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In 1955, the National Association of
Conservation Districts began a national program
to encourage Americans to focus on stewardship.
Stewardship Week is officially celebrated from
the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in
May. It is one of the world's largest
conservation-related observances.
The program relies on locally-led conservation
districts sharing and promoting stewardship and
conservation activities. Many Districts provide
conservation and stewardship field days,
programs, workshops and additional outreach
efforts throughout their community to educate
citizens about the need to care for our
resources/
The Stewardship concept involves personal and
social responsibility, including a duty to learn
about and improve natural resources as we use
them wisely, leaving a rich legacy for future
generations.
One definition of Stewardship is "the
individual's responsibility to manage his life
and property with proper regard to the rights of
others." E. William Anderson suggests
stewardship "is essentially a synonym for
conservation."
Stewardship Week helps to remind us all of the
power each person has to conserve natural
resources and improve the world.
When everyone works together with their
local conservation district, that power
continuously grows. We have seen these good
deeds multiply across the nation's network of
conservation districts and the results are
spectacular! When the land does well for its
owner, and the owner does well by his land—when
both end up better by reason of their
partnership—then we have conservation. -
Aldo Leopold |
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| Stewardship Topics |
The Stewardship and Education Committee has
developed a 5 year rotation for stewardship
topics. NACD’s Stewardship and Education
Committee determines the specific theme, based
on that year's topic.
The five-year rotation of topics is as follows:
2010 - Habitat
2011 - Forestry
2012 - Natural Resource Sustainability
2013 - Water – Watersheds
2014 – Soil |
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