The fall Resource is in your inbox!

If you are signed up to receive NACD’s quarterly publication The Resource, you’re in for a treat! The latest edition landed in your inbox yesterday and it’s full to the brim with district spotlight stories and informational pieces on mission support services, what’s to come following today’s election, and NACD’s advocacy efforts.

The fall edition also includes letters from NACD’s president and CEO, perspectives from our partners, and a nine-page spread on the folks behind the scenes at NACD.

To view The Resource online, head to our website and click on the first monarch butterfly you see. You can subscribe to receive future Resources on the same page.

New sponsors have announced their support of NACD

Joining Bob Warner, Agri Drain, and U.S. Sugar as 2017 Annual Meeting sponsors are Case IH and Agrium – two ag companies in the business of making conservation adoption easy.

Case IH is behind award-winning seed delivery, strip-till, and crop protection products outfitted with the latest in geospatial, variable-rate, and on-target application technology. Agrium – a global producer, supplier, and marketer of fertilizers – has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to promoting the 4R Nutrient Stewardship system.

To pledge your support as a sponsor of our Denver meeting or to save a booth in the Conservation Expo hall for your organization, contact NACD Director of Development Melisa Augusto before the December 1, 2016 deadline.

On the topic of annual meeting, do you know how you’ll get from the Denver International Airport to the Sheraton in downtown Denver where the meeting will be held? Check out this updated page on our website for detailed route information you can use to create an individualized travel plan. NACD also encourages you to try out Google’s Trip Planner – it’s a fast and simple way to navigate.

Calling all conservationists: New NACD RPG requires representation

NACD’s Natural Resources Policy Committee has been tasked with finding representatives from conservation districts in each NACD region that have successfully worked with tribes on conservation issues to sit on the association’s newest Resource Policy Group.

Once its nine seats are filled, the Tribal Outreach and Partnership RPG will take an informal census of existing relationships between conservation districts and tribes, and identify “lessons learned” for future cooperative agreements and partnerships.

The TOP RPG will “open the lines of communication between districts and tribes to put good conservation on the ground,” says Michael Crowder, NACD’s Washington state board member and the RPG’s chairman. “We are not looking to do work on tribal lands or have tribes do work off reservations. What we’re looking to do is find the right people that have successfully collaborated on tribal and district projects to learn from their experiences.”

If you or someone you know may be interested in serving on the TOP RPG, please email NACD President Lee McDaniel and Michael Crowder with the appropriate contact information.

“Thank you!” from NACD’s Stewardship Committee

A few months ago, NACD created a survey for our district members and partners to share their experiences downloading, printing, and using NACD's 2016 educational materials. We received positive input and suggestions for how we could improve the downloading process to be more user-friendly and how to streamline printing for smaller districts. In the upcoming year, we plan to do the following based on the feedback we received:

• Educational materials will be made available at an earlier date and in smaller file sizes.
• Downloading educational materials will be a more user-friendly experience and the PDF materials will be more easily printed on non-commercial printers.
• Professionally printed materials will be made available for purchase in smaller minimum orders.

The stewardship survey will be reopened at the 2017 Annual Meeting in Denver. To show our appreciation for your time, those that participate will be entered into a raffle to win prizes sourced from around the country.