Pima Natural Resource Conservation District

NRCS Plant Materials Center

3241 N. Romero Road

Tucson, AZ 85705

March 24, 2018

NOTICE OF COMBINED PUBLIC MEETING

PIMA NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION DISTRICT (PIMA NRCD) BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

And

Pima Center for Conservation Education Board of Directors

Pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.02, notice is hereby given to the members of the Pima NRCD Board of Supervisors and to the general public that the Pima NRCD Board of Supervisors/PCCE Board of Directors will hold a meeting open to the public.

DATE: Tuesday March 27, 2018
Time: 12:30 PM
Location: USDA-NRCS Plant Materials Center, 3241 North Romero Road, Tucson, Arizona 85705

AGENDA

I. 12:30 PM Reception

II. 1:00 PM Call to order

III. Pledge of Allegiance

IV. Introductions

V. Educational Presentation by Mary Nichols regarding erosion studies in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. Mary presents a preliminary inventory of legacy surface-water runoff and erosion-control structures in a semiarid rangeland watershed in southern Arizona.

VI. Short break

VII. Approval of the minutes of February 27, 2018 meeting

VIII. Treasury

a. Financial Report

i. Income/expense statements

ii. Balance statements

b. Approval of Bills

i. Becky Hightower, from State funds

ii. Publishing expenses for election notices $88.29

iii. AACD 2018 Dues $1,200.00

iv. Meeting expenses for 3/27/18

IX. Action Items

X. Big cat resolution

XI. Final Approval & signatures, Long Range Plan

XII. Reports:

a. Program Administrator

i. Newsletter

ii. Other

b. Supervisors

c. Altar Valley Conservation Alliance

d. State Legislators

e. State agencies

f. NRCS

g. BLM

h. Forest Service

i. Other agencies

XIII. Call to the Public

XIV. Adjourn

Dated this day of March 23, 2018

Pima Natural Resource Conservation District

By

Cindy Coping, Chair

Persons with a disability may request a reasonable accommodation, such as a sign language interpreter, by contacting the district at https://pimanrcd.org/agency-contacts/ (scroll down to contact form). Requests should be made as early as possible to arrange the accommodation.

Attached please find a draft agenda for our Local Work Group Meeting to be held on April 11th, 2018. The meeting will be held at the Tucson PMC from 10 am – 12 pm located at 3241 N. Romero Rd in Tucson. If you need directions, please phone 520-989-5625.

The Local Work Group in our area includes the Pima, Santa Cruz and Winkelman NRCD’s. In addition, other professionals who represent relevant agricultural and conservation interests will be invited. Please feel free to pass this notice on to others that you think might be interested. The current contact list is located below.

If you are unable to attend the meeting but would like to give us input, please forward this input to Kristen Egen, District Conservationist at Kristen.egen

We would like at least one representative from each conservation district (Winkelman, Pima, Santa Cruz) at the meeting. The more individuals that can attend, the better input we will have for our Environmental Quality Incentives Program for FY2019.

PIMA, SANTA CRUZ, AND WINKELMAN LOCAL WORK GROUP

PUBLIC INPUT MEETING

APRIL 11, 2018 10 am– 12pm TUCSON PMC CONFERENCE ROOM

PURPOSE:

Provide a forum for the NRCD’s and NRCS to work collaboratively with local conservation stakeholders to strategically identify solutions to natural resource problems. Input gathered from this meeting will be used by NRCS when making decisions on focusing technical and financial assistance.

AGENDA

· Welcome and Introductions

· Introduction to the NRCS’s Conservation Implementation Strategy

· Review of recent applicants and the resource concerns addressed in the Tucson Field Office work area

· Review feedback from CIS submitted and work on changes for FY2019

· Review Local Questions from FY2018 and changes requested for FY2019

· Adjourn

Click here to view the meeting agenda for March 27, 2018

On March 27, 2018, the Pima NRCD will host an educational presentation by Dr. Mary Nichols, who has done studies on the historical and current erosion and gullying in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge.

Mary H. Nichols is a Research Hydraulic Engineer with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service in Tucson, AZ (since 1991). She has a Ph. D. in Engineering from New Mexico State University. Her research interests include rangeland soil and water conservation practices and their legacy effects on landscapes, the use of high resolution photography in natural resource management, and dryland fluvial geomorphology and landscape evolution.

Current projects include watershed restoration using low-tech rock check dams, quantifying rangeland watershed sediment yields, documenting and interpreting gullies and channel evolution in semiarid watersheds, and the use of ground based lidar for quantifying surface soil erosion processes.

 

winter 2018 newsletter

Pima Natural Resource Conservation District NRCS Plant Materials Center
3241 N. Romero Road
Tucson, AZ 85705
February 27, 2018
NOTICE OF PIMA NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION DISTRICT 2018 SUPERVISOR ELECTION
Notice is hereby given that pursuant to the provisions of the Natural Resource Conservation Districts Law of the State of Arizona, an election for the purpose of electing a Supervisor for the Pima Natural Resource Conservation District will be held on Saturday, the 5th day of May 2018, between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., at the polling place listed below:

1978 W Placita Colima
Tucson, Arizona 85704

The following two terms are to be filled by election on May 5, 2018: New 6-year Elective Term To Expire May 31, 2024

A candidate for Supervisor of the Pima Natural Resource Conservation District must reside within the District. Nomination Petitions may be obtained from the District Board of Supervisors. Completed write in petitions must be filed at least 30 days prior to the election, and regular nomination petitions submitted at least 10 days prior to the election with the Natural Resource Conservation Commissioner of the State Land Department,
1616 West Adams,
Phoenix, Arizona 85007.

