|
December 9, 2008
NACD Leaders Meet with President Elect Obama’s
Transition Team
Yesterday, members of NACD national leadership joined other
forestry, conservation, environment and energy interest
groups for a meeting with President Elect Obama’s Natural
Resource Transition Team. NACD CEO Krysta Harden moderated
the session, which was attended by more than 50 individuals.
From that group, only nine organizations were asked to
speak; NACD was one of the nine groups selected to make
comments. NACD President-Elect Steve Robinson presented on
behalf of NACD, addressing the history of NACD and
conservation districts and our national priorities.
NACD prepared an information sheet based on annual
priorities and key topics for Congress and the new
administration next year. Click here to read a copy of this paper
on NACD’s website.
NACD staff will continue to emphasize our policy
priorities and represent our members as key officials for
the new Administration are identified.
Click here to listen to NACD President John Redding discuss your role in the transition in the December edition of America's Voice for Conservation.
Joint Forestry Team Meets with Executives
NACD board members Charles Holmes (AL) and Johnny
Sundstrom (OR) traveled to Washington, D.C., early this
week to meet with other Joint Forestry Team (Team) members,
including representatives from the National Association of
State Foresters and the USDA Forest Service and Natural
Resources Conservation Service. The Team works together to
more efficiently deliver forestry assistance to private
landowners.
The main focus of the meeting was to discuss and plan the
Team’s next steps. Team members agreed to actively promote
joint activities and local partnerships between their members
at a local level. Participants will also share success
stories and develop tools to facilitate these partnerships.
BLM Issues Final Rule on Land Withdrawals
The December 5, 2008, Federal Register published a final
rule issued by BLM regarding emergency land withdrawal.
Previously, emergency land withdrawals could be directed by
either one of two Congressional committees or by the
Secretary of the Interior. In October, the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) published a proposed rule to eliminate
both of these methods on the basis that the existing
regulations were redundant and that committee-directed
withdrawals presented constitutional issues.
Following a public comment period, BLM’s final rule removes
only the Congressional committee-directed withdrawal
provision of the regulation, but retains the Secretary’s
ability to initiate emergency withdrawals. NACD provided
comment regarding this issue in October. Click here to view a copy of NACD’s
comments.
For additional information regarding the final rule, click here.
EPA, Army Corps Revise Clean Water Act Guidance
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers recently issued revised guidance
regarding protection of wetlands, streams and other waters
under the Clean Water Act (CWA).
The guidance seeks to clarify the geographic scope of the
agencies’ jurisdiction under the CWA. Under the revised
guidance, the agencies will have jurisdiction over
traditional navigable waters, wetlands adjacent to
traditional navigable waters, non-navigable tributaries of
traditional navigable waters that are relatively permanent,
and wetlands that directly border such tributaries.
The agencies will decide jurisdiction over other bodies of
water based on a fact-specific analysis to determine whether
they have a significant link with traditional navigable
waters.
The revised guidance clarifies the 2006 Supreme Court
decision in Rapanos v. United States regarding the scope of
the agencies’ jurisdiction under the CWA. The revised
guidelines also replace previous policy that was issued in
June 2007.
NACD has established a Clean Water Task Force that will be
reviewing issues associated with the Clean Water Act and
legislative proposals to make changes to the law.
More information on the guidance is available on the EPA
website at http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/guidance/CWAwaters.html.
Chesapeake Bay Executive Council TMDL
NACD recently attended a meeting of the Chesapeake Bay
Executive Council in Washington, D.C. At the meeting, the
Council released a new strategy to speed up restoration
activities and accountability. One notable aspect of the
new strategy includes efforts to reduce pollution throughout
the Chesapeake Bay watershed through development of a
Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL).
Under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act, the Chesapeake
Bay is listed as impaired for levels of nitrogen, phosphorus
and sediment. As part of the Council’s strategy, the
Chesapeake Bay TMDL will be developed by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and will allocate
loadings of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment to the
jurisdictional states of New York, Pennsylvania, West
Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and the District
of Columbia. The Chesapeake Bay TMDL will be the largest
TMDL in the country and is expected to be completed in
December 2010.
More information is available on the Chesapeake Bay
Executive Council website at http://www.chesapeakebay.net/index.aspx.
DOI Offers Potential District Funding Opportunity
The Department of the Interior is offering funding to
conservation districts and other entities through the
program entitled “Water for America: Water Marketing and
Efficiency Grants—FY 2009.” This program focuses on the
water challenges of the 21st century, which include the
decrease in water supply caused by climate change and
population growth and securing water resources for the
future.
One of the main goals of the grant opportunity is to
address DOI’s identified conservation initiatives. As a
result, any potential applicant should review these
initiatives before applying. The deadline for to submit
applications is January 14, 2009. Click here for more information about this funding opportunity.
|
