Attached, for your information, are updated agenda and speaker bios for our Seminar on March 7.  You may have seen information about this Seminar previously, but this is some new information.  Because of this new information, we are extending our early registration deadline through today,  February 25.  Registrations can still be made at the early registration rate.  In addition, we will not be increasing the student registration fee after today.  Only the member and non-member fees will go up by $10.  The final deadline for registration is Monday, March 3.

A Matter of Balance:
Approaches to Soil Health and Water Quality

Michigan Chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation Society Seminar
Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center, East Lansing, MI
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Friday, March 7, 2014

Soil health and water quality are intrinsically linked, and management of these resources faces great challenges due to emerging ecological, economic and climatic pressures. It is important, now more than ever, to support soil’s natural ability to filter water that moves across and through a landscape. Establishing conservation practices that support a balanced relationship between soil health and water quality is a proven best management practice in agricultural production. Management choices that fail to recognize and protect the physical, chemical, and biological attributes of healthy soil have the potential to jeopardize water quality and ecological productivity.

“Soil not only holds environmental and agricultural importance; it is vital to ensuring the growth of a healthy economy.”¹ In this Seminar, we will examine emerging practices to mitigate the vulnerability of our soil and water resources to changing climatic, market and land use conditions in the context of our global challenge to meet growing demand.

1 Healthy soil: The basis for a strong economy and wholesome environment, PHYS.ORG, 10/30/13.

Presenters include:

• Ken Blight, Blight Farms, Inc.
  Calhoun County, Albion, MI
• Mary Fales, Director, Saginaw Bay Watershed Project
  The Nature Conservancy
• Colleen Forestieri, Conservation Technician
  Van Buren Conservation District, Paw Paw, MI
• James Hoorman, Assistant Professor, Ohio State University Extension, Ottawa, OH
• Dr. Eugene Kelly, Professor, Dept. of Crop and Soil Science, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO
• Dr. Sieg Snapp, Professor, Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI

Registration includes our Annual Luncheon. More information and a registration link, or optional mail-in form, is now available on our website www.miswcs.org/Local_Events.html. Information is also available on the MSU ANR website.

Daniel F. Kesselring, Secretary
Michigan Chapter SWCS