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Calf
Pixabay

Accelerate regenerative agriculture

American Farmland Trust recently featured this article in their eNews and linked some of its points to work they are doing to be more inclusive (Women for the Land Initiative) and focus on healthy soils, farm/ranch viability, and climate change. Is that something you or your land trust finds interesting? If so, you could do the same.

Farmers and ranchers manage nearly one billion acres of the land in the United States — working lands that can serve as a natural carbon sink by drawing down atmospheric carbon dioxide and storing it in plants and soils. However, these working lands face threats from land degradation because of historical and common farming practices. Over time…

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Dragonfly
Unsplash

Berks County landmark hill preserved from development

Keeping climate change in the news, and linking it to conservation, doesn't have to be overt all the time. Notice how climate change is mentioned in this story — almost in passing. Depending on your strategy, this can be an effective way to build trust and climate awareness.

“As you cross the Schuylkill River traveling east on Route 422 from Reading toward Pottstown, two hills rise above the horizon to the south: Gibraltar Hill and Seidel Hill. Gibraltar Hill’s 234 acres in Robeson and Cumru townships were conserved by Natural Lands in 2014. The second mountain in Robeson Township, the 103-acre Seidel Hill, was recently preserved…”

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Rancher With Cattle
Judy Anderson

FACT SHEET: The American Jobs Plan

The American Jobs Plan proposal would significantly boost community infrastructure as well as jobs — many of which would support long-term investments in conservation and reduce the impacts and pace of climate change. Is your local land conservation group following this?

“While the American Rescue Plan is changing the course of the pandemic and delivering relief for working families, this is no time to build back to the way things were. This is the moment to reimagine and rebuild a new economy. The American Jobs Plan is an investment in America that will create millions of good jobs, rebuild our country’s infrastructure, and position the United States to out-compete China. Public domestic investment as a share of the economy has fallen by more than 40 percent since the 1960s. The American Jobs Plan will invest in America in a way we have not invested since we built the interstate highways and won the Space Race…”

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No Till Farming
Jason Johnson, USDA NRCS Iowa

Tillage: an overview

Over time, tillage wreaks havoc on the health of the soil and all of the critters that support a flourishing and productive farm ecosystem...

Tillage is defined as the mechanical manipulation of the soil for the purpose of crop production affecting significantly the soil characteristics such as soil water conservation, soil temperature, infiltration and evapotranspiration processes.

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Tomatoes
Judy Anderson

Some thoughts on no-till farming

Climate change messaging focuses on shared values and providing solutions. The Taos Land Trust has leaned into communicating about climate change, community conservation, and landscape protection. There isn't just one solution; regional differences will be a factor.

It is time to learn a new way of farming, or perhaps an old way — a way that nature has been trying to teach us since the beginning.

But first, you may be curious why tilling is such a problem. Over time, tillage wreaks havoc on the health of the soil and all of the critters that support a flourishing and productive farm ecosystem…

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Mossy Trees
Pixabay

Finding the Mother Tree: An evening with Susan Simard

Have you read about Dr. Suzanne Simard's research? I personally find it totally cool. Now you can sign up for a free webinar and listen to her directly. I hope you will join me...
Upcoming webinar event
Wednesday, June 16 
7:00-8:30 PM EST

In her first book, Finding the Mother Tree, Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths — that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complicated, interdependent circle of life; that forests are social, cooperative creatures connected through underground networks by which trees communicate their vitality and vulnerabilities with communal lives not that different from our own.​

The Western New York Land Conservancy is thrilled to host Dr. Simard for a live-streamed virtual event. Finding the Mother Tree: An Evening with Suzanne Simard will include a presentation on her pioneering work and a conversation.

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Happy Farmers
Rachel Leathe/Bozeman Chronicle

American Farmland Trust calls on the Biden administration to protect and conserve 30% of working farmland and ranchland to achieve 30×30

It would be helpful if you shared on social media and reached out to your representatives to say how much you support the 30 x 30 effort — and to let them know it's important that they help counter misinformation. American Farmland Trust has a good post you can read here.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, American Farmland Trust released “Agriculture’s Role in 30×30: Partnering with Farmers and Ranchers to Protect Land, Biodiversity, and the Climate” outlining agriculture’s critical role in the effort to “conserve at least 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030” as put forth in the Biden administration’s January 27, 2021, Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. AFT’s recommendations make it clear that we urgently need to both permanently protect five percent of vulnerable working lands from being converted to development and support landowners’ voluntary efforts to implement conservation practices on an additional twenty-five percent of working lands, particularly in biodiversity hotspots, key connectivity corridors and areas with high carbon sequestration potential.

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Dolphins
NRDC website

30 x 30: NRDC’S commitment to protect nature and life on earth

This initiative provides a ray of hope into our collective efforts to conserve what has become even more important to our communities during the pandemic.

“To prevent mass extinctions and bolster resilience to climate change, scientists warn that we must protect at least 30 percent of our lands, rivers, lakes, and wetlands by 2030. At the same time, we must also fully and highly protect at least 30 percent of our oceans by 2030 to help safeguard marine ecosystems and fisheries that provide food, jobs, and cultural sustenance to billions around the world.

We have the tools to create a better, healthier future for our planet—and ourselves—but we must act now…”

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Butterflies
Yichuan Cao/Nur Photo/Getty Images

Biden enlists ranchers, tribes (and land trusts) to conserve 30% of land and water

There's a misinformation campaign ramping up, and we need your help to put it to rest. Please share articles that depict the truth about the 30 x 30 campaign, here in the U.S. It's not a land-grab. It's not all public land. It's not going to wipe out communities. Just the opposite. The vision is collaborative, voluntary, and inclusive.

The Biden administration is unveiling a plan to conserve 30% of U.S. lands and waters by the end of the decade, a top priority for environmentalists who see the initiative as a way to fight climate change and safeguard species on the brink of extinction.

“The conservation value of a particular place should not be measured solely in biological terms, but also by its capacity to purify drinking water, to cool the air for a nearby neighborhood,” or “to provide a safe outdoor escape for a community that is park-deprived,” the report says.

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Sheep For Solar

How to have your solar farm and keep your regular farm, too

We are losing farmland at an alarming rate, as noted by American Farmland Trust. Dual-use, or "compatible solar", depending on how it is designed, could help provide needed farm income AND improve soil health, sequester carbon, and diversify the operation over time. You can help promote dual-use and counter what is becoming more of a "not in my backyard" response. Solar can't just go on rooftops and parking lots and dumps. It's going to have to also go on open land. So, rather than cutting down forests, let's ensure solar installations are working with agriculture.

You may appreciate this short news clip from NPR

Clean, abundant solar power comes with a price. It requires lots of land, and in some places that’s provoking opposition from people who want to preserve farmland.

In southern New Jersey, for instance, a company called Dakota Power Partners wants to build an 800-acre solar power station, and the Pilesgrove Township planning board is hearing from local citizens who don’t like it one bit…

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