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February 24, 2009
NACD Submits FY10 Appropriations Requests
NACD will closely follow significant Congressional action
on appropriations bills over the next few weeks. Congress
is back in session this week after observing the
President's Day recess, and their top priority will be the
completion of FY2009 (FY09) appropriations. Details of an
omnibus bill were released yesterday, with proposed FY09
spending at $853 million for Conservation Technical
Assistance (CTA), $256 million for State & Private Forestry
(S&PF) and $200 million for 319 Nonpoint Source Grants
(319 NPS). Action is expected later this week on the
omnibus. Congress has until March 6 to finish FY09 funding
legislation, when the current continuing resolution will
expire.
Upon completion of FY09 funding, Congress will
immediately shift their attention to FY 2010 appropriations
and hold subcommittee hearings to review spending
priorities. President Obama is expected to release his FY10
budget request this Thursday, which will outline the
Administration’s priorities for FY10 spending.
Last week, NACD sent letters to leadership on House and
Senate Appropriations Subcommittees requesting funding for
three NACD priorities in the FY10 appropriations bills. At
the NACD annual meeting in New Orleans earlier this month,
NACD's Board of Directors approved funding requests for
three key programs: $924.446 million for CTA,
$300.582 million for S&PF and $218.957 million for 319 NPS.
NACD will continue to provide updates on any developments.
Visit NACD's website for more information on our
appropriations requests and a recent Grassroots Action Alert.
House Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Potential Agency
Transfer
The House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee held a
hearing today to review the potential
effects of transferring the Forest Service from the
Department of Agriculture to the Department of the
Interior.
The hearing addressed several reasons for a possible
transfer, including the fact that the Forest Service and
several Interior agencies, including the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM), have budgets for wildfire. Interest was
expressed by the Subcommittee regarding the agencies’
missions, cultures, responsibilities, shared policies, as
well as potential management practices if such a transfer
were implemented. One key piece of information presented
at the hearing was a Government Accountability Office (GAO)
report, which is based on a year-long study of the issue
and was developed at the request of the Subcommittee chair
and ranking member.
The Subcommittee did not recommend immediate action.
Follow-up to the hearing will likely be considered by both
of the departments involved and the Subcommittee over the
next few weeks and months. Many conservation districts
work with both agencies on a host of projects and
programs. Transfer of the Forest Service to Interior
would likely affect work at the local level during a
prospective transition period.
The full GAO report is available on the GAO’s website at
http://www.gao.gov/products/gao-09-223, and GAO witness testimony
focusing on the potential effects and factors to consider
is available at http://www.gao.gov/products/gao-09-412T. Other
witness’ testimony will also be available from the House Appropriations Subcommittee once the hearing record is
completed.
Garber Represents NACD on EPA Advisory Committee
NACD Second Vice President Earl Garber—a licensed crop
consultant and rice, soybean and hay producer from Basile,
La.—represented NACD on the U.S. EPA Farm, Ranch and Rural
Community Federal Advisory Committee (FRRCC) in Washington,
D.C this week. The FRRCC was formed under EPA’s National
Strategy for Agriculture and serves as an advisory
committee under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA)
to provide the Administrator of the U.S. EPA advice on
agriculture and environmental issues.
The Committee just completed its first year of work, which
has largely focused on developing advice related to EPA’s
biofuels strategy. At its meeting this week, FRRCC received
reports updating the committee on EPA’s work on determining
life cycle analyses of various biofuels and briefing the
Committee on EPA’s work related to reactive nitrogen. The
Committee also received public comments from groups related
to CAFO regulations and regulation of pollution related to
grain elevators.
More information on the meeting and the FRRCC are available
http://www.epa.gov/ocem/frrcc/.
NACD Becomes a 2010 Census Partner
NACD recently joined with the U.S. Census Bureau as a
partner for the 2010 Census. NACD recognizes the importance
of the role of the census in determining several things
that affect districts. For example, states will use the
census results to draw their various boundaries for elected
officials. Also, many federal programs available to
conservation districts and their customers award funding
on the basis of the census. Census information is also
important to local decision makers as they make resource
decisions including community plans for infrastructure.
As part of the partnership between NACD and the U.S. Census
Bureau, NACD will distribute materials and information on
census activities to our members. The completion of an
accurate 2010 Census is in everyone’s best interests,
including conservation districts. If local districts or
individuals would like to get involved with the 2010
Census, they may choose to take on specific efforts such as
having a census bureau speaker or encouraging local
citizens to take temporary employment to help complete the
census.
More information on the 2010 Census is available at
http://www.census.gov/2010census/.
2009 NACD Stewardship Week Almost Here!
Help your community learn the importance of soil in their
everyday lives by promoting the upcoming 2009 Stewardship
Week, which will take place April 26 to May 3, 2009. For
more than 50 years, NACD has sponsored the national
Stewardship Week to encourage Americans to focus on
stewardship. The program is one of the world's largest
conservation-related observances, and it relies on
locally-led conservation districts sharing and promoting
stewardship and conservation activities.
This year’s theme is “Dig It! The Secrets of Soil.” NACD
has produced soils-related education materials and outreach
materials for conservation districts, educators and others
to use in your schools or local communities in conjunction
with 2009 Stewardship Week and for year-round soil
education. The NACD soils education products and community
outreach materials are available at the NACD Online Store
(http://www.nacdstore.org). Be sure to place your soil
education and outreach material order in early to ensure
you receive your materials by April 26!
Don’t miss out on your opportunity to participate in 2009
Stewardship Week! Additional soils education and stewardship
materials and activities can be found on NACD’s website at
http://nacdnet.org/stewardship/2009/.
Upcoming Ground Water Awareness Week Encourages
Stewardship
As part of the National Ground Water Awareness Week, the
National Ground Water Association (NGWA) is encouraging
household water well owners to get an annual water well
checkup before the peak water season begins.
The 2009 National Groundwater Awareness Week will be
celebrated March 8-14, 2009 and presents a great opportunity for
conservation districts can educate well owners about being
good ground water and water well stewards. Topics for
education include proper well construction and maintenance,
water testing and treatment and ground water protection.
For more information on ways you can promote ground water
awareness and National Groundwater Awareness Week, visit
http://www.ngwa.org/public/awarenessweek/index.aspx.
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