Dirt! The Movie, Dig It! The Secrets of Soil - Smithsonian Exhibit, Soil Quality Forums, and SWCS.

I’m not sure if this meets the criteria or definition of a “blog” - it probably is more of an FYI. Hopefully you will find some useful info here.

* This link to Dirt! The Movie (http://dirtthemovie.org/) may be of interest to some in this e-community. I’ve only seen the clips and info at this web site, but it looks like a good documentary. Anyone know how to get something like this to Lincoln?

* The Smithsonian Exhibit, Dig It! The Secrets of Soil, will be on display in Washington D.C. until January 2010 (http://forces.si.edu/soils/index.html). I’ve heard this is quite the exhibit for young and old alike. There will also be a traveling exhibit touring the country. I think this has already been scheduled to appear in Denver, but the Iowa, Nebraska, and Northeast Nebraska Chapters of the Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) have started discussions on bringing this exhibit to Omaha/Council Bluffs. The Iowa Chapter and a local soil & water conservation district are taking the lead, so I’m not sure of the status at this time, but I will provide updates if there is an interest by the Green Scene. If this progresses, there will definitely be a need for funding partners, and I may be asking for your help in making contacts and/or promoting it. More information on this exhibit can be found at the Soil Science Society of America (https://www.soils.org/Smithsonian/), one of the major players in getting this ‘off the ground‘.

* Keeping with this theme, there is another Ning community called the “SWCS Network” (http://swcsnetwork.ning.com) (which is how I stumbled onto the Green Scene). It’s open to anyone, and you sign up just like you did for this group, however you must sign up to get past the opening page. This is a national group with several hundred subscribers, with group topics ranging from ‘conservation education’ and ’conservation photography’ to more technical ‘geomorphology’ and ‘conservation engineering’. Two other groups that Lincoln Green Scene members may be interested in are ‘Soil Quality/Soil Health’ and ‘Pollinators and Plant Materials’. There is also a ‘Green Team’ group.

* And now that I’ve gone this far, I would be negligent if I didn’t provide a shameless plug for SWCS. The national organization’s web site is www.swcs.org, and info on the Nebraska and Northeast Nebraska Chapters can be found at http://incolor.inebraska.com/dougg/swcs/. SWCS is largely comprised of university, state, and federal employees who work with agriculture producers, however you will also find private companies, landowners, and urban/suburbanites. The official mission statements is ‘to foster the science and art of natural resource conservation.’ But as you can tell by the SWCS web site and the SWCS Network, this is a broad topic and leads to a broad mix of members with a variety of interests and expertise. Our local chapters assist the UNL Soil and Water Resources Club and we’ve provided scholarships to students across the state for many years through two foundations.

Check it out and let me know if there are questions.