By Suzanne Pender, NRCS

On a tour of Gully Branch Tree Farm, in Bleckley, Georgia, NRCS leaders and partners witnessed first-hand the benefits of the new Forestry Incentives Initiative of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). Through conservation activities including woodland management, prescribed burning, cultivation of native plants, and pond management, Earl and Wanda Barr have created habitat for diverse wildlife species on their land.

The Barrs have been extensively recognized for their work and won the 2010 Georgia Governor’s Agriculture Stewardship Award. As foresters and committed conservationists, the Barrs have provided educational programs at their farm for over 7,000 students throughout the years, using the forest as a classroom.

NRCS Regional Assistant Chief Leonard Jordan, NRCS State Conservationist James E. Tillman, Sr. and partners from the local Soil and Water Conservation District, the Georgia Forestry Commission, the Wild Turkey Federation, and others toured the farm and saw conservation in action. Red cockaded woodpeckers followed our wagon in the early morning mist, as we viewed native plants as groundcover, a future silvopasture site, nesting habitat and wetland area.

At one moment in the middle of the forest, we all closed our eyes to fully appreciate the symphony of diverse bird songs. Their song of conservation was brought to life in one of the largest forestry states in the country. Forests are home to 900 species of wildlife and 3,600 species of plants filter water and air and provide thousands of products.

Foresters and Conservationists Earl and Wanda Barr take NRCS and conservation partners on a tour of Gully Branch Tree Farm, Georgia.

Friday, a beautiful spring day in Pennsylvania, it was my pleasure to welcome Secretary Vilsack and his wife Christy to Pennsylvania for a tour and rural discussion. We started the day at Middletown Biofuels for a facility tour along with Congressman Tim Holden and other local and state officials. Middletown Biofuels recently received over $17,000 from USDA for producing biodiesel fuel from soybean oil. The facility is located in the heart of Pennsylvania’s agricultural industry, providing ready access to soybean and other vegetable oil feedstocks.  We then traveled to the state capitol in Harrisburg where the Secretary announced that in Pennsylvania, the Recovery Act has guaranteed $35.6 million in business loans that are expected to save or create more than 450 jobs. In total, USDA has provided loan guarantees to 350 U.S. businesses in the last seven months that will create or save nearly 23,500 jobs. Read more »

By Suzanne Pender, NRCS

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution recognizing the 75th anniversary of the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS).

The Senate Concurrent Resolution (S. Con. Res. 62) congratulates the outstanding professional public servants, both past and present, of the NRCS as it celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Ranking Member Frank Lucas of Oklahoma introduced the House version of this resolution, which is co-sponsored by 17 other Members of Congress.

In 1935, Congress established NRCS in response to the Dust Bowl, a disaster that devastated vast stretches of the nation. Originally known as the Soil Conservation Service, the agency’s name changed to the Natural Resources Conservation Service in 1994 to more accurately reflect its role in protecting all natural resources – soil, air, water, plants and animals.

NRCS provides technical and financial assistance to landowners at a local level, recognizing the diverse needs across the country and the unique concerns in each local area. There is a NRCS field office in almost every county in the United States, and the staff in those offices helps local communities carry out thousands of conservation projects, translating into opportunities for job creation and increased investment in local communities.

“The United States depends as much today on productive soils and an abundant, high-quality water supply as we did 75 years ago, and given the agricultural and environmental challenges we face, these programs are more important than ever” Chairman Peterson said. “With this resolution we salute the NRCS professionals, both past and present, who have worked alongside America’s local farmers and ranchers for 75 years to help preserve our essential natural resources.”

“Farmers were conserving long before it became a celebrated trend to ‘go green.’  They have always had a vested interest in preserving the land that provides for them,” said Ranking Member Lucas. “Partnering with NRCS, our producers are provided the science and technical assistance to implement the most advanced conservation practices in the world.”

The House passed the resolution honoring the 75th anniversary of NRCS by a voice vote.

