NACD Publishes Spring Edition of The Resource

NACD is excited to announce the release of the 2018 spring edition of The Resource.


This edition includes letters from President Brent Van Dyke and CEO Jeremy Peters, an in-depth government affairs update, and recaps from the 73rd Annual Meeting in Nashville, Tenn., and the 63rd Annual Stewardship Week.

You will also find information about NACD’s partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to award $9 million in technical assistance awards, the National Conservation Planning Partnership (NCPP) Listening Sessions, and a 2016 Urban Agriculture Report.

Conservation districts across the nation have been hard at work this year. These folks are the boots on the ground and are making an impact every single day within their local communities. The spring edition of The Resource features inspiring stories that range from an Alabama tribe putting conservation on the ground to an Ohio district’s effort to educate the community about water quality.

You can read the latest edition by clicking here, or you can browse past editions here on our website. If you have any questions or comments about this issue, or ideas for the next edition, please let us know. If you need help printing this issue, please contact NACD Communications Manager Sara Kangas at sara-kangas@nacdnet.org.


Summer meeting to be held in Revolutionary City

This Aug. 3 – 8, we hope you’ll be able to join us in Williamsburg, Va., for the 2018 NACD Summer Conservation Forum and Tour and Southeast Region Meeting! The meeting celebrates the theme “Where Leaders Meet,” a fitting theme for a city so rooted in rich history and leadership.


Williamsburg was founded as the capital of the Virginia Colony in 1699. The original capital, Jamestown was the first permanent English-speaking settlement in the New World, founded in 1607. Colonial leaders petitioned the Virginia Assembly to relocate the capital from Jamestown to Middle Plantation, five miles inland between the James and the York Rivers. The new city was renamed Williamsburg in honor of England's reigning monarch, King William III.

Williamsburg was one of America's first planned cities, laid out in 1699. It was to be a city suitable for the capital of the largest and most populous of the British colonies in America. The young city grew quickly into the center of political, religious, economic and social life in Virginia.

Williamsburg became a center of learning, and many famous political leaders emerged from local institutions, including Presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and John Tyler.

The restoration of Williamsburg began in 1926, when John D. Rockefeller, Jr., led the massive reconstruction of the 18th century city we see today. During a landmark visit in 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed its main thoroughfare, the Duke of Gloucester Street, "the most historic avenue in America."

Today, Williamsburg is known internationally as the premier center for the preservation and interpretation of American colonial history. While you attend the 2018 NACD Conservation Forum and Tour and Southeast Region Meeting, you’ll stay in the beautiful Williamsburg Lodge, steps away from the city’s center. Make sure you review the meeting agenda to plan some time to see Colonial America come to life, or consider selecting the historical tour when you register to learn more about this historical town.


Mark your calendars: June Urban and Community webinar approaches

Interested in backyard food production for yourself or homeowners in your district? Be sure to join us for the next NACD Urban and Community Conservation webinar, from 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. EDT on June 21.

The Carroll County Soil and Water Conservation District in Ohio will share information about their monthly Backyard Food Production meetings and co-sponsored community garden. The National Agroforestry Center in Nebraska will describe how adding fruit and nut producing trees and shrubs into an urban agriculture system can improve production and enhance conservation outcomes.

These popular webinars, held on the third Thursday of each month, are sponsored by The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company in partnership with the NACD Urban and Community Resource Policy Group. There is no cost to participate, but space is limited. Registration will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis. To register, email Debra Bogar at deb-bogar@nacdnet.org with your name, title, district or business name, state and email address. Information to access the webinar will be sent by email.



Did You Know? Personnel Management

Did you know personnel management is one of the many responsibilities of every local conservation district board member?

While districts should provide for supervision of their employees, district employees are administratively responsible to the district. Only the district is responsible for hiring, separation, fixing the range of duties, hours of work, pay rates and payment of district employees. District employees may be placed under the technical guidance of Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) staff by the district board, but only within guidelines established by the board. All districts should establish a personnel management policy, including developing a thorough job description and an annual performance evaluation.

The general rule to distinguish whether a person is an employee or independent contract is how the district and the individual work together:

  • An individual is almost always an independent contractor if the district has the right to control only the result of the work (product completed, report received, speech given, field planted, practice installed, milestones reached, deadlines met, etc.) and not what will be done or how it will be done.
  • An individual is almost always an employee when the district controls the services performed (what and how work will be done). This applies even if the individual is given freedom of action.

The determining factor is if the district has the power to direct the specifics of performing services: e.g., what actions will be done; regular behavior supervision; location of work; furniture and equipment supplied; with whom the person works; work schedule; and IRS records kept – W-9 and 1099 versus W-4, I-9, and W-2; or put simply the day-to-day activities.


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