Conservation Programs

• Awareness of natural resource needs
• Example of conservation management
• Promoting the ethic of resource stewardship
• Coordination with federal, state and local entities for program delivery
• Education activities
• Review of available federal, state, local and private conservation programs
• Examples of successful programs
• Acronym listing
• Cooperator agreement
• Conservation planning

Mike Brown, NASCA Executive Director and KCD Board Member, in his NACD blog post “ Did You Know? How to be a High-Achieving District ”, gives two recommendations specifically related to conservation programs. He writes:

1. Conduct periodic, comprehensive assessments of the natural resource needs and concerns in your district. This can be a huge undertaking, but it is absolutely essential, and in many states it is mandated by statute. Utilize the expertise on your district staff, your NRCS district conservationist, and experts from other conservation partners to perform these resource assessments. 
2. Annually inventory financial and technical resources available to the district to meet the natural resource needs and goals of the district. Clearly document the gaps between the resources at hand and those needed to adequately address the natural resource needs of the district. This documentation will be of tremendous benefit in reaching out to decision makers when seeking funding for your district.

Locally-led conservation is one process for bringing district and NRCS, conservation partners and stakeholders together to identify natural resource concerns and natural resource needs. The process involves a sequence of steps:

Read more about  Locally Led Conservation through this page  on the NRCS site. 

Conservation management in Delaware includes:

Conservation management considers how management strategies affect soil, water, air, plants, animals and human health, sometimes called “SWAPA+H”.

A conservation plan is the record of decisions and supporting information for treatment of a unit of land meeting planning criteria for one or more identified natural resource concerns as a result of the planning process. ... This help includes onsite planning assistance in developing conservation plans.

An effective conservation planner must adhere to the following principles:

 Click HERE  for the full rundown on conservation planning provided by the NRCS.

NRCS also offers easement programs:

Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) provides financial and technical assistance to help conserve agricultural lands and wetlands and their related benefits. Under the Agricultural Land Easements component, NRCS helps Indian tribes, state and local governments and non-governmental organizations protect working agricultural lands and limit non-agricultural uses of the land. Under the Wetlands Reserve Easements component, NRCS helps to restore, protect and enhance enrolled wetlands.

Healthy Forests Reserve Program (HFRP) helps landowners restore, enhance and protect forestland resources on private lands through easements and financial assistance. Through HRFP, landowners promote the recovery of endangered or threatened species, improve plant and animal biodiversity and enhance carbon sequestration.

See a current list of NRCS Financial Assistance and Easement Programs  here .

Agricultural Conservation Cost-Share is available through each district to support the adoption of cover crops, animal waste management practices, fencing, etc. This funding is generally allocated in Delaware’s Bond Bill through DNREC (with additional cover crop funding allocated to DDA in recent years).

Drainage Project funding is also available for projects listed on the Resource Conservation and Development Priority List. RC&D funding is frequently paired with additional funding sources to complete construction of the project.

Funding is also available to tax ditch organizations to help support Tax Ditch Maintenance throughout the state. 

Further information on all conservation programs (including an acronym glossary) is available in the  Delaware Supervisors’ Handbook .

Conservation Districts support a number of education and outreach activities for farmers, landowners, residents, students, business owners and communities. Examples include:

Farmers and landowners who wish to work with the Districts and participate in programs sign a “Cooperator Agreement”. It’s a simple, one-page document that documents the cooperator’s and the District’s intentions to work together to improve the land. 

The cooperator asks for assistance based on their needs and the capabilities of their land. They agree to adopt the conservation practices in the plan that are feasible for their operation.

The district agrees to work with the cooperator to develop a conservation plan and help with the establishment of conservation practices. 

Both the landowner and a representative from the Board of Supervisors signs off on the agreement.

History of the land ethic extends farther back than when Aldo Leopold coined the phrase in the Sand County Almanac in 1949. 

"Published in 1949 as the finale to  A Sand County Almanac , Aldo Leopold’s “Land Ethic” essay is a call for moral responsibility to the natural world. At its core, the idea of a land ethic is simply caring: about people, about land, and about strengthening the relationships between them."

"Ethics direct all members of a community to treat one another with respect for the mutual benefit of all. A  land ethic  expands the definition of 'community' to include not only humans, but all of the other parts of the Earth, as well: soils, waters, plants, and animals, or what Leopold called 'the land.'

In Leopold’s vision of a land ethic, the relationships between people and land are intertwined: care for people cannot be separated from care for the land. A land ethic is a moral code of conduct that grows out of these interconnected caring relationships."

Read more at the Aldo Leopold Foundation:  https://www.aldoleopold.org/about/the-land-ethic/ 

• Visit  Delaware NRCS  for additional information about conservation programs available in Delaware, conservation planning and practices, soil health, and more.

As conservation district board members, consider the opportunities to promote resource stewardship outside of the district:

• Through your involvement in other organizations (farm bureau, school board, faith institutions?)
• In conversations with other farmers and landowners, including family
• Others?