Tampa Hosts 2007 Soil and Water Conservation Society Annual Meeting   

Chief Lancaster was in Tampa, Florida, recently to participate at the Soil and Water Conservation Society 2007 Annual Meeting. The Chief, Soil and Water Conservation Society Executive Director Craig Cox, and top NRCS leadership were on hand to participate at a roundtable dealing with the role of Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) in technology development and transfer.

Chief Lancaster was also at the plenary session and spoke to the conference on the status of the upcoming Farm Bill and its implications for NRCS employees.  He also presented the 2006 award for top CIG proposal to the Watershed Agricultural Council, a conservation partnership in New York.  The presentation was made at the first NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) showcase at the meeting.

Following the meeting, Chief Lancaster toured the Longino Ranch to look at a number of conservation practices and systems and Carroll’s Nursery which featured innovative water management conservation practices.

The conference theme was Conservation Challenges in a Changing Landscape and included workshops, concurrent sessions, symposia, posters, plenary sessions, and technical tours designed to inform participants of recent developments in the science and art of natural resource conservation and environmental management on private lands — working farms, ranches, forests, and rural and urban communities.  Approximately 657 conservationists and educators from the United States, Canada, China, and other nations attended.
Your contact is Bob Stobaugh, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 352-38-9565.