Conservation Technology Information Center: 30-Year Anniversary

The Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC), an SWCS corporate member organization, celebrated its 30th anniversary on October 25, 2012, at Monsanto's facility in Creve Coeur, Missouri. The event included panel discussions exploring the past, present, and future of agricultural conservation, as well as recognition of individuals who have contributed to the organization's mission. Read the full event summary here.

Online Launch of the JSWC

The Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (JSWC) is now online! You can check it out here:

http://www.jswconline.org/

To ask questions or to gain access to online pdfs, contact Robin Hockaday, SWCS member services, at memberservices@swcs.org or 515-289-2331 ext. 118.

New Features are Available!

Electronic Tables of Contents
Be the first to know! Sign up for electronic table of contents (eTOC) alerts. You will be notified whenever new JSWC content is available online. To sign up for eTOC alerts, go here:
http://www.jswconline.org/cgi/alerts

Search Capabilities
In the advanced search form, you can search by year, doi, authors, or keyword. Once an article is selected, you can choose to pull up “Similar articles in this journal.”

Browse Archive Back to 1981
You can browse the journal archive by year or by cover image.

Rollover Abstracts
Get a preview! In the table of contents and search results pages, the article abstract (when available) will pop up in an overlay when you mouse over the article citation. (This feature currently works only for abstracts of Research Section articles; at some point in the future, it will also work for excerpts of A Section articles). Try it here:
http://www.jswconline.org/content/63/1.toc

Special Features
Once you have selected an article, you will find valuable options in the panel to the right:

• Email this article to a friend
• Alert me if this article is cited
• Alert me if a correction is posted
• Similar articles in this journal
• Download to citation manager
• Get permissions
• Citing articles

View example:
http://www.jswconline.org/content/63/2/70.abstract

HTML Hyperlinked References
Reference lists are free for issues of 2008 and after. View example:
http://www.jswconline.org/content/63/5/273.refs

HighWire Platform
The online JSWC is hosted by HighWire Press at Stanford University, which also hosts Science, PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), SSSA Journal, Journal of Environmental Quality, Agronomy Journal, and thousands of other peer-reviewed science journals. The JSWC is one of the first journals to launch on the new HighWire H20 platform with new tools and features.

Contact Robin Hockaday, SWCS member services, at memberservices@swcs.org or 515-289-2331 ext. 118 for more information.

Craig Cox to Join EWG in August

Craig Cox, SWCS Executive Director for the past ten years, will be joining the Environmental Working Group as Midwest Vice President and will establish a new regional office for that organization in Ames, Iowa later this year. The new EWG office will be the focal point of the organization’s work on food, agriculture and biofuels policy, with program staff in Iowa, Washington, DC and California. His last day with SWCS will be August 1st, 2008.

In an announcement letter to members and colleagues, SWCS President and West North Central Regional Director Peggy James wrote, "Craig is highly respected and has carried SWCS to the forefront of environmental issues. His leadership skills and professional reputation are unprecedented in the science of soil and water conservation. We face a challenge in finding someone to fill his shoes but also have an important opportunity to find an Executive Director who can lead the Society into the next decade."

"The Board of Directors and staff have worked hard over the past year to develop a handful of 3- to 5-year goals that we think will build SWCS’s capacity as a professional society and a leader in the conservation community. Although we hate to see Craig go, we are in a good position to tailor our search for a new Executive Director whose skills and experience will ensure we meet those goals," continued James.

“The ten years I have spent as your Executive Director has been the most rewarding and enjoyable years in my career in conservation,” Craig told the SWCS Board of Directors this week. “I’ve decided to leave because it is time for me to take on a new challenge and because I think the growing natural resource and environmental challenges we face require a type and intensity of advocacy that is just not appropriate for SWCS. Joining the Environmental Working Group will be the new challenge I am looking for and the perfect home for the kind of advocacy we need to advance the cause of soil and water conservation. I may be leaving as your Executive Director, but I will remain a dedicated member of SWCS.”

The Board of Directors is committed to perpetuating the excellent SWCS reputation established by Craig in his tenure in advancing the science and art of natural resource conservation. The Board has met to discuss and implement a framework for transition. The wheels have been set in motion to begin the search for a new Executive Director. We are dedicated to pursue our mission and consider the current and future needs of Society members.

EWG Link: http://www.ewg.org/node/26598

How do you keep informed?

Human knowledge is an amorphous, evolving collection of information. Individually, our understanding of the world is constantly being shaped by new experiences and new information. Advances in technology have led to a world of up-to-the-minute information being available at our fingertips.

However, this massive amount of information simply cannot be effectively processed into useful knowledge for an individual without tools and filters to help determine what sources are worth tapping into.

For general news and events, most people use some combination of newspapers, TV news, radio stations, and Web-based news to keep up with whatever aspect of politics, business, sports, weather, etc. you want to know something about.

In your professional life, an even more sophisticated, discerning “radar and filter” system is necessary to keep up with developments. Many people utilize professional membership societies to assist with this process. A professional membership society connects individuals with new developments, resources, and information streams that would be difficult for the individuals to find and keep up with on their own.

This Conservation Blogger is just one example of the Soil and Water Conservation Society’s work to keep the conservation community informed and up-to-date on new developments. Others include the SWCS Annual Conference, the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, and special project reports. SWCS wants to be your source and partner—on point and on time.

Combine environmental stewardship and professional advancement in a conservation career

It is an exciting time for people who care about the environment and are choosing career directions. The environmental challenges are great, and the ways to be professionally engaged in protecting environmental resources are numerous. The result is you can forge a career path that is both professionally interesting and personally rewarding.

Conservationists don’t necessarily have “conservation” in their job title. In fact, what makes conservation work so stimulating is partly the interdisciplinary interaction of the people involved. Soil and Water Conservation Society members, for example, include economists, agronomists, geologists, biologists, geographers, engineers, ecologists, landscape architects, soil scientists, computer scientists, and the list goes on. In addition to the wide range of disciplines, conservation careers include a wide range of job types—from technical advisers to researchers to educators to technology developers to policy makers, etc.

Collectively, these scientists and professionals contribute to the cause of healthy land and clean water.

It is also a good time for people mid-career who might be ready for a professional change or could benefit from enhancing their professional achievements with a sense of greater purpose and personal pride—that is, through a focus on sustainable natural resource management.

Whatever stage in your career, look into the future and imagine your retirement celebration. Wouldn’t you like people to say not only was this person a great _____ (professor, program manager, technician, or whatever the case may be), this person also stood for something—smart, sustainable use of our natural resources. This person’s work made a difference in the world. This person made a real contribution to protecting our environmental resources for future generations. This person can be you.

The knowledge, tools, and partnerships necessary to achieve this vision can be accessed through membership in the Soil and Water Conservation Society. The society’s publications, events, and other services allow its members to learn from each other across disciplines and work together in innovative partnerships—all in the cause of advancing sustainable use of resources for healthier land and cleaner water for years to come.