Discover the Power of Locally Led Conservation!

12/19/25 UPDATE: Register for this year's annual working group here!

Locally led conservation comprises a series of phases that involve community stakeholders in natural resource planning, solution implementation, and evaluation of results. Locally led conservation begins with the community itself, working through the local conservation district. It is based on the principle that community stakeholders are best suited to deal with local resource problems.

Local Working Groups are composed of conservation district officials, agricultural producers representing the variety of crops and livestock/poultry raised within the local area, nonindustrial private forest land owners, and other professionals representing relevant agricultural and conservation interests and a variety of disciplines in the soil, water, plant, wetland, and wildlife sciences who are familiar with private land agricultural and natural resource issues in the local community (as defined in 7 CFR 610.25(b)).

Local Working Groups provide recommendations on local natural resource priorities and criteria for conservation activities and programs, propose ranking questions and points, applicable land uses, resource concerns, and practice list. This unique approach enables our residents to have direct input on Federal spending for conservation activities in our communities, directing resources based on local concerns.

Make sure your voice is heard!

Take a moment to review the materials on this page, and fill out our annual Local Work Group Survey. Your input will be combined with the continuous community input BCCD collects during our Community Resilience Symposiums to identify the needs and vision of our community, which will be reviewed at our formal Local Working Group Meeting.