Conservation Planning Training a Success

Recently, 21 natural resource professionals gathered from all six of the New England states for a conservation planning training held by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Durham, New Hampshire.  The attendee’s were employees of the NRCS, Conservation Districts and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Technical Services Providers (TSP).

During the week-long course in August, participants crafted conservation plans for the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Organic Dairy in Lee, New Hampshire.  The training session was hosted at the research farm by Kevin Brussell.  The Organic Dairy was a perfect site for the course as it has an educational mission.

“It was a great networking experience for employees as young and seasoned natural resource professionals from various backgrounds learned from each other,” said District Conservationist Rachel Phillips-Tibbetts, who helped organize and conduct the course.
 

"I was impressed with how much knowledge the attendees came with when some really hadn’t been involved in conservation planning before. This course was very successful in raising their awareness level of natural resources issues and how conservation planning can be used to address those resource concerns."

Conservation planning is an essential part of conserving natural resources. It focuses on the natural resource systems and ecological processes that sustain the resources. The conservation planner strives to balance natural resource issues involving soil, water, air, plants and animals with energy, economic and social needs of humans. Conservation planning really is all about solving problems on the land, and how to prevent the problems.

The central part of the (NRCS) assistance is through helping people develop and implement a conservation plan for their working lands.  The conservation planning process helps you identify natural resource challenges and opportunities on your operation.  A conservation plan can be the road-map you can use to meet your individual conservation objectives and keep a record of your decisions regarding the management of your land.
 

Conservation planning is important because it is the building blocks and a crucial element of resource sustainability and helps to conserve natural resources.  Conservation planning also helps landowners, communities, and planners work together to identify their resources and accomplish multiple objectives that are best for the land, water, wildlife and people.
 

To find out more about conservation planning, visit New Hampshire NRCS on the web at: Conservation Planning

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