Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Provide Shelter for Wildlife and Conservation

Winter challenges the survival skills of even the healthiest wildlife. Winter shelters help protect animals from drifting snow, reduce wind chill exposure, and provide protection from predators.

Conservation benefits can also be achieved by providing winter cover such as a cattail slough at least 10 acres in size or a woody cover planting consisting of conifers and shrubs.

If you own land, consider making it easier for wildlife by providing cover and/or a food source on your property. If you want to add shelter to your property, work with what you already have. For example, you could add one or two rows of pine trees to an existing field windbreak.

Some government programs, like the Conservation Reserve Program, are set up to promote conservation and can also provide information on shelter benefits.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Radio Program on Floods of 2008

The Exchange from Iowa Public Radio

IOWA (2008-12-10) A conversation with organizers of a state-wide conference examining the Floods of 2008. They talk about what was learned and what could be done to prevent recurrence. Participants: Kamyar Enshayan (Center for Energy and Environmental Education at the University of Northern Iowa); Wayne Petersen (Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship); Mark Ackelson (Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation) and Ben Kieffer (Host).

Listen...

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

2009 Annual Conference Deadline Approaches

The 2009 Soil and Water Conservation Society Annual Conference is July 11-15, 2009... but responses to the Call for Papers are due in less than a week!

Deadline for oral presentations, posters, and symposia is Monday, December 15.

The complete Call for Papers can be downloaded at:
http://www.swcs.org/09ac

Submit abstracts here: http://www.formspring.com/forms/SWCS-2009_conference_abstract_submittal_form

Special Emphasis for 2009
Each year SWCS identifies topics or a theme for special attention at the Annual Conference. This year the overarching theme of the conference is Delivering Conservation, Today and Tomorrow. This emphasis will apply to ALL of the general topic areas for the conference and we encourage you to tailor your presentation to include the conference theme.

General Topic Areas
We welcome proposals for presentations that address one or more of the ongoing areas of emphasis outlined below. These ongoing areas of emphasis comprise the core work of SWCS work to foster the science and art of conservation. We have provided a list of illustrative examples of presentations and issue areas for each of the ongoing areas of emphasis. Please choose one of these when submitting an abstract. Special consideration will be given to new insights, techniques, or approaches in addressing each of these general topics.

At the 2009 SWCS Annual Conference, we would like to explore the challenges facing the delivery of conservation planning, policy, and practices today and the issues that must be resolved in order to deliver sustainable soil and water conservation tomorrow and into the future. We hope that your abstracts for oral presentations, posters, and symposia will address the technical, educational, and informational needs of conservationists as we work together to overcome these challenges.

Options For Participation
There are three ways you can propose to be part of the 2009 conference program.
1. Symposia Session: Organize a symposium session that provides more comprehensive and in-depth coverage of a specific topic.
2. Oral Presentation: Present a paper reporting the results of research or lessons learned from professional experience.
3. Poster Presentation: Present a poster reporting the results of research or lessons learned from professional experience.

We hope you will plan to submit a presentation for the conference. If you have any questions, please contact SWCS Headquarters at 515.289.2331 x114.

Sincerely,
Dewayne Johnson
Professional Development Director
Soil and Water Conservation Society