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Members of the Family Farm Alliance and
partners in the conservation community
will play a strong role in upcoming
regional meetings set to take place next
week in Oregon and Arizona.
Regional meetings seeking public input
on natural resource policy issues will
take place Tuesday, March 15 at the
Polytechnic Campus, Arizona State
University in Mesa and Friday, March 18,
at the Smith Memorial Student Union on
the campus of Portland State University,
Portland, Ore. The meetings are
scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
and are open to anyone with an interest
in natural resource conservation policy
issues.
Several Family Farm Alliance
representatives - Dick Moss
(CALIFORNIA), Dan Thelander and Brian
Betcher (ARIZONA), Marc Thalacker
(OREGON) and Executive Director Dan
Keppen (OREGON) - will be featured
panelists at the regional workshops.
As required by Congress in the Soil and
Water Resources Conservation Act (RCA),
the U.S. Department of Agriculture is to
gather public input on natural resource
conservation policy issues. The overall
goal of this effort is to improve
delivery of conservation services to
landowners and communities, as well as
to expand participation in conservation
programs.
At each regional forum, discussion will
focus on three broad topic areas: water
security, climate variability and
landscape integrity. A panel of invited
speakers will present comments, followed
by open discussion with forum
participants.
Panelists confirmed to provide
perspectives on water security at the
Portland meeting are Joe Whitworth of
The Freshwater Trust; Marc Thalacker of
Three Sisters Irrigation District; and
Dick Moss of Provost & Pritchard.
Discussing climate variability will be
Dan Keppen of the Family Farm Alliance,
and David Ervin of Portland State
University. Landscape integrity issues
will be the topic for Jennifer Allen of
Portland State University and Michael
Powelson of The Nature Conservancy.
Also invited to discuss landscape
integrity issues is Michael Jim Stone, a
Montana farmer.
There is no fee to attend the regional
meetings but registration is requested.
To register, go to
www.farmfoundation.org and
follow the link from the item on the
home page.
Input is sought on specific natural
resource conservation issues and
economic and public policy issues
related to agriculture and rural
America, including: 1) natural resource
status and trends; 2) emerging
challenges; 3) emerging opportunities;
and 4) long-term impacts on natural
resource conditions and food, fuel, and
fiber production.
Family Farm Alliance President Patrick
O'Toole (WYOMING) serves on a Blue
Ribbon Panel of nationally-recognized
thought leaders in soil and water
conservation and agricultural landscapes
to contribute to the regional and
national meetings.
"We will be joined by some of key
conservation partners, including The
Nature Conservancy and Freshwater Trust,
and I believe the collective message
will one of support for incentive-driven
conservation programs, more local and
state control, and streamlined
implementation on on-the-ground
activities," said O'Toole.
Information from the six regional forums
will feed into a national agricultural
landscapes conference planned April 7-8,
2011, at the Marriott Metro Center,
Washington, D.C. Forums have already
been conducted in Rock Island
(ILLINOIS), Cobleskill (NEW YORK), and
Ft. Collins (COLORADO).
Details on each of the forums are
available on the Farm Foundation Web
site,
www.farmfoundation.org. This
project is organized by USDA in
collaboration with Farm Foundation, NFP
and American Farmland Trust.
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