In response to the recent inquiries, Little Leaf will make another acorn planting effort in hurricane damaged coastal areas, and is seeking assistance from SWCDs.  As before, please work with local schools, 4-H clubs, scout groups or any others who might be willing to collect acorns.  ANY species of acorn will be gladly accepted, and even if the acorns have small, single parasite holes in them, many will still germinate, so please collect any acorns that aren’t otherwise excessively damaged.  Also, please don’t forget that acorns may be stored or transported in any container that does not have an airtight seal; if sealed into a ziploc bag or container with an airtight snap-on lid, the acorns will quickly begin to ferment and spoil.  Cardboard boxes, burlap sacks, and cloth or paper bags are the best things to use.

If you do collect or receive acorns please bring them to the LACD convention in and I’ll get them from you there.  If you can’t get the acorns to the LACD convention, send me a message and we’ll try to arrange a pick-up.  Coastal SWCDs, please be on the look-out for planting sites.

Thank you for all your great assistance with this over the past two years, and please keep a list of the schools or student groups who help with the collections.  Please call if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Joey Breaux

Agri Enviro Specialist Mgr

State Coordinator, LA Project WET

225.922.1269

joey_b@ldaf.state.la.us

LACD announced their new website. Please tell your supervisors that this website is available for their use..... www.laconservationdistricts.org

Ladies:

 I still do not have all of your Soil & Water Stewardship Reports in.

I only have 14 reports and one scrapbook.

 Please send in reports and scrapBooks

to me before November 30, 2009.

Thank you,

Joy Knotts,  Soil & Water Stewardship Chairperson

Caddo SWCD
Shreveport Field office

LDAF Press Secretary Sam Irwin as discontinued the hard copy mail-outs of these press releases, and asked that they be emailed to all SWCDs.  The OSWC will begin forwarding all releases as they are developed.

Thanks,

Joey

Hello Everyone, please upload all of your pictures to the website. If you don't want to upload them, just send me a cd and I will do it for ya!

Thanks,
Erika

Ladies:

Lisa McGraw emailed each SWCD their FY 09-10 budget letter on Sept. 8……..if you did not get it, please let us know and we will resend.

There were no attachments this year with the budget letter as Brad and Bennie were working to revise the Operating Budget and the Monthly Budget Report forms.  They reworked the Operating Budget for FY 09-10 and I emailed it to each SWCD on Wednesday 9/02/09 at 1:36 pm.  The Monthly Budget Report is still being revised and as soon as it is finished, we will send it also.

Note that your district’s FY 09-10 Operating Budget is due in our office by Oct 15, 2009.

Thanks,

Laura Edwards, Administrative Assistant

LDAF, Office of Soil & Water Conservation

DATE:       September 8, 2009

TO:       44 Statewide Soil & Water Conservation District Chairmen

FROM:      Joey Breaux

RE:         Local Funding Requests

At the NACD South Central Region Meeting in August, there was some discussion regarding the need for districts to make very effort to secure some level of local funding.  Some districts have received annual allocations from their parish governments for many years, and some have made parish funding requests fairly recently, with varying levels of success.  To ensure that any district with an interest in pursuing, or increasing, local funds may make these requests with as much relevant support information and justification possible, the attached forms provide a baseline for preparing a funding request.  These 3 attachments have been made available to districts in the past through NACD publications, or LACD and LACDE workshops, but it has recently been requested that these guidance documents be re-distributed.  Please review these attachments at your first opportunity and contact me if you have any questions, or have concerns about approaching your parish officials for funding.  

1: Funding District Programs - an outline for developing a funding request to your local/parish government.

2: LA Worksheet - a spreadsheet used to determine the value of your SWCD to the community.  This spreadsheet should be completed as part of your funding request.

3: 5 Ideas in 5 Minutes – Preparatory ideas for planning a funding request.

Joey Breaux

Agri Enviro Specialist Mgr

State Coordinator, LA Project WET

225.922.1269

joey_b@ldaf.state.la.us

Ladies:

Please let me remind you that the monthly payroll invoice and your check goes to a different post office box than the Office of Soil and Water’s post office box (OSWC, P. O. Box 3554)……please do NOT send our OSWC mail to the other box with your payroll invoice/check and likewise, do not send your check/ payroll invoice to our box……..this causes problems. 

LDAF has a large number of sections, each with their own post office box.   All mail is opened in the mail room and delivered to the section named on the envelope, so when you mix their mail and our mail, it causes problems for everyone.  Mail sent to the wrong section, at best is delayed in delivery to the right section or worse, it is returned to the sender……causing more mail delays or lost documents.

