Jim Gulliford Named SWCS Executive Director

The SWCS Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Jim Gulliford as the new Executive Director of the Soil and Water Conservation Society, effective November 2, 2009. The announcement was made on October 22, 2009, by President Gary Steinhart.

“The strength of the Soil and Water Conservation Society has always been its thoughtful, science-based contribution to natural resource management policy,” Gulliford said. “The role of soil and water resources in issues of energy, climate, water quality and the production of food and fiber has never been more important. I look forward to working with the SWCS Board, its members and staff to assure that the voice of conservation scientists, educators and practitioners is a productive part of policy development and implementation.”

Gulliford has been an active member of the society since 1982 and was president of the Iowa Chapter in 1996. He was also a member of the National Association of State Conservation Agencies from 1982 to 2001, serving as president in 1989.

Read the full press release here. … Continue

Mapping Erosion to Aid Conservation Planning

Where is the best place to focus conservation practices on farmland? The answer varies depending on many factors, such as the shape and slope of the land and even the conservation practice being introduced. A new research paper by A.C. Pike, T.G. Mueller, A. Schörgendorfer, S.A. Shearer, and A.D. Karathanasis uses logistic regression and neural networks to create maps that highlight areas where channel erosion is common. Grassed waterways can be used to reduce channel erosion, so knowing where the most erosion occurs would be very useful for conservation planning.

For more information about this research topic, check out the full article: “Erosion Index Derived from Terrain Attributes using Logistic Regression and Neural Networks.” … Continue