June 5 , 2007
index to previous eNotes
- Register Today for NACD’s Legislative Conference
- Congress Returns to Work
- NACD Treasurer Meets with District Employee Leaders
- Former Senators Daschle and Dole Release Agriculture Policy Report
- NACD Welcomes New Communications Associate
- Bush Administration Nominates New BLM Director
- NACD Position Opening—Western Issues Specialist
- New NACD Web Hosting Manager Announced
- NOTICE: Stewardship Marketplace on the Move
1. Register Today for NACD’s Legislative Conference
NACD’s Legislative Conference is quickly approaching. The agenda is packed with influential leaders from Capitol Hill and federal agencies. The most recent confirmation comes from USDA Deputy Secretary Chuck Connor who will update attendees on the Department’s conservation efforts and priorities. Other leaders on the program include Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Tom Harkin, House Agriculture Committee Chair Collin Peterson and U.S. Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell.
The summer is a great time to bring your family. A number of tours are set up for meeting attendees and their families, including a White House Tour, a Botanic Gardens Tour, a Crab Boat Dinner Cruise and a night time bus tour of Washington, D.C. Go to http://www.nacdnet.org/meetings/2007Summer/tours.htm for more details and to register! Availability is limited and tours are filling up fast—be sure to register today!
 NACD President Olin Sims has a few words for you about the conference in his monthly America’s Voice update. Click here to hear NACD President Olin Sims give a brief Washington update and details about the conference in his June address. |
2. Congress Returns to Work
Congress returned from Memorial Day recess with a long list of work to complete before the Fourth of July recess. The House Appropriations Subcommittees are hard at work this week, likely to receive their 302(b) allocations today. This allocation, or funding level, tells each subcommittee how much money they can spend in the entire bill. The allocations are expected to be: Agriculture $17.774 billion (an increase of 5.9 percent); Interior/Environment $26.405 billion (an increase of 4.5 percent); Energy and Water $30.298 billion (an increase of 4.3 percent) and Commerce $$50.344 billion (an increase of 6.4 percent). The Subcommittees and the full Committee will work over the next few weeks to finalize specific funding levels for each individual program.
The House Agriculture Subcommittees continue to work on various titles of the Farm Bill and have completed action on five of the ten titles of the bill. We expect the entire Committee to work on the complete bill just prior to the Fourth of July recess.
The Senate is also working on Appropriations and the Farm Bill, but has not yet taken official action on these items.
3. NACD Treasurer Meets with District Employee Leaders
NACD Secretary/Treasurer John Redding met last week with district employee leaders at the National Conservation District Employees Association’s (NCDEA) summer board meeting in St. Petersburg, Fla. Redding briefed the leaders on recent NACD activities, provided updates on upcoming events and discussed ways to enhance the strong partnership between the two associations.
4. Former Senators Daschle and Dole Release Agriculture Policy Report
NACD recently attended a press briefing with former Senate Majority Leaders Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Bob Dole (R-KS), as the two outlined the new report released by the 21st Century Agriculture Policy Project, “Competing and Succeeding in the 21st Century: New Markets for American Agriculture.”
The report focuses on agriculture’s position to take advantage of the emerging renewable energy market while reducing government support. It recommends a strategy that would result in a savings to taxpayers by reducing commodity payments with the increased farm income from new energy markets. The strategy would retain the economic stability provided by countercyclical payments and would create a permanent disaster assistance program from the savings.
The report also provides an emphasis on conservation programs. It recommends expanding existing conservation programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program, the Wetlands Reserve Program, the Grasslands Reserve Program and the Farm and Ranchland Protection Program. It calls for implementation of the Conservation Security Program on a nationwide basis for all working lands.
The 21st Century Agriculture Policy Project is co-chaired by Daschle and Dole, and it is a project of the Bipartisan Policy Center. The report can be viewed at http://www.21stcenturyag.org/.
5. NACD Welcomes New Communications Associate
NACD is pleased to welcome Mary Hammon to the staff. Hammon fills the newly created Communications Associate position and will assist with member communications, website management and general communication efforts. She is a recent graduate of Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Hammon can be reached at Mary-Hammon@nacdnet.org or (202) 547-6223.
6. Bush Administration Nominates New BLM Director
Last week, the Bush Administration nominated James L. Caswell as the next Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Caswell’s 33-year career in public lands management has included various positions at the BLM, Forest Service and Bonneville Power Administration. Currently, Caswell heads the State of Idaho’s Office of Species Conservation, which coordinates State and Federal endangered species efforts in Idaho.
Pending Senate confirmation, Caswell will be the fifteenth Director of the Bureau of Land Management following the resignation of Kathleen Clarke in February. Jim Hughes will continue to serve as acting Director until the Senate confirms the nomination. For additional information, please see the BLM press release at http://www.doi.gov/news/07_News_Releases/070531a.html.
7. NACD Position Opening—Western Issues Specialist
NACD is accepting applications for a full time policy position in Washington, D.C. The employee’s primary responsibilities include, but are not limited to, managing issues such as endangered species, invasive species, public lands management, private forestry, drought, water quantity and irrigation, rangelands and grazing lands, fire management and other issues that impact western states and the Pacific Basin.
The Western Issues Specialist will play a key role in the Association’s policy team and will work with the Director of Legislative Affairs to draft Congressional testimonies, letters to Congress and federal agencies, and other documents to convey NACD’s positions on conservation related policy, legislation, regulations, etc. Along with legislative responsibilities, the employee will communicate with western board members and state staff with regular updates on agency and congressional activities.
For more information, please see the full announcement at http://www.nacdnet.org/western_position_opening.pdf.
8. New NACD Web Hosting Manager Announced
Following the retirement of long-time NACD employee Gene Whitaker, NACD has contracted with Linda Campbell of Luray, Va., to manage NACD’s website hosting business. Campbell has owned and operated a web hosting business since 1997. She also has served as a conservation district director for nearly 25 years and is actively involved in conservation and agriculture issues on both the local and national levels.
From this point forward, all technical questions regarding websites hosted by NACD need to be directed to Linda-Campbell@email.nacdnet.org. For more information on NACD web hosting services, see http://nacdnet.org/resources/webhosting/.
9. NOTICE: Stewardship Marketplace on the Move
The FFA Merchandise center is moving to a new location. NACD’s Stewardship Marketplace will be closed during the move. Please place your orders for your local county fairs and conservation field days on or before June 12. The Order Entry Department Closed June 13 - June 15. The Shipping Department’s last outbound ship date is June 14. Placing of orders are planned to restart, Monday July 2.
For queries about this newsletter or to subscribe, contact editor Lisa Lerwick, NACD Director of Communications, at Lisa-Lerwick@nacdnet.org or 202-547-6223.