WEST BRANCH, IOWA– Join a national park ranger for an evening family campfire program at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site on Saturday, June 14. The program is free and begins at 9:00 p.m. The ranger will discuss how national parks restore and preserve remnants of our nation`s once vast tallgrass prairie.

The campfire program takes place on the village green at the intersection of Parkside Drive and Main Street in historic downtown West Branch.  Visitors and their families are welcome to bring a lawn chair or blanket to sit on, and toasting sticks and marshmallows.

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum are in West Branch, Iowa at exit 254 off I-80. Both are open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time. For more information go online at www.nps.gov/heho or call (319) 643-2541.

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

110 Parkside Drive

PO Box 607

West Branch, Iowa 52358

319 643-2541 phone

319 643-7864 fax

www.nps.gov/heho

Twitter: @HooverNPS

Facebook: HerbertHooverNHS

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)?through its regional offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City and Denton (Texas)?is monitoring the possibility of tornadoes and large hail on Tuesday across parts of the Central Plains and Mid-Mississippi Valley. Residents in potentially affected areas should take the time now to prepare for severe weather and to monitor conditions via NOAA Weather Radio and local media.

FEMA is in close contact with the National Weather Service, which is forecasting the development of severe thunderstorms across the Great Plains into the Ohio Valley and central Appalachians Tuesday into Wednesday. The storms may bring the potential for significant severe weather events. Comprehensive forecasts for specific areas are available at www.weather.gov.

When natural disasters like severe weather and tornadoes strike, immediate aid often comes from neighbors, family, friends and co-workers. First responders?such as local emergency and public works personnel, volunteers, humanitarian organizations and numerous private interest groups?provide rapid emergency assistance to protect the public's health and safety and to meet immediate human needs.

Severe Weather and Tornado Safety Tips

· Maintain an emergency supply kit both at home and in the car to help prepare for power outages or impassable roads. Visit www.ready.gov or www.listo.gov to learn more about how to be better prepared and how to protect your family during emergencies. Find severe weather and tornado preparedness tips at www.ready.gov/severe-weather.

· Follow the instructions of state and local officials, and listen to local radio or TV station for updated disaster response and sheltering information. Listen to a NOAA Weather Radio and local news to monitor for severe weather updates and warnings. The National Weather Service is the official source for tornado watches and warnings.

· Many mobile devices are capable of receiving free Wireless Emergency Alerts, which are sent by public safety officials such as the National Weather Service about imminent threats like severe weather. They look like a text message and show the type and time of the alert, any action you should take and the agency issuing the alert.

· Become familiar with the terms used to identify severe weather. Discuss with your family what to do if a watch or warning is issued.

Terms Used to Describe Tornado and Other Severe Weather Hazards

· For flooding:

· A Flood Watch is issued when conditions are favorable for flooding.

· A Flood Warning is issued when flooding is imminent or occurring.

· A Flash Flood Watch is issued when conditions are favorable for flash flooding.

· A Flash Flood Warning is issued when flash flooding is imminent or occurring.

· A Flash Flood Emergency is issued when severe threat to human life and catastrophic damage from a flash flood is imminent or ongoing.

· For a severe thunderstorm:

· A Severe Thunderstorm Watch is issued when severe thunderstorms are possible in and near the watch area.

· A Severe Thunderstorm Warning is issued when severe thunderstorms are occurring or imminent in the warning area.

· For a tornado:

· A Tornado Watch is issued when severe thunderstorms and tornadoes are possible in and near the watch area. It does not mean that they will occur. It only means they are possible.

· A Tornado Warning means a tornado is imminent, take shelter immediately.

· A Tornado Emergency is issued when severe threat to human life and catastrophic damage is imminent or ongoing, and reliable sources confirm a tornado.

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Follow FEMA online at www.fema.gov/blog, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema and www.youtube.com/fema.  Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate's activities at www.twitter.com/craigatfema.

The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.

FEMA's mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

• Rev. Susan Guy: Rev. Susan Guy has served as the Executive Director at Iowa IPL since 2010.  She is ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) with an M. Div. from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, a B.A. from Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia.  Prior to Iowa IPL, Susan served as a pastor in both Disciples of Christ and United Methodist congregations, focusing on social justice ministries.  She also has experience managing non-profit organizations, and served as the first Heartland Field Organizer for the ONE Campaign on global poverty.