NRCS joined the Ohoopee Conservation District and the Pine Country Resource Conservation and Development Council (RC&D) to celebrate and honor Mr. Jim L. Gillis, Jr., — at 93, the longest serving conservation district board member in the Nation. NRCS Regional Assistant Chief Leonard Jordan presented Mr. Gillis with a unique art glass recognizing his 70 years of conservation leadership.

Mr. Gillis was a founding member of the Ohoopee River Soil and Water Conservation District and remains its Chairman to this day. He was also an inaugural member of the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) Hall of Fame. Mr. Gillis witnessed the early days of NRCS, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.

While relaxing in a rocking chair on the back porch of a pond house, and inside by the fireplace, he shared knowledge from his 70-year career and insights on founder and conservation legend Hugh Hammond Bennett. He reminisced about the conservation challenges and solutions from the Great Depression to today, and shared his thoughts about future challenges such as energy production and water conservation. Donnie Smith, Director of the Center for Agriculture Innovation, personally delivered a proclamation from the Governor designating Conservation Day in Georgia.

Mr. Gillis manages over 12,000 acres of timberland, and is well respected throughout the Southeast for his timber management program. It was indeed our honor to thank this conservation legend for all that he’s done for the natural resources of Georgia.

NRCS Regional Assistant Chief Leonard Jordan (left) learns from 70 years of conservation experience of Jim. L. Gillis, Jr. (right)

Jim. L. Gillis relaxing in a rocking chair.

 Blog by Dr. Lynn Harvey, Ed.D., RD, LDN, FADA
Section Chief, Child Nutrition Services, Division of School Support,
NC Department of Public Instruction 

As part of the celebration, students demonstrated what they do all year, to not only achieve the Healthier US School Challenge nutrition standards, but also the physical side… they planted seeds in the school garden as they got instruction from a local farmer; they honed their match skills by spending money (school-issued currency) to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables at their produce stand; they played Food Pyramid Scramble (yes, running and squatting was involved….just ask USDA Food and Nutrition Branch Chief, Jane Mandel, and Southeast Regional Administrator Donald Arnette who ran the race in business clothes!) 

Cross-posted from the White House OSTP Blog by Robynn Sturm

In unveiling the Childhood Obesity Task Force action plan earlier today, First Lady Michele Obama underscored the need to “marshal every resource” to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation. Two new partnerships announced today as part of the Apps for Healthy Kids competition will give Americans across the country a chance to join the First Lady in her Let’s Move! campaign—and to help give kids the healthy lives they deserve.

Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it would partner with the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) to host game jams on the weekend of May 21-23 in major U.S. cities, including Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Atlanta. The game jams will draw game developers, graphic artists, and local youth together to brainstorm ideas and produce video game prototypes from scratch in just 48 hours. The prototypes will be displayed at the sixth annual Games for Health Conference, further refined, and ultimately submitted to theApps for Healthy Kids competition before that competition’s June 30th deadline. You can find out more about jams near you on the Health Games Challenge website.

Launched by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the White House Office of the First Lady, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on March 10, 2010, the Apps for Healthy Kids competition challenges software developers, game designers, students, and other innovators to develop innovative, fun, and engaging tools and games that help kids and their parents to eat better and be more physically active.

The game jams—which will be scheduled in a number of additional cities soon—will be great opportunities for amateur and experienced game developers to collaborate on competition entries and refine their creations before submitting them. But you don’t need to travel to join in creative collaboration! Developers across the country can now get targeted feedback from the toughest of critics—tweens—anytime and anywhere. Recognizing that kids can’t be beat when it comes to judging whether a game will capture the imagination of their peers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has partnered with Numedeon, Inc. to create a space within the virtual world Whyville.net where hundreds of thousands of tweens will be able to play, rate, and submit feedback to Apps for Healthy Kids contestants. Developers seeking feedback can post their game prototypes in the Whyville Game Arcade.

By creating opportunities for our nation’s most creative and talented innovators to work together and with our nation’s children, the two new partnerships announced today will maximize the number of high-quality submissions throughout the remaining 60 days of the Apps for Healthy Kids contest.

Robynn Sturm is Advisor for Open Innovation to the Deputy Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy