NACD Tribal Outreach and Partnership RPG Tribal Association Meetings 2017 - 2018

NACD Tribal Outreach and Partnership RPG Funded through a Cooperative Agreement between NACD and NRCS

What is NACD? NACD is the National Association of Conservation Districts.  NACD represents some 3000 Conservation Districts across the country and U.S. territories. This includes Tribal Conservation Districts.

What is a Conservation District? Conservation districts are local public entities (subdivisions of their state government) directed by volunteer, unpaid, elected local boards of supervisors. Their job is to assist landowners and land users in natural resource conservation and management, on a voluntary basis.

What do Conservation Districts do? Local districts bring technical and financial resources and services to local landowners and land users to practice conservation and natural resources protection on their working lands.

What do Conservation Districts do? Conservation districts can help to bring resources - technical and financial - to partnerships with tribes, through their own district resources, state resources and federal partner resources.  USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) delivers federal Farm Bill and other conservation programs and services through local conservation districts.

What do Conservation Districts do? By working together, local tribes and conservation districts can leverage funding and complement technical and other resources to help engage landowners and land users both on tribal and non-tribal lands in natural resources protection programs.  Resources can be shared to expand our conservation work locally across boundaries.

Agreement Tasks Conduct activities to advance the delivery of conservation technical assistance to Native American customers. Identify and share among states and tribes current successful partnerships between tribes and conservation districts, partner state agencies and others involved in conservation work.

RPG Tasks Identify NACD member states where conservation districts, their state associations, and state partners wish to engage in partnership opportunities with tribes. Offer opportunities to review local/tribal/state issues; learn from each other; offer suggestions for working together.

Proposed Outcomes Put more conservation on the ground. Increase customer service, and improve techniques for delivering conservation services, to Native American customers. Achieve a better understanding by partners of one another. Improve success in accomplishing shared conservation goals and objectives.

Participating States NACD Region State Northern Plains Northeast North Central Southeast Southwest South Central Pacific Montana Maine Wisconsin Alabama Arizona and New Mexico Oklahoma Washington

State Representatives Appointed Representative Montana Maine Wisconsin Alabama Arizona New Mexico Oklahoma Washington Ross Racine Ernie Neptune Greg Baneck Patty Lambrecht Sadie Lister Tomas Mendez Ed Mouss Tanna Engdahl

Participating Partners Appointed Representative NRCS NASCA NCDEA Roylene Rides-at-the-Door (WA) Trey Lam (OK) Duane Vanhook (NC) and Tom Salzer (OR)

RPG Leadership and Staff Michael Crowder (WA), Chair Tanna Engdahl (WA) Vice-Chair Jeff Burwell, NACD staff David Vogel, NACD Advisor

RPG Focus To-Date Solicit examples of successful partnering between tribes and conservation districts, their state associations, state agencies and others doing conservation work. Learn what is underway. Share and celebrate partnership success stories. Assist NACD members, traditional partners, and new tribal partners in putting additional conservation on the ground through these partnerships.

RPG Actions Set venues (NACD meetings, state association, tribal, partner meetings) to showcase and celebrate successful partnership examples. Publish success stories. Provide guidance on most effective channels for communicating opportunities for cooperation and partnership-building.

NACD NEWS Continue Reading NACD’s newest Tribal RPG publishes first success story by Dave Vogel. NACD established the Tribal Outreach and Partnership (TOP) Resource Policy Group (RPG) at the 2017 Annual Meeting in Denver to assist conservation districts across the country in reaching out to and partnering with tribes on conservation projects. Among the TOP RPG’s main objectives is to promote successful outreach and partnership efforts on… [...] Continue Reading

RPG Actions Engage with national, regional and local tribal organizations and associations to establish communication and to assist in promoting partnerships. Identify common interests and foundations upon which to build such partnerships. Develop working models for successful outreach and partnership-building between tribes and conservation districts.

What are YOU Doing? Do you have an example of successful outreach and partnership between your tribe and neighboring conservation district? What did you accomplish together? Why is this example important to the tribe? What mutual objectives do you have? How did you get started?

What are YOU Doing? What barriers did you need to overcome to create trust and mutual respect? How did you overcome these barriers? What exactly did you share in accomplishing your mutual objectives? Who may be contacted for additional information?

RPG Goals for 2018 Present example(s) of success stories in outreach and partnerships between tribes and conservation districts – told by the partners themselves. Engage with tribal associations and organizations to promote partnerships in conservation.

RPG Goals for 2018 Encourage NACD regions to establish a process to recognize conservation districts and tribes who work together in partnership to put conservation on the ground.

NACD Tribal Outreach and Partnership RPG How can the NACD Tribal Outreach and Partnership RPG help your tribe create partnerships to put conservation on the ground?

NACD Tribal Outreach and Partnership RPG Michael Crowder, RPG Chair And NACD 2nd Vice President Washington State michaelcrowder@frontier.com