October 2019

Training

Please visit our website for more training opportunities: http://www.wactd.org/training.

Your Planner Certification Starts TODAY

As winter approaches, the days grow darker, and field time slows down, many folks are looking to pick back up with their professional development and training hours. The CTD has created resources for you to develop a short and long-term training plan to reach your professional and certification goals.

The CTD, in response to District and partner agency demand, has created the opportunity for District technical staff to achieve planner certification in the disciplines of Riparian, Farm, and Dairy Planning. Our certification program has been vetted with partners and experts to ensure it provide both verification of your skills and a pathway to help you advance. Whether you a new or veteran planner, you are encouraged to start your certification process today.

Even if you are still working on completing your training, please get yourself enrolled at the Level 1 certification for your discipline. This way you can start earning your Continuing Education Units and be a part of the planning community hubs, a resource for accessing and sharing planning tools and information. You can always work up from there!

For more information, and to start your application process today, go to: www.wactd.org/certification. The first round of applications are due by March 6, 2020 for special acknowledgement at the WADE 2020 conference.

Conservation Planning Success!

The week of September 23-27 marked the return of the NRCS Conservation Planning training in Pullman, WA. And what a fun class it was! After a multi-year hiatus, the CTD advocated the return of the course with revamped national curriculum standards and a combined NRCS and Conservation District instructor group. This years class was almost entirely Conservation District staff, which allowed us to customize the curriculum and provide a more tailored and relevant training event. While we found a couple of speed bumps in the advised course material, students provided awesome feedback to make it even better for 2020.

Look for an even better class to come back around in the Fall of 2020! We will have customized field day experiences, information on how cost-share programs integrate in with planning, methods for adaptive management in planning, and provision of planning templates and community chat rooms to help catalyze your planning skills. Plus we will continue to offer the individual mentor experience, long-term planning support, and certification bridge program.

The class is open to new planners and all those wanting to meet the requirement for the NRCS Certificated Conservation Planner Designation. Stay tuned for 2020 class dates and registration information!

"Like the resource it seeks to protect, wildlife conservation must be dynamic, changing as conditions change, seeking always to become more effective."

--Rachel Carson

Thinking about how to track your planner certification progress?

The CTD has several resources for helping technical staff track their progress to planner certification! The Training Plan Template lists all the required courses for both CTD and NRCS planner designations of all levels. The CTD Database is a safe, convenient place to upload course completion documents and update your personnel profile.

But what about AgLearn? How do you identify and access the required courses for your planning designation? Never fear, the CTD is here! Check out this guide for NRCS Partners to adding a Conservation Planner Program (curricula) to your AgLearn profile, which will load the required courses.

And don't forget, the best way to avoid issues with AgLearn is to log in frequently -- every 20 days!

Questions? For general questions, contact training@wactd.org; for specific AgLearn account issues, contact Chas Scripter at chas.scripter@usda.gov.

Upcoming Events

Pollinator Conservation in Agricultural Landscapes Workshop

WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center Puyallup , WA

November 19th, 2019 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM PST

Register Now!

This full day workshop will focus on concepts around protecting and enhancing populations of pollinators, especially bees, in agricultural landscapes. The course will provide an overview of bee natural history and farm practices that support pollinators, such as protecting and creating habitat, modified horticultural practices, and advice on how to manage pests while protecting pollinators.

Registrants will receive the Xerces Society's Pollinator Conservation Toolkit which includes Xerces' book, Attracting Native Pollinators, as well as habitat management guidelines and relevant USDA-NRCS and extension publications.

Focus on Farming Conference

The 16th annual Focus on Farming conference "Nurturing Our Future" will be November 7, 2019 at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe, WA. This year’s conference will feature 24 workshops in 6 industry tracks, plus Focus on Forestry workshops. View details.

Spokane Ag Expo - Feb 2020

Spokane Ag Expo and Pacific Northwest Farm Forum is a 3 day event that takes place every February in Spokane, WA, and brings together agriculture professionals from across the Northwest. More info.

Is it Time to Update Your District's UDP?

With some recent changes in personnel at DAHP, you may need to update the contacts section of your Unanticipated Discovery Plan (UDP). State Archaeologist Rob Whitlam (360.586.3080) is still there, but Local Government Archaeologist Stephanie Jolivette (360.586.3088) has taken over for Gretchen Kaehler. While you're checking on contacts, it would probably be a good time to review the entire UDP to make sure all the information on it is current. A sample UDP is located on the WSCC website; look for 'Cultural Resources' on the homepage sidebar, then the 'Reference Materials' tab on the left. (Or shortcut straight to it HERE.) If you have any questions about cultural resources, Jean Fike is the one to contact; by email, JFike@scc.wa.gov, or by phone, 360.764.0533. Jean will be taking over on cultural resources for Larry Brewer starting Nov. 1^st.