The Nebraska Cattlemen, in collaboration with Sand County Foundation, is seeking nominations for the Leopold Conservation Award.  The partnership provides a $10,000 prize to a Nebraska land owner who has demonstrated responsible stewardship and management of natural resources.

“We are proud to bring the Leopold Conservation Award to Nebraska again for 2007,” said Dr. Brent Haglund, President of Sand County Foundation, the award’s sponsor. “Our partnership with Nebraska Cattlemen in allows us to honor the often unrecognized, important conservation work that is being done everyday by Nebraska landowners.”

Given in honor of Aldo Leopold, the Leopold Conservation Award recognizes extraordinary achievement in voluntary conservation. In his book, A Sand County Almanac (1949), Aldo Leopold called for an ethical relationship between people and the land they own and manage – which he called “an evolutionary possibility and an ecological necessity.”

“The land ethic described by Aldo Leopold is alive and well in Nebraska,” said Michael Kelsey, Executive Vice President of Nebraska Cattlemen. “Nominations from across the state for last year’s award is strong evidence of this.”

The winner of the Leopold Conservation Award will be selected by a varied panel of judges that will include representatives from the Nebraska Environmental Trust, the Nebraska Department of Agriculture and other organizations. The award will be presented presented November 29, 2007 at the Nebraska Cattlemen Annual Convention in Kearney.

The nomination deadline is June 29, 2007. For more information, visit http://www.leopoldconservationaward.org/, email mfitzgerald@necattlemen.org or call (402) 475-2333.

Sand County Foundation (http://www.sandcounty.net/) is a private, non-profit conservation group dedicated to working with private landowners to improve habitat on their land. Sand County’s mission is to advance the use of ethical and scientifically sound land management practices and partnerships for the benefit of people and their rural landscapes. Sand County Foundation works with private landowners because the majority of the nation’s fish, wildlife, and natural resources are found on private lands. The organization backs local champions, invests in civil society and places incentives before regulation to create solutions that endure and grow. The organization encourages the exercise of private responsibility in the pursuit of improved land health as an essential alternative to many of the commonly used strategies in modern conservation.                                                                                                                                             

The Leopold Conservation Award is a competitive award that recognizes landowner achievement in voluntary conservation. The award consists of a crystal depiction of Aldo Leopold seated on a horse and a check for $10,000.

In 2006, Sand County Foundation presented Leopold Conservation Awards in Wisconsin, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, and California.

The award is presented to accomplish three objectives: First, it recognizes extraordinary achievement in voluntary conservation on the land of exemplary private landowners. Second, it inspires countless other landowners in their own communities through these examples. Finally, it provides a visible forum where leaders from the agriculture community are recognized as conservation leaders to groups outside of agriculture.

The Nebraska Cattlemen (www.nebraskacattlemen.org) is a grassroots organization whose individual producer members determine issues of importance to the Nebraska beef industry. The mission of the Nebraska Cattlemen is to nurture profitability for Nebraska beef producers and to provide leadership to the cattle industry in Nebraska, across the United States, and around the world.

Nebraska Cattlemen performs three basic functions. First, the association represents the beef cattle industry to the legislative and administrative branches of the state and federal governments. Second, it explains beef production (including safety of the product, use of natural resources, care of animals, and beef economics) to the public and opinion influencers. Third, it provides economic and other information to members to aid them in their own planning and management.

The Nebraska Cattlemen association serves as the spokesman for the state’s beef cattle industry and represents professional cattle breeders, ranchers and feeders, as well as 48 county and local cattlemen’s associations. Its headquarters are in Lincoln and second office in Alliance serves cattlemen in western Nebraska.

This and other Nebraska Cattlemen information is available at www.nebraskacattlemen.org.