“The governing body of the District may provide a mail ballot to a qualified District Elector for which it has a first class mailing address with the District governing body at least thirty (30) days prior to the date of the election. Qualified District electors who receive ballots I proper form from the District governing body may cast their votes by mail.” (A.R.S. 37-1051) To be counted, completed mail ballots must be received by the District Election Board before the closing of the poll on election day.

If a qualified District elector wishes to vote by mail, the elector’s request for a mail ballot must be made timely and in writing to the address given below.

QUALIFIED DISTRICT ELECTOR: “Qualified elector” means a person who is a District cooperator and a qualified elector of the state. “District Cooperator” means any person who has entered into a cooperative agreement with the District for the purpose of protecting, conserving and practicing wise use of the natural resources under his control (A.R.S. ‘ 37-1003). A person who is not already a District cooperator may obtain a cooperative agreement form from the Board of Supervisors of the District.

PIMA NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION DISTRICT
3241 North Romero Road
Tucson, Arizona 85705

Endangered Species Act Initiative webinar!

You are invited to attend an upcoming WGA Species Conservation and Endangered Species Act Initiative webinar at 10:00 am MT on Thursday, February 8. The webinar will be a case study examination of the Pecos Watershed Conservation Initiative.Register for the webinar here.

The Pecos Watershed Conservation Initiative was established to facilitate strategic conservation opportunities and restore water quality and wildlife habitat throughout the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico. The Initiative brings together state and federal agencies, industry, and conservation organizations to craft pragmatic and collaborative solutions to conservation challenges at a broad-scale across the Permian Basin.

The webinar will be moderated by Chris West, Rocky Mountain Regional Director, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Panelists include: Myles Culhane, Assistant General Counsel, Occidental Petroleum; Ross Melinchuk, Deputy Executive Director – Natural Resources, Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife; Nick Owens, Senior HSE Representative, Anadarko Petroleum; Debbie Hughes, Executive Director, New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts; Xavier Montoya, New Mexico State Conservationist, Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions.

Thank you.

Zach Bodhane

Policy Advisor for Wildlife | Western Governors’ Association

303.623.9378 | m: 303.915.8857

1600 Broadway, Suite 1700 | Denver, CO 80202

Save the Date: WGA Annual Meeting | Rapid City, South Dakota | June 25-27, 2018

Pima Natural Resource Conservation District

NRCS Plant Materials Center

3241 N. Romero Road

Tucson, AZ 85705

January 14, 2018

NOTICE OF COMBINED PUBLIC MEETING

PIMA NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION DISTRICT (PIMA NRCD) BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

And

Pima Center for Conservation Education Board of Directors

BY TELECONFERENCE

Pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.02, notice is hereby given to the members of the Pima NRCD Board of Supervisors and to the general public that the Pima NRCD Board of Supervisors/PCCE Board of Directors will hold a meeting open to the public.

DATE: Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Time: 2:30 PM

Conference Dial-in Number: (641) 715-3200

Participant Access Code: 428633#

AGENDA­

Dated this day of January 12, 2017
Pima Natural Resource Conservation District

Agenda:

I. Call to Order

II. Review/approve minutes of November 28 teleconference

III. Financial report

a. Review/approve invoice for Administrative Services

b. Review/approve NACD contribution $600

c. Review/approve other invoices that may have arrived

IV. Report on AACD winter conference

V. Discuss/approve proposal to move the Natural Resources Commissioner position from the Arizona State Land Department to the Arizona State Forestry Department

VI. Discuss/adopt resolution supporting “non-navigable” designation of the Santa Cruz River.
According to the Arizona State Lands Department, “The Arizona Navigable Stream Adjudication Commission has been charged with determining the navigability at the time of statehood of all of the other rivers, streams and washes in the state. In 2006, they completed their determinations and declared all were non-navigable. The decisions on the Upper and Lower Salt, Verde, San Pedro and Santa Cruz rivers have been challenged in various appeals courts and are still under review.” “The land lying in the bed of navigable rivers at the time of statehood is sovereign land. Arizona is mandated by the legislature to manage the land from the centerline of the Colorado riverbed to the Ordinary High Water Mark (OHWM) on the Arizona river bank. Sovereign land is held in trust for the benefit of the people of Arizona for travel, commerce, fishing, and other forms of recreation.”

VII. Discuss/approve future strategic course of action on Mexican wolf DNA studies

VIII.
Discuss ideas to incentivize proactive conservation (and also eliminate dis-incentives) as a means to prevent the decline of species, and thereby prevent them from becoming listed as threatened or endangered. These ideas will be brought to the Western Governors’ Association meeting on that topic January 23.

IX. Reports

a. NRCS

b. ASLD

c. Other agencies

d. Program Administrator

e. Supervisors

X. Call to the Public

XI. Set next meeting date

XII. Adjourn

By

Cindy Coping, Chair

Persons with a disability may request a reasonable accommodation, such as a sign language interpreter, by contacting the district at https://pimanrcd.org/agency-contacts/ (scroll down to contact form). Requests should be made as early as possible to arrange the accommodation