Excerpt
Even though the 3,000 U.S. conservation districts work with 2.3 million cooperating land managers and their efforts touch more than 778 million acres of private land, if Jay Leno's camera crew asked people about their thoughts on conservation districts, we'd probably hear “um” or “What you are talking about?”
Conservation districts go by many different names—soil and water conservation districts, land conservation committees, natural resource districts and more—but they all work toward a similar goal. They nurture the land and our natural resources in several ways. In past decades, a large portion of their mission has grown to include communication. Districts often offer the public the only voice from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) on what conservation and natural resource management encompasses.
The South Dade Soil and Water Conservation District, located in southern Florida, is using communication more and more to provide leadership in implementing conservation programs. The District has felt the competition and appeal of thirty-second sound bytes and other sensational techniques that drive today's communication and information craze. But, South Dade is trying a collection of …
Footnotes
Erin Meyer is a freelance writer and past SWCS intern, now living in St. Louis, Missouri.
- Copyright 2005 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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