Practical Conservation

Three reviews of the Farm Bill from the Wildlife Management Institute, FarmPolicy.com, and the Wildlife Management Pro.

Get Windbreaks for Conservation from USDA National Agroforestry Center. It is an excellent guide to design considerations for conservation windbreaks. You may have to supplement regional woody plant species information to select the appropriate trees & shrubs for your region. They have additional windbreak publications including Windbreaks for Wildlife, How Windbreaks Work, & many other more detailed aspects of windbreak design, establishment and management.

Living the Country Life has articles on creating wildlife on your property in cooperation with Pheasants Forever and New Holland.

36% of the commercial bee hives were lost last year, according to a story on CNN. Here are some practical guidelines from the Xerces Society for supporting and conserving native bees and their habitat – Farming for Bees

Objective-driven conservation planning just got easier! ArkansasHabitat.org is a fantastic website organizing Farm Bill conservation options by objective (for example, Managing Cropland for Habitat or Restoring Wetlands). One click on an objective takes you to the appropriate practices with pictures, descriptions and – most importantly – potential sources of funding and NRCS practice standards. The information is specific to Arkansas, but the Farm Bill information is relevant to all states.

Accessibility – A+; Price – FREE; Ease of Use – A. You know my students will use this site next semester!