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Conservation Clips is a weekly collection of articles distributed by NACD that provides our members and partners with the latest news in what's driving conservation. These articles are not indicative of NACD policy and are the opinions of their authors, unless otherwise noted. If you have a relevant submission or need assistance with accessing articles, please contact the NACD Communications Team.


By Candice Abinanti
10/25/21
 
Located in the southern region of Puerto Rico known for its natural resources and outdoor recreation opportunities, including beaches, fresh seafood and mountains ideal for coffee growing, the Caribe Soil and Water Conservation District’s (SWCD) diverse clients face some common challenges.
 
10/25/21
 
Maine’s Central Aroostook Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) has partnered with the Maine Chapter of The American Chestnut Foundation conducting research to bring back forest chestnut trees.

 
 
The National Association of Conservation Districts and the Pollinator Partnership announced Dan and Michael O’Loughlin of O’Loughlin Farms as the winners of the 2021 U.S. Farmer-Rancher Pollinator Conservation Award. 
 
The Sheridan Press: Highland Park Elementary School students take field trip, staff completes service project
10/22/21
 
Highland Park’s fifth-grade class learned about water flow, turbidity, pollution and habitats through a field trip with the Sheridan County Conservation District at South Park in Sheridan.
 
 
Ronny McMillan was presented a plaque for 25 years of service to Panola Soil & Water Conservation District, and Tim Boone was presented a plaque for 20 years of service to Panola Soil & Water Conservation District.
 
Albuquerque Journal: What does a soil and water conservation district do?
By Daniel Conklin
10/25/21
 
The districts are structured to bring resource allocation and decision-making to the local level to ensure solutions are tailored to specific needs. It is a process that works beautifully. 
 
 
Over the past 15 years, the Allens have worked with the Northern Panhandle Conservation District, the West Virginia Conservation Agency, the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, West Virginia University soil scientists, WVU Extension, the state Division of Forestry and others to help benefit their operation.
 
 
The Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts was awarded $362,565 to support nonpoint source pollution education by county conservation district offices. 
 
 
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is announcing fiscal year 2022 assistance opportunities for agricultural producers and private landowners for key programs, such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) and Agricultural Management Assistance (AMA) program.
 
10/28/21
 
"With significant investments in resources for farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners, this bill provides a host of new tools to deploy important conservation practices and the research essential to inform them."
 
Ohio's Country Journal: Cover crops pay dividends
By James Hoorman
10/26/21
 
Live roots soak up excess nitrogen and phosphorus and keep many micro-nutrients recycling in the soil while keeping the soil in place. Cover crops also improve drainage, soil structure and overall soil health. 
 
 
“What's really neat about Sanborn Field is that we have some studies that have been going on since 1888,” Reinbott explains. “And some have been slightly tweaked along the way. But if we do tweak something, it's going to be for a reason.”
 
University of Illinois: 2021 CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) Sign Up Dashboard
By Carl Zulauf, Kirsta Swanson, Gary Schnitkey and Nick Paulson
10/25/21
 
As of July 31, 2021, 20.6 million acres were enrolled in CRP. Sub-program shares were General CRP (54 percent), Continuous CRP (37 percent) and Grassland CRP (nine percent).
 
Morning AgClips: New U.S. Regenerative Cotton Program unveiled
10/26/21
 
The Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation and the Soil Health Institute today a founding grant to launch the Institute’s U.S. Regenerative Cotton Fund (USRCF), a unique, farmer-facing, science-based initiative that will support long-term, sustainable cotton production in the United States, with the goal of eliminating one million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent from the atmosphere by 2026.
 
The Country Today: Soil health farm feeds local residents
10/25/21
 
(Subscriber Only) Dan and Ruth Boerst, of Manawa, Wisconsin, farm with soil health practices to help mitigate the effects of food insecurity in their rural American town.
 
 
Indigo Agriculture, a company leveraging nature and technology to unlock economic and environmental progress in agriculture, today announced a deepened commitment to advancing discovery in soil carbon science, enabled by the acquisition of Soil Metrics — a leading technology for comprehensive soil carbon and greenhouse gas (ghg) assessment in agricultural soils. 
 
 
Standardized ecological, social and economic indicators can help ranchers track and communicate about sustainability.
 
 
In the face of climate change and persistent droughts, a growing number of people from Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico and elsewhere are adopting the traditional farming practice.
 
Montana Free Press: Building on soil in Big Sandy
By Emily Stifler Wolfe
10/14/21

Looking forward, dryland crop research like Quinn’s could become an increasingly valuable part of food production as drought and a volatile climate continue to make Montana’s growing season drier and less predictable.
 
 
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that more than 50 organizations and countries have officially declared their support for the Coalition on Sustainable Productivity Growth for Food Security and Resource Conservation (SPG) Coalition, which the United States launched at the United Nations Food Systems Summit in September.


 
The deluge extinguished smoldering fires – but the west may not get the wet winter it desperately needs.
 
 
Researchers from the University of California, Davis, have been awarded a $10 million grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to find ways to sustain irrigated agriculture while improving groundwater quantity and quality in the Southwest under a changing climate. 
 
Santa Fe Reporter: Put Your Crop Tops On
By Riley Gardner
10/20/21
 
Isabelle Jenniches is a co-founder of the New Mexico Healthy Soil Working Group, a cadre of conservationists and organizers working to improve soil health within the state: a chain of practices that starts with the ground we walk on and ends at our pantries and pizza joints, our New Mexican spots and food trucks.
 
 
(Subscriber Only) The drought stretching through much of the Great Plains is pushing cattle ranchers and dairy farmers to the breaking point – and sometimes past it – as producers scramble to feed their animals.
 
 
The USDA plans to establish an equity commission to address decades of discrimination that have kept Black farmers from being successful.
 
News Nation: This Prairie Grassland Project Collects Native Seeds
By Aria Madison
10/23/21
 
"With the federal government wanting to put more native plants out there," Velman says, "who better to tell us what's supposed to be on the land than those that have been here forever?"
 
 
Households manage their yards in diverse ways and new research has found that their landscaping and management decisions have the potential to increase wild bird habitat and influence bird biodiversity in their yard and also at the neighborhood and city scale.
 
 
“There’s a lot we’re doing here on our ranch. The first thing we need to do is maintain the grasslands,” said Lions Bryce.
 
Albany Herald: Pollinator conservation in the fall season
By Becky Griffin
10/25/21
 
Pollinator conservation does not stop when the weather turns cool. There are a few items gardeners can add to their pollinator to-do list for the fall and early winter to help pollinators next spring.
 
 
Rice has been at Kansas State for 33 years, during which he has researched soil microbes and their effect on soil health and the environment. Much of his work involves carbon sequestration, the action of capturing and securing carbon dioxide.

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