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News & Notes September 2005
Sueck and Brown To Participate in Historic White
House Conference on Cooperative Conservation
Pat Sueck, PACD's National Association of Conservation Districts Director,
and Karl Brown, Executive Secretary of the PA State Conservation Commission,
met with conservation leaders from around the nation recently. The White
House Conference on Cooperative Conservation was held August 29 to 31
in St. Louis, Missouri as a forum for information exchange about successful
partnerships in cooperative conservation.
The conference was held as a result of an Executive Order signed in
August 2004 by President Bush for Facilitation of Cooperative Conservation.
This directed Federal agencies that oversee environmental and natural
resource policies and programs to promote cooperative conservation in
full partnership with states, local governments, tribes and individuals.
This was the first White House national conservation conference in four
decades.
Sueck and Brown were invited because they were identified as key stakeholders
in advancing cooperative conservation in Pennsylvania. The participants
represented conservation groups and companies; local, state, tribal,
and federal agencies; recreation enthusiasts; ranchers; farmers; hunters
and anglers.
Using case studies and facilitated discussions, the conference participants
examined how to build successful partnerships, how to enhance incentives
for landowners and others to conserve lands, water and wildlife, and
how to coordinate conservation activities across jurisdictions.
The conference advanced the objectives of the Executive Order by promoting
cooperative conservation with an emphasis on including local participation
in Federal decision-making.
No-Till Educational Resources
A new exhibit titled, Say Yes to Improved Farming and a Healthier
Environment Adopt No-Till made its debut at Ag Progress Days in
August. This exhibit, along with a fact sheet of frequently asked questions,
was developed by PACD with assistance from Jay Braund of DEP and Joel
Myers of NRCS. This new exhibit is now available for conservation districts
to borrow.
Two publications, Steps Toward a Successful Transition to No-Till
and Better Soils with the No-Till System are also available to
districts. Each district will receive a copy of these publications along
with information on obtaining more copies.
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Soil Survey Now Available Online
In August, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced
the launch of a USDA Web Soil Survey site that provides access
to the national soils information system.
"Soil survey maps help to enable agricultural producers,
conservationists, engineering firms, county and city planners,
and others to make informed decisions concerning land use. Posting
soil survey information on the internet is one more step in our
effort to make information more accessible to the citizens we
serve," said Johanns.
Prior to the development of this website, all soil survey maps
were available in print form only. The new electronic version
allows users to print maps and related information, save it to
their hard drive, or download the data for use in a geographic
information system (GIS).
To view the website go to http://soils.usda.gov/survey.
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