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By Phil Sammon, Forest Service, Public Affairs Specialist

Today, President Barack Obama, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior, hosted the White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors, a gathering of leaders from communities across the country who are working to protect their outdoor spaces.

By Brad Fisher, Natural Resources Conservation Service Public Affairs Division

Natural Resources Conservation Service Chief Dave White and Rowan Gould, acting director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, signed on April 13 a first-of-its-kind agreement that combines protection of sage grouse and sagebrush habitats with the business interests of ranchers in 11 Western states.

What makes this agreement unique?

More than 220 USDA employees met Thursday at the Varsity Theatre in Davis, Calif. to share their thoughts during the first listening session designed to help implement a cultural transformation within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Members of the USDA Cultural Transformation Task Force were present to hear ideas and to ensure this effort results in a more diverse, inclusive and high performance organization.

Jane Ray was ironing clothes and watching the news when a story inspired her to action. The news story showed First Lady Michelle Obama speaking to employees at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., telling them about the agency’s People’s Garden initiative. Ray, who grew up in Carthage, Texas, realized she had just heard how she and her sister, Jill Burkindine of Manhattan, Kan., could honor their parents and benefit their hometown community.

Stormy, cold, unpleasant weather did not hinder more than 125 people from attending the Job and Economic Growth Forum in Montgomery, Alabama last month hosted by USDA Rural Development and the USDA Farm Service Agency, as a follow-up to the Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth that President Obama hosted at the White House on in December of last year.

It is difficult for most people to comprehend the distances and diversity we face here in California.  For example: the distance from Smith River, in the Northwest corner of California, to Winterhaven, in the Southeast corner, is the same distance as it is from Chicago to Washington, D.C.

The United States Department of Agriculture hosted a roundtable on job creation and economic growth Friday at Indiana Farm Bureau in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana.  Approximately 130 individuals attended the event aimed at exploring new ideas and solutions for a rapid economic recovery across Indiana rural communities along with plans to generate Hoosier jobs.

Despite frigid temperatures and snow-packed and icy roads, nearly 200 Nebraskans brought their ideas and solutions to the Nebraska Forum on Rural Jobs and Small Business Credit on Friday, January 8.

The Mississippi Jobs Forum, a follow-up to a national Jobs Forum held in December by President Obama, was held on Wednesday, January 6, 2010.

Hunters, fishers and all wildlife enthusiasts – there’s a new USDA and Department of Interior council that is going to make the great outdoors even greater for you.