Conservation Clip List is a weekly collection of articles distributed by NACD that provides our members and partners with the latest news in what's driving conservation. If you have a relevant submission, please contact your NACD Communications Team.

NACD Blog: California RCDs, CDFA’s Healthy Soils Program leading the way to climate smart ag

In partnership with NRCS, RCDs have built three Soil Health Hubs, and through the tremendous efforts of the East Stanislaus RCD, 17 three-year long compost field trials with demonstration components have emerged in all ten RCD regions.

NACD Blog: Conservation in Montana: Endecott Ranch

The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (MDNRC) has recently published three stories on Montana farmers and ranchers who have devoted a great deal of time and energy to conservation work. In the series’ first story, we meet Janet Endecott of McAllister, Montana.

NACD Blog: Washington state CD builds community with a garden

Of all the things I was hoping the garden renovation would accomplish, I never thought it would have helped to heighten public awareness of conservation districts. Not only has it done that, but it has also empowered our community members to improve their own yards and acreage with conservation practices.

Wildfires used to be rare in the Great Plains. They’ve more than tripled in 30 years via The Washington Post

The grasslands of the U.S. Great Plains have seen one of the sharpest increases in large and dangerous wildfires in the past three decades, with their numbers more than tripling between 1985 and 2014. The average number of large Great Plains wildfires each year grew from about 33 to 117 over that time period, even as the area of land burned in these wildfires increased by 400 percent.

Perdue names 3 to leadership team as USDA reorganization takes shape via Agri-Pulse

Robert Johansson was appointed acting Deputy Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation, while staying on as USDA’s Chief Economist, a position he has held since July 2015. And Dan Jiron will fill the role of acting Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment.

Webber: We must address Guam's feral pig problem via Pacific Daily News

(Opinion) We have far too many feral pigs (and other animals) running around in residential areas across the island. These animals spread disease, destroy yards and gardens, and disrupt the real continued growth of our natural flora and fauna throughout the island.

Zinke defends huge job cuts at Interior: ‘This is what a balanced budget looks like.’ via The Washington Post

Zinke said staffing problems could be solved in part by having fewer middle management positions as part of a reorganization to put more employees in the field.

Bison herd helping to heal a lost landscape in Illinois via WGN 9

The Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, about an hour South of Chicago, is home to more than 18,000 acres of prairie. Ecology experts are now trying to "heal" or restore it to how it was about 150 years ago.

Wildfire pollution much worse than thought, study says via USA Today

Monstrous wildfires not only devastate communities and sometimes kill dozens each year in the U.S., but they also release a toxic brew of hazardous pollution. Uncontrolled wildfires burn much more biomass (trees, bushes, and other organic material) per area than do intentionally set prescribed burns, and pollute at a much higher rate.

Drought gripping much of the Northern Plains via Agri-Pulse

In mid-June on the Northern Plains, spring crops have usually rounded first base, the season’s first cutting of hay is being baled or stacked, and cattle are browsing in knee-deep forage. But not this year in the western and central Dakotas and eastern Montana, where an emerging drought tightens its grip week after week.

Drones hunt down rare plants in Hawaii by going where people can't via The Verge

A drone’s spying abilities can be useful: an uncrewed drone discovered a super-rare plant on a steep cliff on the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi. The discovery wowed botanists — and shows how technology can help conservationists in their fight against extinction.

EPA plans to buy out more than 1,200 employees this summer via The Washington Post

The Environmental Protection Agency plans on shedding more than 1,200 employees by early September through buyouts and early retirements. The departures would amount to about 8 percent of the current 15,000-person workforce of the EPA, where a hiring freeze also remains in effect.

Keep America Wild via The New York Times

(Opinion) Far from being a federal land grab, the more than 87,000 acres of forest and waters around Mount Katahdin were donated to this country by private owners, along with $40 million earmarked for the land’s preservation and care in perpetuity. The land’s status as a public monument has already begun to return considerable economic value to the local tourist economy.

Moths munching forest at higher rate via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Forest insect pests — especially the cherry scallop shell moth and fall webworm — are taking bigger-than-expected bites out of valuable black cherry trees and other tree species in the Allegheny National Forest. In response to the greater-than-anticipated tree defoliation, mortality and regeneration problems the bugs are causing, the U.S. Forest Service is proposing more aggressive timbering and tree planting.

Pruitt makes WOTUS pledge at approps hearing via Agri-Pulse

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt committed to publishing a new rule establishing which waters would be regulated under the Clean Water Act by the first three months of next year at the latest.

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