For the Week of April 14-18, 2008 >> click here for the printer friendly version

In This Week's Edition . . .

• NACD membership
• IASWCD dues
• South-SE SWCD regional staff meeting
• SWCD poster contest
• Jasper County SWCD seeks watershed specialist
• Tippecanoe County SWCD seeks information
• Welcome to new county SWCD staff
• Henry County SWCD on the Web
• Equipment for sale or purchase
• 2009 IASWCD Annual Conference Call for Abstracts
• Welcome to the newest IASWCD staff member
• AgLearn Goes Far Beyond Mandatory Training
• Conservation Job Opportunity
• NAIP 2007 Geotiffs and county mosaics available for download
• Wetlands restoration site public/private partnership
• Jay Akridge named interim dean of Purdue Agriculture
• Upcoming Workshops / Seminars

A Report from the Executive Director, Jennifer Boyle

NACD Membership. Just a reminder to all SWCDs that your annual NACD membership is due. If you did not receive your letter and invoice, please email Naomi Watson, NACD, at Naomi-watson@nacdnet.net. Indiana continues to be one of the top supporting states to NACD, as is the North Central Region as a whole. Let’s continue to support NACD as they provide many benefits for Districts across the country.

IASWCD dues. Your IASWCD membership dues should arrive in the mail shortly. A special thanks to Fayette and Vigo counties for sending in their dues even before we asked! Please take the time to read over the important information in the dues brochure on how your dues support SWCD activities in the state.  We appreciate the continued support for your IASWCD. Click here to read the 2008 edition of Your District Dues at Work.

South-Southeast SWCD Regional Staff Meeting. The South-Southeast SWCD will hold a regional staff meeting on April 30th at the Jennings Co. Public Library in North Vernon at 9:30 a.m. This will be an opportunity to swap newsletters, annual reports and a discussion about awards. So . . . if your county is currently giving away local awards for county conservation, forestry, and education and has criteria set up, please bring or share this information. If you have any extra copies of annual reports please bring them along with any Stewardship Week materials, as some people have packets that are missing an item or two. Anyone who needs more information on this meeting can contact Tara Wessler-Henry by email or by telephone at 765.825.4311 ext. 109. Click here for the agenda.

SWCD Poster Contest. The IASWCD Auxiliary is once again sponsoring the NACD poster contest here in Indiana. The 2008 poster contest theme is Water is Life. The state deadline for entries is July 1 to the IASWCD office (225 S. East St. St. 740, Indianapolis, IN, 46202). All links and information on the poster contest is available from the IASWCD Web site – click here. If you have questions, contact Carol Droege.

District News / Exchange

• Jasper County SWCD Seeks Watershed Specialist. If you are a self-starter and passionate about water quality and conservation; your help is needed in Jasper County. The Jasper County SWCD is an aggressive Soil and Water Conservation District board located in Northwest Indiana that has created this county position to help shape local conservation efforts. Click here for the full job description. Resumes will be accepted until May 1.

• Tippecanoe County SWCD Seeks Information. The Tippecanoe County SWCD is considering reclassification of their Water Quality Educator position and seeks information relative to salaries of other water quality educators who are working with MS4s. If you or one of your employees are providing education for MS4s and you are comfortable in sharing that information, please drop Chris Remley an email. It would be very much appreciated.

• Welcome to New Staff in Tippecanoe County. The Tippecanoe County SWCD has two new people to welcome into our conservation community. Steve Nelson is the part-time urban conservation technician, and Megan Benage is serving as the rural conservationist. Welcome to the team!

• Henry County SWCD on the Web. Congratulations to the Henry County SWCD. They have a brand new Web site. Visit them at http://www.henrycountyswcd.com/. If you have questions about the site, contact Kellie Harding, kellie.harding@in.nacdnet.net.

• District Equipment for Sale or to Purchase:

• Morgan County SWCD has an 8-foot Kasco Krimper model KKL-8HD for sale used to firmly embed straw into soil. Reserve. Until May 30 send sealed bids to Morgan County SWCD, 180 S. Main St. Suite  002, Martinsville, IN 46151.
• Morgan County SWCD has a 2002 Yamaha Golf Cart for sale. Backseat/flip & footrest; safety bar; 80-inch top, 4 knobby tires, windshield. Reserve. Until May 30 send sealed bids to Morgan County SWCD, 180 S. Main St. Suite  002, Martinsville, IN 46151.
• Shelby County SWCD is looking to purchase a used no-till drill. If anyone is looking to sell one contact Jill Williams at 317.392.1394 ext. 3.

Reminder: 2009 Annual Conference – Call for Abstracts. A Call for Abstracts is being distributed around the state to generate renewed interest and expand our pool of speakers for the 2009 Annual Conference for Indiana SWCDs. Districts, individuals, universities, agencies, organizations and others are all eligible to submit an abstract. Most importantly, the deadline to submit an abstract is May 16, 2008. 

