OACD Area Meetings 2006

Meeting Highlights

Each year in November the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts sponsors Area Meetings at five locations in the state for local conservation districts in each region. Each Area Meeting was hosted by one or more conservation districts and cosponsored by the Oklahoma Conservation Commission. The theme for the meetings this year was “70 Years – And Still Going! Celebrating the approaching 70th anniversary of the Conservation District Enabling Act!”

Some discussion topics carried from one area to others, while some topics were meant specifically for one area. The meetings for northwest, southwest, central and northeast Oklahoma’s conservation district directors and employees included discussion of no-till agricultural methods, soil quality, changing demographics of the state population and roadside soil erosion. The demographics session carried to the Area V Meeting for southeast Oklahoma, while sessions on agritourism and the Poteau River Watershed Conservation Security Program replaced other topics.

At all Area Meetings, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service representatives discussed the tightening security requirements for any personnel using NRCS computers or accessing the Internet through a USDA connection. NRCS Acting State Conservationist Patricia Leavenworth attended several of the Area Meetings to discuss security issues, thank Oklahomans for their hospitality during her stay, and announce that Ron Hilliard would soon arrive from West Virginia to assume the position of NRCS state conservationist.

The Area Meetings include contests for youth in categories of speeches, essays and posters, cosponsored this year by Western Farmers Electric Cooperative. First place winners in the essay and poster contests and first and second place winners in the speech contest are eligible to compete at the state level during OACD’s Annual State Meeting to be held Feb. 25-27, 2006, in Oklahoma City.