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 accessing articles, please contact the NACD Communications Team.
Editor’s Note: There will be no Conservation Clips the next two weeks because of NACD’s Summer Conservation Forum & Tours in Boston. Follow along with the meeting on social media @nacdconserve! The next edition of Conservation Clips will be on August 23.
NCF: National Conservation Foundation Announces the Start of the 2024 NCF-Envirothon Annual Competition
07/28/2024
The New York State Envirothon is hosting more than 500 visitors for the 2024 National Conservation Foundation (NCF)-Envirothon annual competition, an international environmental and natural resources academic competition for high school students, from July 28 to August 3, 2024. Students will learn about the different sources of renewable energy; the challenges facing the transition from traditional fossil fuels to renewables; the environmental, economic, and social impacts of energy consumption; and how individuals can affect change in their communities.
KCUR: A rediscovered soil archive – more than a century old – could show how years of farming alters soil
By Jim Meadows
07/22/2024
The barn contained thousands of soil samples, stored in mason jars and other sealed containers from nearly every county in the state. Some of the samples went back as far as the 1860s, while most of the collection dated from the early 1900s.
USDA: Biden-Harris Administration announces $190M grant opportunity for payment programs that help private forest landowners address climate change
07/25/2024
Today, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service is making $190 million available to help private forest landowners adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change and retain working forestlands.
Farms.com: Five Things We’ll Miss Without a New Farm Bill
07/26/2024
The farm bill is already a year late, the stakes are high, and time is running out. The law from which USDA takes its marching orders is supposed to be revised and renewed every five years. The last five-year farm bill expired with September 2023, so American agriculture has been working under a one-year extension of a six-year-old law. Though it was a good farm bill at the time, there are a lot of pieces of this 2018 law that are badly in need of an update.
The Biden-Harris Administration today announced it has issued payments to eligible applicants under the Inflation Reduction Act’s Discrimination Financial Assistance Program (DFAP), which aims to provide financial assistance to farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who experienced discrimination prior to January 2021.
St. Thomas Source: Working Lands Climate Corps, an AmeriCorps Program, Now Accepting Applications
Virgin Islands | Southeast Region
07/18/2024
The Virgin Islands Department of Agriculture (VIDA), in partnership with Vermont’s White River Natural Resources Conservation District, is happy to begin officially accepting applications through August 5. Young adults are invited to participate in a year-long Conservation Career Workforce Development Program as part of the annual USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) Working Lands Climate Corps, a program of AmeriCorps.
NBC: How Ohioans can get a free tree to fight an invasive species
By Ava Boldizar | Columbus, OH | North Central Region
07/24/2024
A local nonprofit is working to give away over 1,500 free trees to Ohioans this fall, encouraging residents to replace their Bradford pears and other non-native species. Friends of the Lower Olentangy Watershed is a nonprofit organization that helps protect a 32-mile stretch of the Olentangy River, spanning from Delaware County to where the Olentangy meets the Scioto River.
East Bay RI: Campers get hands dirty on Portsmouth’s student-run farm
By Jim McGaw | Portsmouth, RI | Northeast Region
07/25/2024
If you’ve never seen pairs of underwear being harvested before, you’ve probably never visited the AgInnovation Farm at Cloverbud Ranch on Jepson Lane. Besides picking broccoli, Japanese eggplant, cherry tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, bell peppers, green beans and more from the student-run farm during summer camp on Tuesday, kids dug up three pairs of cotton briefs. There was a good reason behind it all, as Kelly Hanks, an associate director of the Eastern Rhode Island Conservation District (ERICD), which helps sponsor the camp, explained.
Potter Leader-Enterprise: Community garden offers surplus produce to others: Bloom Chronicles by Jennie Rodriguez-Priest
Jennie Rodriguez-Priest | Pennsylvania | Northeast Region
07/28/2024
Gardeners at the Potter County Community Garden (PCCG) use raised beds to plant, grow and harvest their produce without the use of pesticides. PCCG gardeners are beginning to harvest select produce and will donate surplus to a communal shed located just outside the garden at 7 Water St., Coudersport. The primary mission of the PCCG is to offer solutions to food insecurity.
Indiana Prairie Farmer: Conservation a community effort
By Allison Lund | Indiana | North Central Region
07/27/2024
Improved soil health, wildlife habitats and watersheds do not happen overnight. These environments and their results take decades of conservation efforts to achieve. Kenny Cain, Darlington, has reached that point.
WTOV9: West Virginia program offers aid to farmers amid drought conditions
By Claire O’Neil | West Virginia | Northeast Region
07/29/2024
This summer has been hot, causing drought conditions. The Northern Panhandle Conservation District is offering a special program to help those with livestock. The Agriculture Enhancement Exigency Program is for co-operators from Brooke, Hancock, Marshall and Ohio counties who are eligible for cost-share funding.
The Daily News: A blooming idea: Wildflower project transforms marshy area at Antoine
By Terri Castelaz | Iron Mountain, MI | North Central Region
08/01/2024
An unusable swale at Lake Antoine Park is now a colorful rain garden. Dickinson Conservation District and Lake Antoine Park Partners teamed up to transform a low-lying, beachfront section into an attraction with ecological benefits.