Soil Conservation

 The impact of grassroots (locally-led) conservation efforts was felt on Capitol Hill recently as representatives from the Camas Soil Conservation District and others across the nation visited with their Congressional leaders as part of the National Association of Conservation Districts’ (NACD) 2009 Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C.

 More than 150 NACD members from almost every state and territory came together for four days of networking, learning and informational briefings from federal agencies, partners and Congressional staff. Participants met with lawmakers to discuss conservation policy issues and attended NACD’s annual Congressional Reception.

 Steve Miller represented the Idaho Association of Soil Conservation Districts at the event and talks about what soil conservation is: “A large part of the traditional agricultural NRCS (Natural Resource Conservation Service) programs are about soil savings. They’ve introduced minimum till/no-till farming, where the soils are disturbed much less where a lot of the organic materials, the straw and what not, is left on top where it can protect the soil from wind erosion and also increase absorbtion and organic matter in soils.”