News Feature                                                            4/24/2009

NRCS Chief Dave White Celebrates Earth Day And Honors Driftless Area Volunteers At Decorah Event

Dave White, chief of the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) joined USDA employees and other supporters of the Driftless Area Initiative (DAI) on April 24 to celebrate Earth Day and National Volunteer week at the Iowa DNR Siewers Springs Fish Hatchery.

Chief White noted his pleasure that youth from North Winneshiek School assisted with the event and revised his speech to acquaint them, and the other 150 attendees, with the the history of U.S. soil conservation. He described how the father of soil conservation and first director of the Soil Erosion Service, Hugh Hammond Bennett, testified before a congressional committee as a giant dust storm hit Washington D.C. in May of 1934.

The DAI, first formed in 2002, includes more than 45 local, state and federal groups which share a common goal of protecting, enhancing and promoting the four-state area. The initiative is led by six Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D organizations in this unique region including nearly 24,000 square miles of the upper Mississippi River including parts of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The event celebrated DAI work in the four states to develop strong partnerships and important projects of regional significance in support of natural resource conservation, sustainable rural economic development, and strengthened community identify and vitality.

DAI partners thanked the three NRCS State Conservationists in attendance for targeting millions of Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) financial assistance dollars to put conservation on the ground, protect fragile ecosystems and improve water quality in the Driftless Area. The State Conservationists included William Hunt, of Minnesota, Rich Sims of Iowa, and Patricia Leavenworth of Wisconsin.

“Several partners have worked together on DAI. A good example of this effort was with the development of the 2007 DAI strategic plan,” said William Hunt, state conservationist in Minnesota.

Afternoon activities included hatchery tours, eagle watching with raptor expert Bob Anderson, fly fishing and fly tying demonstrations conducted by the Driftless Chapter of Trout Unlimited, bike rides of the new Trout Run Trail provided by River and Trails Outfitters of Decorah, geo-caching and van tours of Driftless Area Features.

Event partner sponsors for this year’s event included the DAI, Northeast Iowa RC&D and Iowa NRCS, Winneshiek County Soil and Water Conservation District, Winneshiek County Conservation Board, The Nature Conservancy, Allamakee SWCD, Fayette SWCD, Howard SWCD, Decorah Park and Recreation, Luther College, Clayton SWCD, River and Trail Outfitters and the Driftless Chapter of Trout Unlimited and North Winneshiek School 7th and 8th grade classes.

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