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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.


Editor's Note: NACD will not issue an edition of Conservation Clips next Friday, December 27. Happy Holidays!


NACD Blog: Nebraska district combats forest decline with tree planting program
12/18/19

With varying weather extremes affecting the forestry landscape, the North Platte Natural Resources District (NRD) in Scottsbluff, Neb., is working diversity and restoration into its 17 communities through the Free Trees for Fall Planting program.

NACD Blog: PLT helps teachers, local SWCD connect students with environment
12/18/19

Virginia’s Hanover-Caroline Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) is working with teachers to expand conservation education opportunities within the Hanover County Public Schools district.

NACD Blog: Investing in Tomorrow: The NCF Year in Review
12/16/19

As the year comes to a close, we at the National Conservation Foundation (NCF) are grateful for the tireless work of our volunteers throughout our network of conservation districts and local Envirothon programs. We know none of the work that NCF supports would be accomplished without you. Just look at what we have been accomplishing in the last year!


E&E News: Farmers to get paid for carbon-saving practices
By Marc Heller
12/18/19

(Subscriber Only) The Ecosystem Services Market Consortium, founded by some of the nation's largest agribusinesses — including Cargill Inc., General Mills Inc. and Archer Daniels Midland Co. — will begin selling carbon credits in January or February, said the organization's executive director, Debbie Reed.

BARN Media: 12-16-19 NACD: NCF Names Next Generation Leadership Cohort
Brian Allmer
12/16/19

The National Conservation Foundation (NCF) announced the names of the seven participants in the inaugural cohort of the Next Generation Leadership Institute (NGLI).

Star Tribune: As flooding and erosion rise, more Minnesota farmers buck tradition and plant cover crops
By Adam Belz
12/16/19

In a year when flooding and erosion smacked farmers in Minnesota and much of the country, a small but growing number of farmers are leaving fields unplowed and planting cover crops to protect their soil in the winter.

Augusta Free Press: USDA to invest $2.3M to support conservation in Virginia
12/19/19

Nineteen new projects funded through the USDA NRCS Conservation Innovation Grants program will support organizations and universities that are developing the next generation of tools and technologies to boost conservation on agricultural lands.

Yahoo: USDA Funds Conservation Innovation in California and Nationally with $12.5M in Grants for New Tools and Technologies
12/19/19

USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is awarding about $12.5 million in grants nationally to support the development of innovative systems and technologies for private lands conservation, including two California projects and two multi-state projects that include California.

Phys.org: Wetlands, crops can mitigate storm damage to coastal cities, study finds
By Jim Steele
12/13/19

Coastal cities can be spared some wind destruction from intensifying hurricanes or tropical storm systems if they have functional wetland ecosystems and agricultural croplands in the area, according to new computer modeling research led by The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH).

Scientific American: Farming Degrades Land; Farming Can Also Bring It Back
By Nigel Sizer
12/12/19

(Opinion) Agroforestry—the practice of growing trees intermixed with crops or livestock—can fight erosion and restore nutrients.

Science Daily: Warming climate will impact dead zones in Chesapeake Bay
12/16/19

In recent years, scientists have projected increasingly large summer dead zones in the Chesapeake Bay, areas where there is little or no oxygen for living things like crabs and fish to thrive, even as long-term efforts to reduce nutrient pollution continue. Researchers factored in local impacts of climate change to make projections of what the oxygen content of the Chesapeake Bay will look like in the future.

Phys.org: Wildfire residue may contribute to climate change
By Ariana Remmel

12/17/19

Wildfires leave behind large swathes of blackened earth when they raze a landscape. That charred material contains a host of molecules that could continue to release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere days and weeks after the fire has gone out, according to new research.

Phys.org: High-def mapping of moisture in the soil
12/17/19

Rodrigo Vargas and doctoral student Mario Guevara have developed a new approach that sharpens our ability to predict soil moisture, even in large areas where no data have been available. Compared to standard estimates produced by satellite-based sensors, the new approach increases the accuracy of these estimates by more than 20 percent.

The New York Times: Feral Pigs Roam the South. Now Even Northern States Aren’t Safe.
By Jim Robbins
12/16/19

Feral pigs are widely considered to be the most destructive invasive species in the United States. They can do remarkable damage to the ecosystem, wrecking crops and hunting animals like birds and amphibians to near extinction. But in recent decades, the pigs have been expanding their range — or more accurately, people have been expanding it for them.

Phys.org: A climate change double whammy in the U.S. Corn Belt
By Marie Denoia Aronsohn
12/19/19

New research reveals that climate change has triggered two changes that threaten the region's crop production; warming temperatures are both increasing the evaporation of soil moisture and causing summer storms to carry more moisture away from the Midwest. 


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