ONLY SEND YOUR PAYROLL INVOICE AND DISTRICT CHECK TO THE ADDRESS LISTED AT THE TOP LEFT OF THE PAYROLL INVOICE.  All other mail goes to OSWC’s box number.

So again, we ask that you send all other mail to us, OSWC or the State Commission to our

Thank you for your help in this,

Laura Edwards, Administrative Assistant

LDAF, Office of Soil & Water Conservation

Aug 2009 State Commission minutes are online at the LDAF website:

On the main page of the LDAF website, go to OFFICES, SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION, SOIL AND WATER STATE COMMISSION.....on the bottom of this page is the our monthly minutes, the PPMs, State Law as pertains to Soil and Water, the Supervisors Handbook, etc.

Laura Edwards, Administrative Assistant

LDAF, Office of Soil & Water Conservation

Hello everyone!

It is that time of year again. I am in the process of getting all the info together to send out for the 2009 poster contest. I have had several emails asking about the amount districts need to send in if they are going to participate. This year will be the same as last- $25.00 and the checks need to be sent to Grace Vining again. Also the title for the poster contest is “Dig it! The Secrets of Soil”

I am going to try and have everything ready to send out to all of you on Friday. If anyone has any questions before then, please feel free to give me a call.

Anyone that has pictures from the Baton Rouge Meeting, please give me a call or please upload them to this site!

Thanks,

Erika

We have a new secretary in Upper Delta – Ms. Hannah Bradberry….her email address is:hannah.bradberry@la.nacdnet.net

Secretaries, please be sure to include this at the next board meeting.

August 17, 2008

TO:       44 Statewide Soil & Water Conservation District Chairmen

FROM:      Joey Breaux, LDAF Ag Environ. Specialist Mgr.

RE:       District Accomplishments and Success Stories for NACD

For the past year, the NACD has been publishing and distributing the Resource, a quarterly newsletter depicting district development and capacity building information, conservation partnership accomplishments, outreach efforts, and conservation policy, program, and legislative updates. A regular feature of the newsletter is the “Districts at Work” section which highlights specific district accomplishments.  To ensure that districts are recognized for their numerous and often unique accomplishments, please consider sending me a description of your districts monthly accomplishments (email preferred).  This could be as simple as a short description of practices installed, public meetings or producer field days conducted, or several paragraphs describing special conservation projects or outreach programs, whether new or ongoing.  I’ll compile the information I receive and forward it to Ms. Tamara Daniel, the NACD South Central region representative.  It’s not necessary to include a great level of detail, just concise descriptions, with accompanying photos if possible. 

IMPORTANT: Regardless of whether or not these highlights get published in the Resource newsletter, the information you provide will be very useful in helping your NACD regional representative stay in touch with accomplishments and needs of districts.  This is critical for adequate NACD representation of our state and region. 

If you have any questions, please be sure to contact me.

Joey

Joey Breaux

Agri Enviro Specialist Mgr

State Coordinator, LA Project WET

225.922.1269

joey_b@ldaf.state.la.us

Ladies & Gentleman -

Please read this announcement.....Jarvis Rogers worked in the Farmerville Field Office for NRCS. He was diagnosed with Lou Gehrigs Disease and his family needs our help! They are raising money to rennovate the bathroom to accomodate Jarvis's changing needs. Please read the attachment and please help the Rogers Family!

We need to clear some confusion concerning mileage.   The following email this was sent to other secretaries with the same question on mileage.

QUESTION:

Would you please interpret "Mileage is not reimbursable in domicile"?  Does this mean we can't claim mileage for trips to the bank, buying supplies for SWCD, etc. in POV?  Does this mean supervisor living 2 miles from the office can't claim mileage for board meeting?  I received 2 inquiries this afternoon from secretaries.  Thanks.

ANSWER:

Remember districts do not have to follow all the STATE rules as we do, because you are a local unit of government, a governmental subdivision of the state, etc.....not a STATE agency, therefore, Brad said to continue to do as you have done in the past regarding mileage.

I went back to FY 04/05 and that sentence has always been there, it is not new.....Brad said it means employees cannot be paid to drive from their home to work and back. 

Supervisors are different, they are to be paid, by state law, to travel to board meetings from their home....see State Law Chapter 9;Part 1;Section 1207.B:  "......and he may be paid expenses, including traveling expenses, necessarily incurred in the discharge of his duties."

District employees can be reimbursed mileage in the discharge of their duties also ....to the bank, schools, etc.

Laura Edwards, Administrative Assistant

LDAF, Office of Soil & Water Conservation

New State Travel Guide FY 2009-2010

MILEAGE:

Reimbursement from official domicile to area of travel based on most

direct route. (Mileage is not reimbursable in domicile.)

