BLM/NACD Sign Agreement to Manage and Protect Federal and Private Land and Waters

The National Association of Conservation Districts and the Bureau of Land Management signaled the beginning of a new cooperative working relationship during a special ceremony at the recent NACD Annual Meeting in Fort Worth, Texas.

In a highlight at one of the meeting's general sessions, outgoing NACD President Rudy Rice and BLM Assistant Director for Communications Larry Finfer signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the NACD and BLM.

The MOU "is intended to form a framework for cooperation that supports common goals and interests in managing, developing and protecting federal and private land and water resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner, consistent with applicable statutory and regulatory requirements."

The agreement notes that NACD provides guidance and advice on conservation practices on private lands and has common interests with adjacent federal land managers on joint resource conservation projects.

"Many of the BLM's field offices have MOUs and cooperative agreements in place with local conservation districts. Developing an MOU on a national level is expected to enable the BLM to broaden and strengthen these relationships and further our conservation efforts," Finfer said during the ceremony.

The MOU is expected to help the BLM as it pursues, along with the USDA Forest Service, a cohesive strategy to reduce the threat of wildfires throughout the West. Most of the BLM land in the western states is in a checkerboard ownership, or in larger blocks of land with inter-mixed ownerships. This presents a challenge in addressing land management issues. "Through NACD and other partners, the federal agencies can be far more effective in implementing a landscape approach to fuel hazard reduction," Finfer added. "This will greatly increase the effectiveness of the treatments, while also addressing landscape-level soil, water and sensitive species concerns. NACD can help to bridge this critical gap to local landowners and the community."

Noting that NACD is the national model of locally led conservation efforts, the BLM statement also cited the opportunities for cooperation in addressing issues of erosion, stream temperatures, threatened and endangered aquatic species and related riparian species health and diversity.

As a result of the new MOU, BLM resource professionals will provide technical assistance to NACD through their participation with NACD resource committees. Cynthia Moses-Nedd has been named NACD liaison for BLM. She also serves as liaison with the National Association of Counties.

The MOU also outlines a plan for action at the local level, saying "the BLM will provide technical support and – through separate arrangements agreements – fiscal and administrative support to local conservation districts, as appropriate, in furtherance of its mission of managing the public lands."

MOUs will also be developed at other levels, such as BLM State Offices with state-level soil and water conservation agencies, and/or local BLM field offices with local conservation districts. "Those agreements will address specific issues of regional or local concern, but within the general parameters of this MOU," said Bill Horvath, NACD policy director. That effort will be under the direction of NACD's Forest Resources Committee. "It's the next logical step in fulfilling the MOU."

The BLM, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages more land -- 264 million surface acres -- than any other Federal agency. Most of this public land is located in 12 Western States, including Alaska. The Bureau, with a budget of about $1.8 billion and a workforce of some 9,000 full-time, permanent employees, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM preserves open space by managing the public lands for multiple uses, including outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, and mining, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources found on the public lands.