And Finally . . . New Staff Member Here at the IASWCD. Here in the office, we also welcome Jaclyn Casale who will be working as our project assistant. You can reach her at 317.692.7325.

Have a good week,
Jennifer

AgLearn Goes Far Beyond Mandatory Training

Of course AgLearn is critical in taking mandatory training but it also provides access to thousands of courses of instruction, as well as training records management services including your learning history, Individual Development Plan (IDP), skill assessments, and much more. Recently, SkillSoft licenses were
obtained that provides access to over 3,000 courses including:

• IT End User Skills include courses in Microsoft Office including Word,

• Excel, PowerPoint, plus many more!

• Business Skills curricula including Project Management, Leadership, Time

• Management, and Communication, just to name a few.

• IT Professional curricula such as software development, operating system and server technologies, Internet and network technologies, web design and much more!

• Personal Development with courses in retirement and financial planning, first aid, stress management, teleworking and many more designed for you.

AgLearn is accessible 24 / 7 from home or anywhere an Internet connection is available. The reporting capabilities allow the development of specialized curriculums to fit the needs of your association. It also allows for courses to be automatically added to individual learning plans.

More importantly training budget constraints are no longer an obstacle since these courses have been prepaid and are available at no additional cost to all Conservation District Partners registered in AgLearn.

Log on today and test drive the new streamlined catalog. AgLearn has made it easy to search for the right course for you. Find additional FAQ or view the tutorials by logging onto the AgLearn Web site. For assistance with eAuthentication password or login, contact the help desk via email or call 800.457.3642.

Conservation Job Opportunity

The IDNR Division of Nature Preserves is looking to fill an ecologist position to work with partners on Nature Preserve dedications, land acquisition opportunities, some environmental review and other duties with the National Heritage data center. Interested candidates can review the job description here and apply for the position via the Indiana State Personnel Department Search for Jobs with the State Government. Under Basic Job Search, click on “Advanced Search” and enter the ID number 556318 in the “JOB OPENING ID box” and hit “search” at the bottom left.

NAIP 2007 Geotiffs and County Mosaics available for download

The Indiana Geological Survey provided $1,200 to pay for the data transfer of the Indiana 2007 National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) geotiffs from the Farm Service Agency to Indiana University.  University Information Technology Services. Indiana University is providing these images for download from the Indiana Spatial Data Portal. Visit http://www.indiana.edu/~gisdata/07naip.html for more information regarding this data set. If you have any questions regarding, send an email to uitsgis@indiana.edu.

Wetlands Restoration Site a Public/Private Partnership

Yesterday Governor Mitch Daniels presented a check for $295,000 to the Vigo County Parks Commission helping to secure a 1,250 acre wetlands site along the Wabash River near West Terre Haute. These funds, in addition to public and private contributions from Vigo County Community Development along with other private contributions, have helped make this wetlands restoration project possible.

Jane E. Hardisty, Indiana NRCS State Conservationist, said $1.5 million in federal assistance will be used to create the wetland, with just over 691 acres enrolled into the USDA's Wetland Reserve Program (WRP).

These wetlands will continue to be an area conserved for migratory waterfowl and native plants and trees which will serve as education opportunities for local students and also offer recreational opportunities suck as hiking and biking trails, observation decks and a boat ramp.

Recreational opportunities such as hiking/biking trails, observation decks/areas, boat ramp and other recreational amenities will be incorporated into the park design on the non-federal WRP easement lands adjoining the property.  Environmental education opportunities will also exist for the students Vigo County School Corporation, Indiana State University, St. Mary of the Woods and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.  This area will be used as a research area for these local universities. The close proximity of this area to the City of Terre Haute will provide these students with easy access to the park.

The Vigo County Park and Recreation Department has also established opportunities through the Wabash Valley Community Foundation for private donations to be directed toward additional land purchases and management expenses surrounding this unique wetland area. This is a wonderful opportunity to involve local citizens, private industry, local, state and federal government agencies to work together to restore this large parcel of land to its original Indiana landscape condition through this permanent easement.

Jay Akridge named interim dean of Purdue Agriculture

Purdue University officials announced Tuesday that agricultural economist Jay T. Akridge will become interim dean of Purdue Agriculture. Akridge currently is serving as the university's interim vice provost for engagement.

As interim dean, he will assume the post vacated by Randy Woodson, who will be the university's new provost. Woodson was named provost on March 26, and the board of trustees ratified his appointment on April 11. Akridge and Woodson begin their new duties May 1.

Akridge's research has examined the buying behavior of commercial agricultural producers, management and marketing strategies of small agribusiness firms and adoption of precision agricultural technologies in the agribusiness industries. He has worked with agribusiness managers in the areas of strategy, finance and marketing in countries throughout the world.

Akridge earned his bachelor's degree in agriculture and business administration from Murray State University in 1982. He earned his master's and doctoral degrees in agricultural economics from Purdue in 1983 and 1986, respectively.