Conservation Drainage Network

The Conservation Drainage Network is a national partnership with the goal of improving drainage practices to meet future demands of crop production while reducing adverse environmental impacts of drainage. The group was formed out of the Agricultural Drainage Management Systems (ADMS) Task Force which operated between 2002 and 2019 (Fouss and Sullivan 2009)
A primary responsibility of the Conservation Drainage Network is organizing annual meetings in conjunction with NCERA-217, the North Central Extension and Research Activity “Drainage Design and Management Practices to Improve Water Quality”, and also undertakes other goals as participants are willing to lead. The Conservation Drainage Network is led by an Organizing Committee that includes the following members and advisors, elected in 2019 for two-year terms, representing the diverse network of stakeholders involved in the Conservation Drainage Network.
2018 – Developing a new structure
After USDA ended the Partnership Management Team, a new structure was needed to continue the partnerships that had been so productive in advancing new drainage management systems. In 2018 at the meeting in Raleigh NC, a work group was formed to suggest a new structure to allow the many partners to continue to meet together to promote drainage management for water quality. Work group members were Ruth Book, Chris Hay, Jim Dobrowolski, Jeff Frey, and Jane Frankenberger.
They proposed a standalone organization that would not be a formal entity, guided by a Board (later called the Organizing Committee) that would be responsible for moving the organization and its goals forward. Discussions continued throughout the year to ensure that the new structure would be well received by partnering agencies. Federal agency representatives were called advisors, and the word “network” seemed to better convey the partnership nature of the organization, in addition to avoiding any confusion with federal task forces. This new organization does not simply replace the ADMS Task Force, although the ADMS Task Force no longer exists. Instead its structure is an umbrella, with the organizing committee representing all these organizations.