About us and our Partners
Restore the Earth Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation. We’ve unlocked the business case for landscape scale restoration and we’re using it to restore 1 million acres in the Mississippi River Basin, North America’s Amazon.
Our mission is to restore the Earth’s essential forest and wetland ecosystems. We envision the Earth in balance — its original vitality and natural abundance available to all, for generations to come. Since 2008, Restore the Earth has secured over $200 million in private, federal/state funding to reforest over 150,000 acres along the Gulf Coast damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Our strategy and business model were triggered by a natural disaster—one that only a comprehensive and sustained partnership between the public and private sectors could effectively address.
Our Founders were attending the White House Conference on Conservation when Hurricane Katrina slammed southern states in August 2005. The scale of the storm’s damage and devastation made it clear that no one entity – government, private nor individual—could effectively respond.
Our Founders worked alongside federal and state agencies, private, philanthropic, and community organizations to initiate landscape scale forest restoration, along the Gulf Coast. When the Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred, Restore the Earth and its partners were the first to employ restoration on oil-soiled wetlands.
Visit: https://restoretheearth.org
Restore the Earth Foundation
The Natural Resources Conservation Service has a proud history of supporting America’s farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners. For more than 80 years, we have helped people make investments in their operations and local communities to keep working lands working, boost rural economies, increase the competitiveness of American agriculture, and improve the quality of our air, water, soil, and habitat. As the USDA’s primary private lands conservation agency, we generate, manage, and share the data, technology, and standards that enable partners and policymakers to make decisions informed by objective, reliable science.
And through one-on-one, personalized advice, we work voluntarily with producers and communities to find the best solutions to meet their unique conservation and business goals. By doing so, we help address climate change and ensure the long-term sustainability of American agriculture. We’re also focused on the American farmer, especially those underserved by our programs as well as those trying to break into new markets, like organics.
Visit: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/conservation-basics/conservation-by-state/arkansas
Natural Resources Conservation Service
Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts
The purpose and mission of The Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts is to assist the 75 conservation districts of the state of Arkansas in their efforts to serve the soil and water conservation needs of the people of Arkansas. the Earth Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation.
Conservation districts are political subdivisions of the State of Arkansas. They are a creation of popular vote of resident landowners for the purpose of conserving our land and water resources as authorized by Act No. 197 of the Arkansas General Assembly of 1937; the Nation's first conservation district law.
Conservation districts are local governments at work and their specific responsibility is management of our soil and water resources. The idea behind their formation is to keep decision making on soil and water conservation matters at the local level. Each district is governed by a board of five directors who serve without pay
Visit: http://www.aracd.org/default.htm
National Association of Conservation Districts
The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) is the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that represents America’s 3,000 conservation districts and the 17,000 individuals who serve on their governing boards. Conservation districts are local units of government established under state law to carry out natural resource management programs at the local level. Districts work with millions of cooperating landowners and operators to help them manage and protect land and water resources on private and public lands in the United States.
NACD’s mission is to promote responsible management and conservation of natural resources on all lands by representing locally-led conservation districts and their associations through grassroots advocacy, education and partnerships.
The association was founded on the philosophy that conservation decisions should be made at the local level with technical and funding assistance from federal, state and local governments and the private sector. As the national voice for all conservation districts, NACD supports voluntary, incentive-driven natural resource conservation programs that benefit all citizens.
NACD maintains relationships with organizations and government agencies; publishes information about districts; works with leaders in agriculture, conservation, environment, education, industry and other fields; and provides services to its districts. The association’s programs and activities aim to advance conservation led by local districts and the millions of cooperating landowners and land managers they serve.
Visit: https://www.nacdnet.org
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s mission is to conserve and enhance Arkansas’s fish and wildlife and their habitats while promoting sustainable use, public understanding and support.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission plays an important role in keeping The Natural State true to its name. During the last 100 years, the agency has overseen the protection, conservation and preservation of various species of fish and wildlife in Arkansas. An essential part of ensuring healthy wildlife populations involves people. Agency programs geared toward the public generate awareness of ethical and sound management principles. Whether it be educational programs, fishing and hunting regulations or environmental awareness, working with people is just as important a factor in managing wildlife as any other.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission was created in 1915, but it was not until the passage of Amendment 35 in Arkansas’s 1944 General Election that the Commission gained the power to enact lasting wildlife regulations. Before Amendment 35, AGFC game wardens had the right to inspect hunters and anglers for illegally taken game, but did not have the authority to arrest poachers or issue citations for those violations. Laws were subject to change depending upon the ebb and flow of state representatives and their constituents. While the state legislature still has control of some aspects of Commission business, Amendment 35 was the true mark of the beginning of wildlife conservation in Arkansas.
In November 1996, Arkansas voters passed a conservation sales tax, which went into effect July 1, 1997. It designates 1/8th of 1 percent of the state’s general sales tax for Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (45 percent), Arkansas State Parks (45 percent), Arkansas Heritage Commission (9 percent) and Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission (1 percent).
In a statewide survey before the 1996 election, Arkansans said their priorities for the Game and Fish Commission’s new projects funded with the tax revenues were (1) more wildlife law enforcement, (2) more wildlife habitat for public use, (3) more education about wildlife and (4) more work with endangered species.
Visit: https://www.agfc.com