conservation

In the middle of Nevada, miles from anywhere, eight Native American young adults spent their summer working to improve sagebrush habitat for the greater sage-grouse. Habitat for this ground-dwelling bird, native to much of the American West, has been dwindling in recent years, due to fencing, wildfires and invasive species.

A special Earth Team volunteer group was recently formed to benefit Ross Barnett Reservoir, in central Mississippi. Keep the Rez Beautiful was created by an NRCS employee in late 2010 to promote conservation and water quality in the reservoir.

Earth Team is the volunteer workforce for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Earth Team volunteers help get conservation on the ground on private lands across the nation, and the Ross Barnett Reservoir group will help further NRCS’ work in this critical waterway.

A Northwest nonprofit organization has been using Conservation Innovation Grants it was awarded in 2010 and 2011 by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to expand efforts to improve the health of the local salmon population.

For Kiln, Miss. resident David Koch, there’s a lot of truth to the expression “everything runs downstream.” Koch’s land borders Rotten Bayou, and he has made great strides to ensure no pollutants wash off his land and into the bayou, which feeds the Gulf of Mexico.

Texas landowners and producers could never have predicted the severe drought conditions this year, which have impacted small and large operations alike. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is helping many of these ranchers and farmers survive the ongoing drought—including Stuart Fisher, a rancher in Ellis County.

Joe and Jon Higgins are brothers who are working with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to improve the environmental quality of the 36 acres of land they share in Pomfret, Connecticut.

In northern Illinois, a unique area called the Piscasaw Fen is being restored to its native majesty through the cooperation of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Boone County Conservation District (BCCD).

Recently there has been some concern and confusion in rural America over the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed regulations on child labor and I’d like to help clarify how this regulation will impact our farmers.   We all know that kids benefit from good old-fashioned farm work.   It’s a longtime way of life that has helped make this country strong, and it teaches kids lessons that last a lifetime.

However, statistics show that while only 4 percent of working youth are in the agriculture sector, 40 percent of fatalities of working kids are associated with machines, equipment, or facilities related to agriculture.  That’s way too high.  We don’t want to blur the line between teaching kids about a good day’s hard work, and putting them in situations more safely handled by adults.

Diem Nguyen moved to the U.S. in the 1970s to pursue the American dream. She worked first as a restaurateur and then an accountant. But the career she cherishes the most is her current one—operating a chicken farm in rural Mississippi.

Mallory McDevitt of Wapakoneta, Ohio, is a real go-getter. This 18-year-old high school senior has been an Earth Team Volunteer with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) since she was 14. She also serves as the Wapakoneta FFA Chapter Vice President.