OACD Area IV Meeting (In-Person and Virtual Options)

OACD Area IV Meeting information from Sarah Blaney, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts:

Dear Area IV Conservation District Directors, Conservation District Employees, NRCS Employees,

and Partners,

On behalf of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts Board of Directors, I’d like to invite you to attend the OACD Area IV meeting on Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at the Caddo Kiowa Technology Center at Fort Cobb.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone this fall. The OACD Area Meetings are one of the two times per year where we can gather to share opportunities and challenges with each other.

Our agenda this year is designed to be more interactive with several options for small group discussions about important topics including the changes in the state legislature, climate and conservation, and why urban ag matters. As always, there will be important programmatic updates from our state partners at the Oklahoma Conservation Commission.

We do want to encourage you to invite your locally elected officials to attend. It is always a good idea to extend an invitation to them for the area meeting. It is one way that we can strengthen our relationship with our legislators and local officials.

The Area IV meeting will be hosted by the North Caddo Conservation District at the Caddo Kiowa

Technology Center located at 1415 N. 7th Street, Fort Cobb, OK. The in-person registration will open at 8:00 a.m., the Zoom room will open at 8:45 a.m. The meeting will begin at 9:00 a.m. and

end by 3:00 p.m.

Registration: The registration fee for in-person is $42. This includes lunch, breakfast, and printed materials. NRCS employees will register through the state office. NRCS will be directly billed for attendees. Guests, spouses, youth contest winner attendees wishing to attend the lunch must pay $15.00. We must know in advance how many will be attending the luncheon. After October 20, 2021,

no refunds will be made.

Youth Contests: The Youth Contests will be coordinated by the Employees Association. Send all posters, essays, along with entry forms for the speech contest to your OACDE Area Director, Amy Weathers, by October 14th. Do not send these entries to OACD or OCC. If you have questions concerning the youth contest, please contact Amy from North Caddo Conservation District at 405-542-3205 or Patty Underhill at the Caney Valley Conservation District at 918-214-4165. Please register each child attending the youth contest luncheon on your form. Your registration form is how we know what children are attending. We do not announce every winner only the ones that are attending in person. If you do not communicate that a youth contest winner will be present, their name will not be called at the awards ceremony. If you have late registrations for youth contest winners, text or email the first and last name and award to Sarah at 517-763-8609 or sarahblaney@okconservation.org Conservation Award Nominations: The Outstanding Conservation District award winners are

decided using the annual report that you submit to OCC on September 15, 2022. No extra application is required for Outstanding District. The prize for the Outstanding Conservation District is $2,500.

Please contact Sarah Blaney at sarahblaney@okconservation.org or 517-763-8609 with any area meeting questions.