Arkansas Conservation Summit
Arkansas is a land blessed with tremendous soil and water resources that provide a multitude of beneficial and prosperous uses. It supports a highly productive and efficient agricultural system that annually accounts for $17 billion of value added to the State’s economy. Yet it still remains the “Natural State” as its scenic beauty and natural resources attract many outdoor enthusiasts and generates over $5.7 billion in tourism expenditures annually. Managing our State’s natural resources to sustain these beneficial uses for future generations is not without its challenges. Concerns over the sustainability of our natural resources and environment have evoked over the past decade an unprecedented volume of activity including a plethora of lawsuits, new State and Federal regulations and voluntary conservation programs such as USDA-NRCS’ Mississippi River Basin Healthy Waters Initiative (MRBI) . In fact, the Arkansas General Assembly passed legislation in 2011 authorizing the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission to update the State’s Water Plan. In response to this whirlwind of activity, the Arkansas Conservation Partnership is hosting the first annual Arkansas Conservation Summit with the goal of including more partners in a planning process to: 1) identify and prioritize natural resource and conservation concerns, 2) identify potential approaches to address concerns and 3) build dynamic and diverse issuebased work teams that work voluntarily with the Arkansas Conservation Partnership to develop strategies that promote conservation-based approaches to sustainability of our natural resources. It is anticipated that the Arkansas Conservation Summit will be a process that: 1) builds more diverse and synergistic issue-based partnerships among the public and private sectors, 2) promotes locally-led, voluntary conservation efforts as effective solutions to natural resource concerns and 3) builds consensus among participants We hope you will join us for this inaugural event aimed at strengthening our conservation efforts through the power of partnerships. We will meet from 1:30 – 3:30pm Thursday, November 14, 2013 at the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, 2301 South University Avenue, Little Rock, AR 72204. For more information contact Debbie Moreland at debbiepinreal@aol.com or call (501) 682-2915.
Debbie Moreland, AACD Co-Chair
Dr. Mike Daniels, UACES Co-Chair 101 East Capitol, Ste. 350 Little Rock, AR 72201