Chad Pregracke Motivates NACD Luncheon and Ohio Attendees

If you didn't attend the NACD Annual Meeting, you missed an AWESOME speaker, Chad Pregracke, founder of Living Lands & Waters. His charasmatic personality won the crowd and gave us all motivation to increase local involvement in our conservation causes. I have attached his biography...hopefully, we will see him at one of our events? :-)

Chad Pregracke founded Living Lands & Waters 1998, a not-for-profit environmental organization based in East Moline, Illinois whose mission is to aid in the protection, preservation, and restoration of the natural environment of the nation’s major rivers and their watersheds. Tens of thousands of volunteers have worked on Living Lands and Waters’ fleet of barges, and workboats, performing Community-based River Cleanups, Riverbottom Restoration Projects, Adopt-a-River Mile Program, and Big River Educational Workshops.
Pregracke has received numerous awards for his work, including the Jefferson Award for Public Service presented to him in June of 2002 in the United States Supreme Court in Washington, DC. In August of 2002, Chad was invited by the Coca-Cola Company to attend the World Summit on Sustainable Environments in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he met and shared information about his river cleanup projects with people from all over the world.
Pregracke’s work has been filmed by many of the major networks such as CNN, Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning Show, NBC Nightly News, MTV, and PBS, as well as featured in many print publications including Time, People Magazine, Readers’ Digest, Life, Outside, Smithsonian and National Geographic.

Trumbull SWCD Recieves Two Awards for District Excellence at the NACD Annual Meeting in New Orleans

The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) has awarded the Trumbull SWCD with two awards for “District Excellence” as a result of the district’s efforts to address the diverse needs of their constituency and community, as well as conservation resources. The District received awards for “Communications” and “Member Services.” The district has been highly successful in sharing the conservation message through a number of different programs and partnerships.
Congratulations to the Trumbull SWCD Supervisors and Staff for an “excellent job!”
Keep the awards coming!
Pictured with Trumbull SWCD staff and supervisors is Sean Logan, Director of Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Excellence in Conservation Equipment and Technology Use

Huron SWCD wins the NACD Excellence in Conservation Equipment and Technology Use Award at the NACD Annual Meeting in New Orleans!

Huron County SWCD assists their community in establishing good conservation practices by making the necessary equipment available for rent—equipment that may be difficult for average landowners to own themselves. While the initial investment is substantial, the district acquires the equipment without any local, state or federal tax dollars by utilizing the state’s purchasing program, which translates to a 25 percent discount. At modest rental prices, landowners are able to implement good conservation practices and the district makes an impact on the community. The goal of such rentals has been to reinvest any modest profit back into the equipment and into the community. Some equipment rentals do not make a profit but are made available as a special service to the community.

NACD Annual Meeting in New Orleans

The National Association of Conservation Districts installed a new slate of officers at the Appreciation Banquet of the 2009 NACD Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. Leading the association over the next two years will be (l-r) President Steve Robinson from Marysville, Ohio; First Vice President Gene Schmidt from Hanna, Indiana; Second Vice President Earl Garber from Basile, Louisiana and Secretary/Treasurer Jack Majeres from Dell Rapids, South Dakota. Conservation district leaders from across the country joined together for four days of networking, learning and fun at the 2009 conference.

The OFSWCD Officers, Staff, and serveral districts attended the event. To see more pictures visit http://www.ofswcd.org/2009_nacd_annual_meeting_in_new.htm