Conservation Clip List is a weekly collection of articles distributed by NACD that provides our members and partners with the latest news in what's driving conservation. If you have a relevant submission, please contact your NACD Communications Team.

NACD Blog: Did You Know? The power of a business plan

A business plan is a living blueprint that guides an organization’s priorities and activities. It also incorporates market research and resource identification with implementation strategies for achieving growth and sustainability objectives.

NACD Blog: From City to Country

It’s a question I get a lot – “What brought you to agriculture?” It was an entirely accidental but perfect match that I could have never predicted.

Why fighting wildfires often fails -- and what to do about it via CBS News

Wildland fires are growing worse in a time of drought and climate change, and the biggest and most destructive fires can't be stopped. Yet the government has to try, because more than a 100 million Americans now live in -- or near -- forests and grasslands that can erupt in flames.

Iowa wetland bank program provides credits via Wallaces Farmer

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and Iowa Agricultural Mitigation Inc. announced that the first round of wetland mitigation credits is available to farmers seeking alternatives for their farmed wetlands.

Survey finds US honeybee losses improve from horrible to bad via The Washington Post

There’s a glimmer of hope for America’s ailing honeybees as winter losses were the lowest in more than a decade. Beekeepers lost 21 percent of their colonies over last winter. That’s the lowest winter loss level since the survey started in 2006 and an improvement from nearly 27 percent the winter before.

Rare fish sheds light on improved water quality via High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal

A rare cave-dwelling fish is shedding new light on how farmers are improving water quality through cover crops and nutrient management. New nests of grotto sculpin are growing in caves in southeastern Missouri; improved water quality likely accounts for the increased numbers.

Pioneering Iowa Sustainable Agriculture Research Center Hangs On, Barely via High Plains Pulic Radio

A leading research center focused on local farmers and environmental conservation is hanging on by a thread, even as the movement to diversify agriculture, which it helped launch, continues to thrive. The Iowa Legislature recently decided to defund the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, leaving it to rely on money from its existing endowment, grants it can procure, and whatever support Iowa State University chooses to provide.

On the St. Louis River, a massive environmental cleanup is now under threat via Star Tribune

The most critical phase, removal and capping of sediment contaminated by toxins, is just about to begin. But last week, in the budget blueprint he sent to Congress, Trump proposed putting a halt to the cleanup by eliminating money for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), a sprawling, seven-year-old project funded by the Environmental Protection Agency. That $250 million to $300 million in annual federal funding is critical to the St. Louis estuary cleanup — as well as similar projects from Detroit to Muskegon and Thunder Bay — designed to rejuvenate Great Lakes towns bogged down by legacies of pollution.

Researchers test self-destructing moth pest in cabbage patch via ABC News

Researchers in a New York cabbage patch are planning the first release on American soil of insects genetically engineered to die before they can reproduce. It's a pesticide-free attempt to control invasive diamondback moths, a voracious consumer of cabbage, broccoli, and other cruciferous crops that's notorious for its ability to shrug off every new poison in the agricultural arsenal.

Lawsuit Alleges EPA Failed to Protect Shenandoah River via U.S. News and World Report

A federal lawsuit alleges the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency failed to protect the Shenandoah River from pollution that's caused the scenic waterway to become clogged with algae blooms. It challenges the EPA's approval of Virginia's decision not to list the Shenandoah as impaired by the algae under the Clean Water Act.

Iowa farmers plant record acres of cover crops via The Valley News

Iowa farmers planted more than 353,000 acres of cover crops with financial assistance from state and federal conservation programs in the fall of 2016 – nearly 18 percent more than the previous year. Based on statewide surveys and aerial imagery completed by conservation groups this spring, agriculture leaders estimate Iowa farmers planted at least 600,000 cover crop acres last fall.

Officials in Nevada see dry cheatgrass as a wildfire danger via The News and Observer

A wet winter has produced a bumper crop of cheatgrass that fire officials in northern Nevada expect will dry out and become prime fuel for the smallest of sparks during a hot, dry wildfire season ahead.

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