Mileage shall be reimbursable on the basis of $0.52 per mile.

Mileage shall be computed by one of the following options:

1. On the basis of odometer readings from point of origin to point of

return.

2. By using a website mileage calculator or a published software package

for calculating mileage. Employee is to print the page indicating mileage

and attach it with their travel expense form.

Normally mileage goes up each July 1, but this new fiscal year it stayed the same……. but meal and lodging allowances changed.

The whole guide and the pocket guide can be found at:   http://doa.louisiana.gov/osp

Click on State Travel, then the 2009-10 Travel Guide for the whole booklet or the Pocket Guide.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CONSERVATION DISTRICTS NAMES NEW CEO

—July 8, 2009—Today the National Association of Conservation Districts announced that Doug Loudenslager will be the Association’s new Chief Executive Officer, effective July 13, 2009.

      “We are very fortunate to have Doug joining us as CEO of the National Association of Conservation Districts. We are certain that he has the experience, vision and energy needed to lead NACD and represent the nation’s 3,000 conservation districts,” said NACD President Steve Robinson, a producer from .

      Loudenslager brings extensive association and financial management experience to the table. He most recently served as the Chief Operating Officer for the National FFA Organization and National FFA Foundation in During Loudenslager's tenure, the FFA served as a catalyst for a 10x15 Long Range Strategic Goal for Agricultural Education, attained significant growth in their Foundation and approached an all-time membership high.

      Prior to his time at FFA, Loudenslager had a 17-year career in sales, management and training for Edward Jones Investments. He also served as Executive Director of the Ohio Soybean Association and was a high school vocational agriculture educator.

      “Doug’s background and passion make him the candidate we want to lead NACD into the future,” added Robinson. “We expect he will bring new direction to the Association, providing strengthened services to our members while continuing to serve as ’s voice for conservation.”

      “These are exciting times for conservation in this country. NACD has a long tradition of providing national leadership and a unified voice for natural resource conservation. Landowners will be looking to their local conservation district even more to provide the technical expertise and support in meeting the conservation and natural resource challenges ahead,” says Loudenslager. “The perspective of the men and women who serve as directors of the 3,000 local conservation districts must be heard in the development of future conservation policy. I am excited to have the opportunity to join the NACD team in making sure their story is understood by national policy makers." 

Loudenslager was raised as part of a conservation-minded family on a crop and swine operation in central . He holds a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Education from The Ohio State University and a master’s in Business Administration from in

# # #

The agenda for the 2009 South Central Regional Meeting has been uploaded to the FORMS & FILES section of this site.

This message was initially sent only to coastal SWCDs, but a recent announcement by Apache Corporation, Inc. indicates a statewide tree grant program.  Please scroll down to read the original message from Apache, and please notify either Mahlon Doucet or Waylan Bennett in the Office of Forestry if you receive trees through this grant program.

Joey

Form is on Form & Files Page...

Hello Everyone, I know all of you do outreach and have alot of photos to share. So, please send me your photo cds and I will upload them to our share site. I found an easy way to do the scrapbook this year using this site. If you have any questions, please call me.

Thanks Everyone,

Erika

I hope this is okay to post. My aunt sent this to me last year and I just wanted to share it with everyone.

I spoke to Ray Ledgerfield with NASCA who is hosting the Webinar. He  told me that the webinar is designed

 to provide information to anyone who might be planning or responsible for developing state-wide

programs for training and certification of conservation district technical employees. 

Because of the short presentations (from 13 states) there may not be a lot of detail on any one states program.  

He suggested that the webinar would provide very good information for a smaller group or committee 

of people that would be working on the building of Louisiana's program, but would not be considered a

 district employee training event in and of itself - more of an information presentation on what states are

doing in this arena. 

He also  said  that he hoped Louisiana might have interest in building or improving an existing technical

employees training and certification program specific to Louisiana.   

I haven't registered anyone yet because I wanted you all to know that this program,

while it may provide helpful information, might not be of interest to all employees.

Its a 3 hour program and I don't want anyone to feel that it was a waste of time because the information

didn't pertain to their duties.

If you are still interested in participating, you may register yourself or I will register for you.

If you have already registered or are registering yourself, please let me know.

Thank you!

Gayle Roussel

LACDE President

The new share site is a tool that we can all use. This site will allow everyone to upload pictures, get LACDE information and even allow you to converse with fellow employees on various topics. Please bookmark this site and if you have any questions on using the site, please call Erika Huber @ 318-343-4467 Ext. 3