Browse our Introductory Articles

What The Heck Is A WASCOB?

By: USDA NRCS
A WASCOB or 'Water and Sediment Control Basin' is a series of embankments that store and slowly release runoff through underground outlets.
https://www.landcan.org/article/What-The-Heck-Is-A-WASCOB/934/

 

FANN launches new program to expand availability of native Asclepias

The Florida Milkweed Project is seeking native Asclepias populations on lands where seed collection can be readily permitted this summer/fall.
https://www.landcan.org/article/FANN-launches-new-program-to-expand-availability-of-native-Asclepias/2803/

 

National Forest Management and its Impacts on Rural Economies and Communities

This public hearing by the House Committee on Agricultural discusses national forest management and it's impacts on rural economies and communities.
https://www.landcan.org/article/National-Forest-Management-and-its-Impacts-on-Rural-Economies-and-Communities/906/

 

White Nose Syndrome

By: USGS National Wildlife Health Center
White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emergent disease of hibernating bats that has spread from the northeastern to the central United States at an alarming rate.
https://www.landcan.org/article/White-Nose-Syndrome/1104/

 

Bats Worth Billions to Agriculture - Pest-control Services at Risk

Pest-control services provided by insect-eating bats in the United States likely save the U.S. agricultural industry at least $3 billion a ...
https://www.landcan.org/article/Bats-Worth-Billions-to-Agriculture--Pestcontrol-Services-at-Risk-/469/

 

Technology Advances Irrigation and Drought Management

By: Logan Hawkes
The Weslaco Extension Center has been awarded a CIG grant to develop technology systems for drought management. 
https://www.landcan.org/article/Technology-Advances-Irrigation-and-Drought-Management/1121/

 

Alfalfa Brings Harvest of Environmental Benefits

By: Rachael Freeman Long; Daniel H. Putnam
In addition to its over $1 billion value to the state of California, alfalfa provides a host of environmental benefits that are frequently overlooked.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Alfalfa-Brings-Harvest-of-Environmental-Benefits/1170/

 

For Flood Weary Farmers, a New Way to Stay on the Land

By: William H. Funk
Roy McCallie was born in Stuttgart during the great Mississippi flood of 1927.  His parents were forced to find a safer area when their hometown of Arkansas City was facing inundation, and it’s a good thing they did: the town was completely destroyed and lay submerged beneath the combined waters of the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers from April through August.
https://www.landcan.org/article/For-Flood-Weary-Farmers-a-New-Way-to-Stay-on-the-Land/407/

 

The five principles of green building

By: Howland Built Construction
Green buildings are designed, constructed, and operated to enhance the well-being of their occupants and support a healthy community and natural environment.
https://www.landcan.org/article/The-five-principles-of-green-building/868/

 

Why are Invasive Species Bad for Mississippi?

By: K Gregg Elliott
Only a very small subset of species introduced to an area where they are not native will become invasive.  But when the invasion begins, it can be costly.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Why-are-Invasive-Species-Bad-for-Mississippi/60/

 

What is a Land Trust?

Land trusts are non-profit organizations directly involved in the permanent protection of land and its resources for the public benefit. A trust may operate on a local, state, regional, or national level.
https://www.landcan.org/article/What-is-a-Land-Trust/88/

 

What is Green Building Certification?

Residential green building is no longer a trend — it is the future of building.  According to the National Association of Homebuilders’ Green.
https://www.landcan.org/article/What-is-Green-Building-Certification/90/

 

Does America Need More Organic Farmers?

By: K Gregg Elliott
Organic farming has been one of the fastest growing segments of U.S. agriculture for over a decade.  After the USDA implemented national organic standards in 2002, certified organic farmland doubled by 2005.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Does-America-Need-More-Organic-Farmers/91/

 

After the Fires - Hydrophobic Soils

By: Randy Brooks
Hydrophobic soils repel water. A thin layer of soil at or below the mineral soil surface can become hydrophobic after intense heating. The hydrophobic layer is the result of a waxy substance that is derived from plant material burned during a hot fire.
https://www.landcan.org/article/After-the-Fires--Hydrophobic-Soils/9/

 

Bird Trails and Important Bird Areas

By: K Gregg Elliott
A Bird Trail is more than a trail in the literal sense.  It is a “necklace” of sites, usually linked by a physiographic feature such as a river, that are united by the theme of “great for bird watching!”  Birding Trails are essentially driving routes that help you get from one prime birding spot to the next.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Bird-Trails-and-Important-Bird-Areas/98/

 

40 Points of Light - a New Forest Stand Improvement Technique for the Family Forest

By: Greg Nolan
Finding the Lost Forests of the Past in the Grazed and High Graded Hardwoods of Central Minnesota (and Mitigating Global Warming in the P ...
https://www.landcan.org/article/-40-Points-of-Light--a-New-Forest-Stand-Improvement-Technique-for-the-Family-Forest/220/

 

Study Documents Conversion of Grassland to Crops

A new study documents a loss of 1.3 million acres of grassland over a five-year period in the Western Corn Belt — a rate not seen since the 1920s and 1930s.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Study-Documents-Conversion-of-Grassland-to-Crops/842/

 

Adequate Land Ranks as Top Concern of Young Farmers

By: AFBF
Securing adequate land to grow crops and raise livestock was the top challenge identified in the latest survey of participants in the American Farm Bureau Federation's Young Farmers and Ranchers program.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Adequate-Land-Ranks-as-Top-Concern-of-Young-Farmers/888/

 

The Quiet Environmentalist - Grazing on Oregon’s Public Lands

By: Andy Rieber
If you look at a map, and run your eye along Oregon’s straight-edge southern border to the point where Nevada and California meet beneath it, and then travel slightly north and east, you will see a chain of small, unremarkable dry lakes indicated. T ...
https://www.landcan.org/article/The-Quiet-Environmentalist--Grazing-on-Oregons-Public-Lands-/559/

 

CALFED and the Bay-Delta Accord - Beginnings of an Integrated Approach to Water Policy and Use

California’s water wars are legendary, the stuff of books and the Hollywood drama, Chinatown, and they’ve been fought largely in agricultural ditches and the courts up until the creation of CALFED in 1994.
https://www.landcan.org/article/CALFED-and-the-BayDelta-Accord---Beginnings-of-an-Integrated-Approach-to-Water-Policy-and-Use/428/