Contacts: Mel Lloyd, 202-452-5031
Lisa Lerwick, 202-547-6223

BLM Renews Commitment to Conservation Districts

BLM Director Jim Caswell and Krysta Harden, NACD Chief Executive Officer, after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding.

The Bureau of Land Management renewed its commitment to work with Conservation Districts by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) on Monday, December 1, 2008. Through this MOU, first established in 2001, BLM Director Jim Caswell and Krysta Harden, NACD Chief Executive Officer, recommitted the BLM and NACD to a collaborative partnership that works toward achieving common goals in developing and wisely managing federal and private land and water resources.

"This MOU acts as a framework for promoting sound conservation principles both on the ground and at the national level," said Director Jim Caswell. "Partnering with Conservation Districts and working together on natural resource projects just makes sense."

"NACD shares the same objectives of environmentally and economically sound land management as the BLM," said NACD CEO Krysta Harden. "We too are committed to conserving and managing natural resources for long-term health and productivity."

At the national level, BLM resource professionals, through their participation on NACD resource committees, provide technical assistance to NACD as appropriate and, as a result, further BLM’s mission of public lands stewardship. At the local level, the BLM provides technical support, as well as fiscal and administrative assistance to local Conservation Districts through separate agreements. In exchange, NACD supports the efforts of local Conservation Districts by encouraging sound forest and rangeland management through the locally led conservation process. These efforts help in developing and implementing specific plans of action for cooperative conservation activities on private land that can, in turn, benefit neighboring public lands.

The BLM manages more land – 258 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 billion, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM’s multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on the public lands.

NACD is the non-profit organization that represents the nation's 3,000 conservation districts and 17,000 men and women who serve on their governing boards. For almost 70 years, local conservation districts have worked with cooperating landowners and managers of private working lands to help them plan and apply effective conservation practices. NACD's website is at www.nacdnet.org.

- BLM -