WACD Reading List

Take things to the next level by designing your home landscape to be carbon-positive—meaning that it sequesters, or removes, more carbon dioxide than it generates.

Extolled as a defense against erosion and nutrient loss during fallow seasons, cover crops are being planted on a larger portion of U.S. cropland than before, said USDA economists.

From floods to wildfires, mapping programs in Cascadia are showing scientists which communities face higher risk.

U.S. agriculture faces a triple imperative — market, environment, and income — in responding to climate change, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday, his first day on the job. “We don’t have a day to waste on this,” he told reporters while indicating that the USDA will move at deliberate speed to identify and support successful mitigation practices.

To hear about what key players in Washington’s broad environmental coalition would like to see prioritized in budget proposals, I spoke to Adam Maxwell, Campaigns Manager for the Washington Audubon Society, a group focused on conserving natural ecosystems and building healthy communities.

The question of the legal rights of nature—or standing of inanimate objects to sue—was perhaps first raised in an article in 1972 by Christopher Stone, in the Southern California Law Review, titled Should Trees Have Standing? Toward Legal Rights of Natural Objects. The article was subsequently referenced in a celebrated dissent by Justice William O. Douglas in the Supreme Court case Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727 (1972).

Saldana's assertion that denying farmworkers overtime pay was grounded in racism comes as lawmakers consider whether to intervene and shield agricultural employers from backpay lawsuits, suits that farm groups warn pose existential threats to some producers.

The fire impacted rabbits and sage grouse across their range, further complicating the recovery of each of these very at-risk species. Burned-bare soil across the landscape lies vulnerable to rapid colonization by quick-spreading invasive plants and grasses.

DuckDuckGo isn’t just a private alternative to Google and Bing’s web search. It has a built-in online mapping solution designed with privacy in mind. If you want to leave Google, you don’t have to stick around for Google Maps.

“On Zoom, behavior ordinarily reserved for close relationships — such as long stretches of direct eye gaze and faces seen close up — has suddenly become the way we interact with casual acquaintances, co-workers, and even strangers,” he writes.

LOOMIS - The United States Geological Survey recently reported that the area just east of Palmer Lake will likely experience drastic flooding this spring as the snow melts and rain falls. The flood risk and debris flow hazard is a result of burn scarring caused by the 13,000-acre Palmer Fire in mid-August of 2020.

Dan Newhouse says Tom Vilsack returning to head the USDA is a good thing for the farming community. The Chair of the Western Congressional Caucus, and a central Washington farmer himself, Newhouse said Vilsack can hit the ground running. Adding the Secretary understands many of the issues before Northwest producers.

The new era of climate mitigation on the farm would look like a beefed-up version of longstanding USDA conservation programs, augmented by a carbon bank that sets a floor price for carbon sequestration and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, said leaders of the Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA) on Wednesday. “That’s what we’ve modeled it after,” said Chuck Connor, a founding member of the alliance and a former deputy agriculture secretary.

Prior to joining USDA, Harden was CEO of the National Association of Conservation Districts, providing national leadership for thousands of conservation districts across the nation.

Applications are now open until April 12, 2021. NYCALC will take place online from July 5 - July 29, 2021. Sessions will be held on Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday from 2pm-6pm EST. The week of July 19th will be offline to accommodate community engagement projects.

The Future We Desire: A resilient, restorative, economically viable, and climate-smart agricultural system that produces abundant and nutritious food, natural fiber, and clean energy for a sustainable, vibrant, and prosperous America.

Award-winning, conservation-minded landowners will soon be sharing their knowledge by serving as mentors for historically underserved farmers and ranchers.

By a 92-7 vote Tuesday, the Senate confirmed former Iowa Governor and two term Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack to head the USDA yet again. There was really no debate Tuesday, but there was some bipartisan praise from Senate Ag chair Debbie Stabenow and ranking committee member John Boozman.

Washington’s long-held restriction on public utilities offering public broadband service directly to residents is one step closer to being overturned after the House voted 60-37 to pass the Public Broadband Act (HB 1336).

The Agriculture Department said that after a detailed investigation, it found no evidence that someone was trying to harm U.S. agriculture. The report concluded the seeds were likely part of an internet scam to help a seller boost its search results.

In "More Than Meets the Eye? The Role of Annual Ornamental Plants in Supporting Pollinators," Emily Erickson presents the findings of a 2-year field study and describes pollinator visitation to a variety of popular annual ornamental plants.

For the first time in the organization’s 102-year history, the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) 2021 annual convention was held virtually. More than 8,000 people registered for the online event, surpassing attendance records of all prior in-person annual conventions.

Private forestland owners in Oregon’s Wasco County are encouraged to reduce the risk of wildfire and improve their forest health with help from the NRCS. The restoration effort, called the Central Wasco County All-Lands Project, is funded by the Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Initiative, a partnership between NRCS and the Forest Service. The overall goal is to reduce the risk of wildfires on both public and private lands.

Negotiations continue on legislation dealing with the agricultural overtime issue. An alternative version of SB 5172 passed out of the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee by last Monday’s deadline. Unfortunately, the amended bill is not supported by agriculture and came out of committee on a party-line vote, but at least we have a bill that is still moving through the process and made the deadline.

The U.S. Interior Department is delaying and reviewing the Trump administration’s last-minute roll-back of federal protections for the imperiled northern spotted owl, which called for slashing protections from millions of acres of Northwest forests.

In an interview with CPR News, Neguse said he plans to use the post to shift the federal approach on wildfire prevention. As one of his first actions, he introduced a bill for a 21st Century Conservation Corps, which would direct more than $40 billion to protect public lands and hire a new generation of forest managers. He hopes Biden makes it a part of an expected infrastructure package.

“A lot of these practices, while they may be good, aren’t always free or they require some investment or they require some new knowledge,” said Bonnie.