The Association of Illinois Soil & Water Conservation Districts’ Friend of Conservation Award is presented each year to an individual or organization that has in some manner benefitted natural resource conservation efforts on a regional or statewide basis.  This year’s true friend to conservation, AISWCD, and the state’s 97 Soil and Water Conservation Districts is... Continue reading→

Post updated Aug 7 – see additional details at end of story . . . The office of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently announced the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has fulfilled Illinois’s request for more than $430 million in federal funding from the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program. The CPRG program is providing funding to... Continue reading→

The Illinois Soybean Association will be hosting Agriculture Legislative Breakfasts across the state, from 7:30-9am on the days listed below. A talking point will be the need to increase agriculture funding in the state, and the vital mission of local Soil & Water Conservation Districts. August 5 – Bloomington August 14 – Quincy August 19... Continue reading→

Two scholarships were awarded during the MAGIC of Conservation convention in Springfield in July. Evan Kraft was awarded the 2024 Illinois Soil & Water Conservation District Employee Association Scholarship. And Bailee Stratman was awarded the 2024 George McKibben Scholarship from the Association of Illinois Soil & Water Conservation Districts. Evan Kraft, son of Mark and... Continue reading→

Update: Stevenson High School represented the state well with a 5th place finish!  The New York State Envirothon is hosting more than 500 visitors for the 2024 National Conservation Foundation (NCF) Envirothon annual competition, including 2024 Illinois Envirothon winners Stevenson High School of Lincolnshire (see Illinois’ event). NCF-Envirothon is an international environmental and natural resources... Continue reading→

The board of the Association of Illinois Soil & Water Conservation Districts named Rudy Rice of Perry County Soil & Water Conservation District as 2024 SWCD Director of the Year in July at the MAGIC of Conservation convention in Springfield. The SWCD Director of the Year Award is a new and prestigious recognition bestowed upon... Continue reading→

At the AISWCD annual meeting, the SWCD directors passed a resolution to establish a petition to restore the SWCD Operations funding. We are seeking to get a minimum of 100 signatures from the supporters of each of the 97 Soil & Water Conservation District, to show deep support in all 102 counties across the state.... Continue reading→

The state’s Soil & Water Conservation Districts honored three families who best live and demonstrate the conservation ethic and provide service to their communities through the 2024 Conservation Farm Family of the Year at the Association of Illinois Soil & Water Conservation Districts’ MAGIC of Conservation Summer Training Conference & 76th Annual Meeting this week... Continue reading→

Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton was honored with the award for Legislator of the Year Tuesday July 16 during the Association of Illinois Soil & Water Conservation Districts’ 2024 MAGIC of Conservation summer training conference and annual meeting in Springfield.  Lt. Gov. Stratton brings her visionary leadership to more than a dozen councils, commissions, boards,... Continue reading→

The Sand County Foundation took advantage of a gathering of Soil & Water Conservation Districts and leaders of the conservation agriculture community to announce three finalists of their 2024 Illinois Leopold Conservation Award. Lance Irving, director of the Leopold Conservation Award Program, took the stage Sunday night, July 14, during the Association of Illinois Soil... Continue reading→