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April 28, 2009
America Celebrates 2009 Stewardship Week
The 2009 Stewardship Week has arrived! As part of this
week’s celebration, communities across the nation are
learning about the importance of soil in their daily lives.
The event, themed “Dig It! The Secrets of Soil” kicked off
Sunday, April 25 and will run through next Sunday, May 3.
NACD began the national program in 1955 to encourage
Americans to focus on stewardship of the land. For more
than 60 years, conservation districts have used the week to
educate citizens about the need to care for our nation’s
natural resources.
The key to the success of this year’s event is conservation
districts sharing the story of soil with their communities
through news releases, school programs and community
events. For example, Jasper County Soil and Water
Conservation District (SWCD) in Mississippi distributed
the Dig It! bookmarks to area schools and the local public
library. Ross SWCD in Ohio worked with local radio
stations to air Public Service Announcements on the
importance of soils. LaPorte County SWCD in Indiana held an
event in conjunction with their yearly tree sale and
provided educational workshops on the importance of soils,
including topics such as vermi-composting and proper tree
planting skills.
In addition to district activities, the NACD officer team
and staff are visiting schools and communities in several
states to promote Stewardship Week and the importance of
soils. Educators across the country are also using the Dig
It! education materials in their K-12 classrooms to teach
students about soil, stewardship, and wise use of our
nation’s natural resources.
Is your district involved in 2009 Stewardship Week
activities? Visit NACD’s website at
http://www.nacdnet.org/stewardship/2009/ for customizable
community outreach materials you can use with your local
media and community. Also, be sure to let NACD know about
your activities. Click here to download and complete the 2009 Stewardship & Education
Outreach Inventory Form and share your Stewardship Week
success stories today.
House Committee Holds Four Days of Climate Hearings
Last week the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the
Subcommittee on Energy and Environment held four days of
hearings on recently released climate change legislation.
The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 is a
comprehensive energy bill that creates a cap and trade
program for carbon emission, requires retail energy supply
to be 25 percent renewable by 2025 and promotes energy
efficiency. The legislation does not address potential
agricultural offset credits through carbon sequestration.
Obama Administration officials, energy company
representatives, former Vice President Al Gore and many
others testified at the hearings.
Negotiations on the provisions of the bill continued over
the weekend and will continue this week, which will delay
a formal Committee review of the bill until week. Energy
and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) hopes
to complete the committee review and have committee approval of the bill by the end of May.
Jensen Named as Deputy Under Secretary
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently announced the
appointment of Jay Jensen as USDA Deputy Under Secretary
for Natural Resources and Environment (NRE). The NRE
mission area includes the U.S. Forest Service (FS) and the
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Jensen will
have responsibility for the FS portion of the NRE mission
area, which manages 193 million acres of public forestlands
in the National Forest System and provides assistance to
more than 10 million private forest landowners in this
country.
Jensen has previously served as Executive Director of the
Council of Western State Foresters/Western Forestry
Leadership Coalition, Senior Forestry Advisor for the
Western Governors Association, lead forestry advisor for
the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture and lead policy
analyst for the National Association of State Foresters.
NACD has worked with Jensen for many years on forestry
issues. We congratulate him on his appointment and look
forward to continuing to work together on issues important to conservation districts.
House and Senate Finalize Fiscal Year 2010 Budget
The House and Senate Budget Committees finalized a
conference agreement that will allow fiscal year
2010 (FY 2010) appropriations to move forward. NACD was
concerned about potential cuts to conservation spending in
the conference agreement, however, the agreement released
does not cut conservation or the new provisions of the 2008
Farm Bill and increases funding for wildland fire
suppression and hazardous fuels reduction activities. The
FY 2010 budget conference agreement will need to be passed
by both the House and Senate, and votes are expected later
this week. A final budget agreement will allow the
Appropriations committees to begin work on the twelve
individual appropriations bills, including Agriculture and
& Environment.
ESA Section 7 Consultations Restored
Today the U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Department of the Interior announced the restoration of Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 7 consultation process. This action reverses a Bush Administration rule that changed the consultation process. Review of the Bush Administration rule was ordered by the Obama Administration in March, and Congress authorized the departments to revoke the rule. The decision requires federal agencies to once again consult with federal wildlife experts at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) before taking any action that may affect threatened or endangered species. Click here to read the press release.
National Service Bill Expands Americorps Program
Last week the President signed into law a national service
bill that will expand the Americorps program by threefold
over the next eight years. The Americorps program offers
adults opportunities to volunteer and serve through a
network of partnerships with local and national nonprofit
groups. Annual appropriations to fund the expansion will
need to be approved by Congress.
Many conservation districts have used the program to advance
local conservation efforts. Some districts have even
administered Americorps programs or partnered with other
state and local agencies to place Americorps volunteers on
conservation district projects. The program can be used for
many objectives including environmental improvement, youth
outreach and disaster relief. The expansion of the program
is a potential opportunity for districts facing budget
challenges. For further information about the program and
opportunities for your state or locality, see the
AmeriCorps website and the
Corporation for National and Community Service website.
NRCS, FWS Announce Recovery Act Funding
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently announced the release
of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding
for a variety of conservation activities on existing
projects.
USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) recently
awarded $84.8 million in ARRA funds to state and local
governments for watershed projects across the country to
improve water quality, increase water supply, provide flood
mitigation, decrease soil erosion and improve fish and
wildlife habitat. In consultation with project sponsors,
NRCS worked to identify projects that are ready for
immediate implementation. A full listing of funded
watershed projects is available in USDA’s press release.
FWS also recently announced $280 million of ARRA funds for
over 800 projects to build visitors centers, improve
infrastructure and promote conservation in the country’s
national wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries. Projects
include facilities construction, repairs and energy
efficiency retrofitting projects, as well as habitat
restoration, deferred maintenance and capital improvement
projects. FWS utilized a rigorous merit-based process to
identify and prioritize projects for high-priority agency
mission needs, maximized jobs creation and lasting public
value. More details are available on the FWS website.
Editor’s Note
Last week, NACD reported on recently released NRCS guidance
for State Technical Committees and Local Working Groups.
Unfortunately, the link we provided to the Federal Register
failed to retrieve the proper document. For those
interested in reading the guidance, please follow this
updated link: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-7771.pdf.
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