Federal Resolution Supports Locally-Led Conservation Efforts

A bipartisan, concurrent resolution recently introduced in the U.S. Senate and House recognizes the value of locally-led soil and water conservation and the role of conservation districts within those efforts across the nation.

"We're pleased to see a bipartisan group of representatives in Washington voicing their support for our nation's soils and locally-led natural resource conservation, and their critical value to our nation's economic and food security," said National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) President Lee McDaniel. "Providing for a projected world population of nine billion by 2050, while preserving our precious natural resource base, will require a coordinated, voluntary, incentive-based approach to private land conservation with participation from local, state and federal stakeholders."

The Senate resolution, S. Con. Res. 10, was introduced by Agriculture Committee members Senators Joe Donnelly (D-IN), John Boozman (R-AR); the House resolution, H.Con.Res.30, was introduced by the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Committee's Conservation and Forestry Subcommittee Representatives Glenn Thompson (R-PA-5) and Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM-1), and Representatives Gregg Harper (R-MS-3) and Walter Jones (R-NC-3). The resolution is also supported by the Soil Science Society of America.

Specifically, the resolution expresses support for: the designation of the year of 2015 as the "International Year of Soils," public participation in activities celebrating the importance of soils, and soil conservation through partnerships with the nation's 3,000 locally-led soil and water conservation districts. It also encourages landowner participation in federal conservation programs including the Conservation Reserve Program, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, the Conservation Stewardship Program, the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, and the Small Watershed Program. In passing this resolution, Congress will also be recognizing the 80th anniversary of the Soil Conservation Act of 1935 which created the Soil Conservation Service (now the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service) and the conservation district movement in the U.S.