The National Assn. of Conservation Districts submitted detailed feedback last Tuesday on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's plan to reorganize.
Among NACD's chief concerns with the reorganization is how it may affect the millions of American landowners that rely on technical assistance and conservation planning provided by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and the nation's 3,000 conservation districts.
"In its current configuration, USDA has successfully engaged producers and landowners nationwide to identify and address their local natural resource concerns," NACD President Brent Van Dyke said. "We do not want to see the reorganization undermine this work or reduce capacity at NRCS."
For this reason, NACD asks USDA to accommodate NRCS' unique need for local offices now and throughout the reorganization process.
"NRCS' ability to create highly specialized conservation plans is only possible if NRCS offices are geographically close to producers and their operations," NACD CEO Jeremy Peters said. "Consolidating NRCS offices undercuts the local and personal aspect of conservation planning that is critical to conservation delivery and cannot be replicated or replaced by the private sector or technological improvements."
NACD also asks USDA to continue to solicit input from local conservation districts—which are often co-located with NRCS field offices—throughout the reorganization process as they would be directly affected by any USDA office closures or "administrative streamlining."