservation Partners who need this course for either TSP or Conservation Planner Certification. This course meets the requirement for conservation planning procedures core competency as a conservation planner for all states and U.S. territories.
This training will be offered in four locations - NC, OH, MO, and ID in July, August, or September. Learn more and register here.
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Applications are now open for the 2025 National Conservation Foundation (NCF) Next Generation Leadership Institute (NGLI) Cohort.
NGLI is a year-long training that equips the cohort with the skills needed to build a better tomorrow. Given the challenges facing our land and our environment, there has never been a more important time to invest in the education and development of future conservation leaders.
Check out the website to see if NGLI might be the next step in your leadership journey!
| Promote your conservation district or state association's tree sale, annual meeting, webinar, field day, or other events on NACD's Calendar of Events! | |
