Kelly Jones Snoddy was elected President of the Virginia Association of Conservation District Employees (VACDE) at the Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts’ annual meeting in December, at the Hotel Roanoke. The VACDE has a

mission to provide professional development, leadership and a voice for communicating issues and solutions on behalf of conservation district employees, and a vision to be a professionally accepted and integrated workforce of employees dedicated to the conservation of natural resources. The VACDE is affiliated with the Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, the Southeast Conservation District Employees Association (SECDEA) and the National Conservation Districts Employee Association (NCDEA). Its membership consists of conservation district employees and directors, as well as personnel from partnering agencies.

Soil and Water Conservation Districts were created during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s to solve soil and water conservation needs. The Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts (VASWCD) is a private nonprofit association of 47 soil and water conservation districts in Virginia. The 47 soil and water conservation districts are divided among six geographic areas.

Snoddy has been the Conservation Specialist for the Peter Francisco Soil and Water Conservation District, which serves Buckingham and Cumberland counties, since 2005. In addition to her duties locally, she has been a voice for district employees across the state by serving as the Area V Representative (liaison between the VACDE Executive Committee and the employees) for VACDE since 2008 before being elected as vice president in December 2016. Her current term as president is for two years.

The VASWCD Education Foundation is nonprofit and classified as a 501c(3) organization and uses all contributions to support educational efforts within the Commonwealth. Funding is provided for activities such as the Envirothon and Youth Conservation Camp, as well as college scholarships. To find out more about the opportunities offered through the Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts visit www.vaswcd.org or Peter Francisco SWCD’s website at www.peterfranciscoswcd.org.