The centerpiece of Camp Binachi is this 250-seat dining hall with its distinct A-frame shape. Surrounded by green grass and beautiful pines, it is a truly picturesque scene year-round.

Camp Binachi is a Boy Scouts of America camp located in rural Lauderdale County, Mississippi, that focuses on teaching scouts about ecology and the conservation of natural resources. In 2005 Hurricane Katrina caused severe damage to Camp Binachi, which is managed by the Choctaw Area Council. But the council was able to get assistance from USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to reconstruct the damaged areas. Read more »

Front Row: Cheryl Zwingman-Bagley, CNO; Suzanne Crawford, Board Vice Chair; Michael K. Lally, CEO; Virginia Manuel, USDA Rural Development State Director; Mona Van Wart, Breast Cancer Survivor; Back Row: Camela Deschene, Director of Practice Management; Kristi Saunders, Director Human Resources and Compliance; Bonny Beausoleil, Mammographer; Bernie McAdam, CFO; DeeDee Travis, Director Community Relations, Development and Customer Service.

On the first day of October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2010, USDA Rural Development and Calais Regional Hospital came together with the mission of saving lives. The hospital’s outdated mammography machine was being replaced with a state-of- the-art digital mammography machine, funded in part by a $200,000 USDA Rural Development Community Facilities grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Read more »

The CEO and employees of the Madison Telephone, LLC, the engineering firm and construction firm representatives, local, county and state elected officials break ground on a broadband project that will bring jobs and opportunity to part of rural Kansas.

Greenwood County, Kansas is a fragile rural economy.  Despite the current challenges of outmigration, unemployment and economic resources a bold step was taken recently as Madison Telephone, LLC broke ground to begin construction of a Fiber-to-the-Premises project in its certified service area, which includes the communities of Madison and Lamont. Read more »

Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) employees at the unveiling of the sign for the BARC Student Discovery Garden.

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA’s rich science and research portfolio. Read more »