Visit Music City! NACD’s 2018 Annual Meeting host city has something for everyone

As the capital city of Tennessee, Nashville is home to plenty of attractions, ranging from historical plantations to live music events. Nashville – named one of the top 15 cities in the United States – also offers a wide selection of family-friendly venues and activities, including the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Centennial Park (which includes a full-size replica of the Greek Parthenon), the General Jackson showboat, and NHL Predators games.

While you’re in Nashville for NACD’s 2018 Annual Meeting, make sure you get out to see what the city has to offer! Join us Saturday, January 27, 2018, for the Night in Music City tour, to visit the Grand Ole Opry, catch a show, or tour the local honky-tonks on downtown Broadway. There are also bus tour tickets available, so you can experience the city’s best songwriters and breweries in comfort. Many of our tours include stops at some of the most historic restaurants in Nashville, including Miss Mary Bobo’s – a 19th century boarding house that’s become one of the most unique southern dining experiences in the city.

All you’ll need to do is secure your seat (you’ll save $15 if you register online), reserve your room at the spacious Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, and leave the rest to us.

Soil Health Champion honored for use of cutting-edge pollinator management practices

Brendon Rockey of Rockey Farms, a potato and quinoa operation in Center, Colorado, was presented with this year’s NAPPC-NACD U.S. Farmer-Rancher Award for his outstanding commitment to environmental stewardship and pollinator conservation.

Brendon is an NACD Soil Health Champion who farms with the help of companion crops, livestock, and four-row flowering strips, instead of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. Not only does he save money by using an integrated pest management system, Brendon says the flower strips serve as nectar hubs, creating beneficial insect habitat, and his legume-heavy mix of companion crops have helped to fix nitrogen, mobilize phosphorus, and host pollinators.

You can learn more about Brendon Rockey in this award press release and through his profile on NACD’s Soil Health Champion Network webpage. Pictured above from left to right is NACD CEO Jeremy Peters, Brendon Rockey, President and CEO of the Pollinator Partnership Val Dolcini, and Research Director of the Pollinator Partnership Vicki Wojcik.

Hugh Hammond Bennett video now available online!

NRCS recently publicly released a long-awaited mini-documentary on the origins of soil conservation in the United States and the man behind the movement, Hugh Hammond Bennett.

This 20-minute video gives a short and compelling history of private lands conservation, and NACD encourages you and yours to watch it online as soon as you have the time.

New York state association meeting takes place in Cazenovia

Eric Hansen, NACD’s Northeast Region representative and policy specialist, spoke last week at the New York Association of Conservation Districts’ Annual Meeting and Training Conference. The conference featured several sessions on the work New York districts are doing and opportunities to partner with the state and NRCS.

Both Eric and Keisha Tatem, NRCS’s acting Northeast Regional Conservationist, spoke about the new NRCS-NACD technical assistance agreement. NYACD members were excited to hear about this opportunity and ready to brainstorm roles for new district staff.