WASHINGTON, Aug. 15, 2005 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture, along with other federal agencies, will participate in the White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation in St. Louis, Mo., August 29-31, 2005 to provide a forum for a diverse group of leaders to exchange information. The conference, convened by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, will identify innovative and effective approaches to promoting cooperative conservation.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, Under Secretary Mark Rey, and Farm Service Agency, Forest Service, and Natural Resources Conservation Service senior officials are among the participants who will discuss strengthening shared governance and citizen stewardship.

The three-day conference launches a new conservation dialogue and philosophy for the 21st century that builds upon the legacy of a much similar convocation of leaders by President Theodore Roosevelt at the start of the last century. President Bush signed Executive Order #13352 on August 26, 2004 which directs the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency to implement laws relating to the environment and natural resources in a manner that promotes cooperative conservation, with an emphasis on local inclusion.

USDA has been a conservation leader since it was founded in 1862, and serves as a steward of our nation's 193 million acres of national forests and rangelands while encouraging voluntary efforts to protect soil, water, and wildlife on an estimated 1.4 billion acres of America's private lands. The conference will feature case studies highlighting some of the very best examples of cooperative conservation. USDA has more than 35 projects being highlighted at the conference where collaborative strategies were successfully used to address conservation, natural resource and environmental issues.

Media with valid press credentials are invited to register for the conference at http://www.conservation.ceq.gov/media.html. For more information on the conference agenda, access http://www.conservation.ceq.gov.