• Dr. Yogesh Shah:  Dr. Yogesh Shah is the Associate Dean for Global Health at Des Moines University, a position created in 2006 to establish global health experiences that DMU students increasingly seek.  Dr. Shah has been instrumental in establishing the City of Des Moines as a member of the World Health Organization's network of age-friendly cities.  He also led the creation of the Heartland Global Health Consortium, and the creation of Heartland Climate Health Consortium, a collaborative of Iowa educational institutions to promote the effect of climate change on nutrition and human health.

• Christopher J. Anderson, PhD:  Christopher J. Anderson is a climate risk analyst.  He is Assistant Director of the Iowa State University Climate Science Initiative, a research program that provides authoritative, scientific information for short-term and long-term climate-informed decision-making.  He holds doctoral and master degrees in agricultural meteorology from Iowa State University.  Mr. Anderson's research examines linkages between climate variability, climate change, and water management.  He has coauthored recent reports for the Western Utility Climate Alliance and US EPA containing recommendations on investments in climate modeling that would yield improvements in infrastructure planning for water utilities in major metropolitan areas (Options for Improving Climate Modeling to Assist Water Utility Planning for Climate Change) and flood mitigation in the Midwest United States (Iowa Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Report).  Currently, he is providing leadership to the Federal Highways Climate Resilience Pilot in Iowa in collaboration with Iowa DOT and University of Iowa IIHR.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) ? The U.S. Department of Agriculture is teaming with businesses, nonprofits and others on a five-year, $2.4 billion program that will fund locally designed soil and water conservation projects nationwide, Secretary Tom Vilsack said.

Authorized by the new farm law enacted earlier this year, the Regional Conservation Partnership Program is intended to involve the private sector more directly in planning and funding environmental protection initiatives tied to agriculture. Officials provided details of the program to The Associated Press ahead of an announcement scheduled for Tuesday.

"It's a new approach to conservation that is really going to encourage people to think in very innovative and creative ways," Vilsack said.

He described the projects to be funded as "clean water start-up operations" that will benefit communities and watersheds, a departure from the department's more traditional approach of focusing on individual operators adopting practices such as no-till cultivation or planting buffer strips to prevent runoff into streams.

Universities, local and tribal governments, companies and sporting groups are among those eligible to devise plans and seek grants.

"This program is a recognition that a coordinated and comprehensive effort is more effective than the USDA operating on its own and Ducks Unlimited operating on its own and the Kellogg Foundation operating on its own," Vilsack said.

In addition to protecting the environment, the projects will bolster the rural economy by supporting tourism and outdoor recreation jobs while avoiding pollution that would cost more to clean up, he said.

USDA will spend $1.2 billion ? including $400 million the first year ? and raise an equal amount from participants. Successful applications will include offers of cash, labor or other contributions, as well as plans for achieving measurable solutions and using new approaches, said Jason Weller, chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Vilsack was announcing the program in Michigan, home state of Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, primary writer of the farm bill with Rep. Frank Lucas of Oklahoma. A news conference was scheduled in Bay City near Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay, where nutrient runoff from croplands causes algae blooms that degrade water quality.

Stabenow said she expected the area to generate several funding proposals.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, established by the cereal pioneer, is working with The Nature Conservancy on a project designed to reduce runoff in the Saginaw Bay watershed, said Diane Holdorf, the foundation's chief sustainability officer. Kellogg, based in Battle Creek, buys wheat for its cereals from farms in the area.

The program establishes three pots of money for grants. Thirty-five percent of total funding will be divided among "critical" areas including the Great Lakes, the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the Columbia, Colorado and Mississippi river basins, the Longleaf Pine Range, prairie grasslands and the California Bay Delta.

Additionally, 40 percent will go to regional or multi-state projects selected on a competitive basis and 25 percent to state-level projects.

The California Rice Commission plans to seek funding of initiatives to expand water bird habitat in flooded Central Valley rice fields, said Paul Buttner, manager of environmental affairs. Rice farms are an indispensable waterfowl refuge because most of the original wetlands have been developed, he said.

Working with the USDA and other partners, the rice commission has developed practices that can make fields more hospitable for birds such as draining them more gradually ahead of planting season and building nesting islands, Buttner said. The new program could attract more participants, he said.

The New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts will develop proposals for combating invasive plants that suck too much water from the ground and ranching practices that could slow the depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer, Executive Director Debbie Hughes said.