Local Leader Participates in National Conservation Meeting in Reno

CITY, STATE—February XX, 2016—[NAME, TITLE of XX ASSOCIATION] participated in the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) Annual Meeting, January 31 – February 3 in Reno, Nevada. The NACD Annual Meeting brings together top conservation leaders from across the nation for educational sessions, workshops, networking and national awards recognizing leaders in conservation.

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Congressman Mark Amodei [R-NV 2nd District] kicked on Monday’s General Session with a Nevada welcome address and change management consultant and motivational speaker Michael Tchong served as the session’s keynote speaker. Monday’s Leadership Luncheon featured remarks by National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson.

Tuesday’s General Session featured presentations from U.S. Forest Service Chief Thomas Tidwell and USDA NRCS Chief Jason Weller on their work to build the legacy of natural resource conservation and the importance locally led conservation has had in those conservation efforts. The session also featured a special video address from Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who mirrored the Chiefs’ emphasis on the importance of local leadership to get conservation on the ground and the value of creating and sustaining partnerships at the local, state, regional and national levels. The session concluded with a panel discussion that featured the National Conservation Planning Partnership Leadership Team. The panel shared their vision for the future of conservation planning and the work already underway in an effort to reinvigorate conservation planning as the foundation for voluntary conservation delivery.

For more information on the conference, including the full agenda and speaker line-up, visit NACD’s Annual Meeting page. Photos are posted on the NACD Flickr site.

NACD is the nonprofit organization that represents America’s 3,000 conservation districts and the 17,000 men and women who serve on their governing boards. Conservation districts are local units of government established under state law to carry out natural resource management programs at the local level. Districts work with millions of cooperating landowners and operators to help them manage and protect land and water resources on all private lands and many public lands in the United States.

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