NRCS to Present Satellite Broadcast on EEO Responsibilities - NRCS will present a one-hour satellite broadcast entitled, "It's Your Responsibility: An Overview of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Legislation." The broadcast will air on June 30, 1997, from 3-4 p.m. (EDT). The program is targeted to NRCS and Conservation Partnership supervisors and managers. The program will explain the major Federal EEO laws and provide a five-step plan of action for helping to ensure compliance. The program is targeted to managers, but all employees are invited to view the broadcast. The coordinates for the broadcast are: Galaxy 3, C-Band, 95 degrees west Transponder/Channel 18, 4060 megahertz, vertical polarity. Training officers will be receiving more information within the next few weeks.

Commodity and Environmental Groups Meet with NRCS to Discuss EQIP - Representatives of several commodity groups and environmental groups met with NRCS program leaders this week to discuss Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) issues including the final rule, the definition of large livestock operations, funding decisions, and the use of local working groups.

EQIP Teleconferences - To better coordinate implementation of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), teleconferences are being held with NRCS and Farm Service Agency (FSA) program managers at the State level. The EQIP manual will be submitted for clearance by NRCS and FSA within a week.

State Technical Committee Rule in Clearance - The State Technical Committee rule to expand the kinds of groups that can be invited to participate in committees and define the public notice process for meetings is expected to be cleared in the Department and sent to the Office of Management and Budget within the next few weeks.

National Meeting on CRP Planned - NRCS is planning to hold a meeting with the Farm Service Agency (FSA) this summer to review Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) enrollment issues and develop improved procedures for the next signup.

Service Center BPR Team Results - The Administrative Management Business Process Reengineering (BPR) Team, chartered by the National Food and Agriculture Council, delivered its report and recommendations this week. The team, composed of field and headquarters personnel from NRCS, Farm Service Agency, and Rural Development, recommended that dramatically simplified, streamlined, paperless processes be implemented for hiring employees, managing the vehicle fleet, processing travel, and issuing and distributing directives. Implementation will be accomplished within the overall Administrative Convergence Effort. The team calculated that full implementation of the new systems could save the agencies over $87 million a year, for an initial one-time investment of just under $7 million, and estimated that implementation could be completed within two years, contingent upon LAN/WAN and e-mail hook-up of all Service Centers nationwide.

Comments on Administrative Convergence Plan being reviewed - NRCS received comments on the draft administrative management convergence plan from 28 offices. The Convergence Leadership Teams (the directors of the Management Services, Human Resources, and Financial Management divisions of the three Service Center agencies, NRCS, Farm Service Agency, and Rural Development) are now reviewing the comments provided to each agency to determine if modifications to the plan are necessary. The Leadership Teams will make final recommendations to the Service Center Agencies' Deputies for Management on June 20. The final package will be transmitted to Deputy Chiefs, Regional and State Conservationists, and division directors.

On the Air with Chief Paul Johnson - On June 4, Chief Paul Johnson did interviews with four farm broadcasters from WIDS, Jacksonville, IL; WNAX, Yankton, SD; WIBW, Topeka, KS; and Quinstar Network, Enid, OK. The farm shows are heard over more than 70 stations. In the interviews, the Chief talked about the National Conservation Buffer Initiative, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. On June 6, a National Public Radio "All Things Considered" segment on CRP featured interviews with the Chief and Ned Gerber, a farmer on Maryland's Eastern Shore and head of the County Conservation Association.

IN THE FIELD

Reaching Out in Wisconsin - More than 20 Hmong farmers attended a USDA town meeting held for the Hmong community in Wausau, WI, recently. About 4,000 of the State's 40,000 Hmong residents live in the Wausau area. The Hmong, U.S. allies in Vietnam, were forced to flee Laos when the United States pulled out of Vietnam. They are primarily involved in agriculture, mostly the production of ginseng. District Conservationists Dan Lynch and Jane Reigel discussed common conservation practices at the town meeting and answered questions on the Evironmental Quality Incentives Program and nutrient management. They also discussed NRCS civil rights policy and employment opportunities, such as student internships. Information was presented through an interpreter.

CONSTITUENCY AND PARTNERSHIP NEWS

Federal Agencies Developing New One-Stop Web Site to Benefit State and Local Governments - State and local governments administer more than 600 Federal programs providing funds, services, assistance, and information. To provide State and local governments easy access to the Federal information they need, 11 Federal agencies, including USDA, are collaborating to establish a one-stop Web site. The National Performance Review and the Government Information Technology Services Board's Intergovernmental Enterprise Panel are co-sponsors. The new Web site, the U.S. State and Local Gateway, will cut across all Federal agency resources and array the information by topic (e.g. economic development, education, or disaster relief).

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

"Virtual Community" of Irrigation Specialists Share Irrigation Knowledge - The Trickle-L Internet discussion group offers a fast, easy, inexpensive way to get an answer to a question about drip irrigation. Trickle-L is what is known as a "mailing list" (also listserv), or subject specific group. How Trickle-L works is, Internet users who have an e-mail address may post a question and, according to engineers with Trickle-L, receive answers from experts all over the world in a matter of hours. Trickle-L is becoming the Internet's authority on problems with drip-irrigation systems. Users of the site include growers, scientists, extension agents, equipment managers, landscapers, and amateur gardeners. The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Water Management Research Laboratory in Fresno, CA, launched Trickle-L in 1994 and provides two other Internet resources --Salinity-L (a listserv) and a World Wide Web Site. Salinity-L is a discussion group dedicated to the exchange of ideas on how to cope with and prevent buildup of salts on arid farmlands. The World Wide Web site lists recent publications from the laboratory staff, describes computer software available from the researchers, and highlights experiments that are currently in the working. Trickle-L and Salinity-L cyber facilities cost users nothing beyond the expense of an Internet connection with e-mail.

To subscribe to Trickle-L, send an e-mail message containing the words Subscribe Trickle-L followed by your first name then last name (do not use a subject line) to: listserv@unl.edu. To join Salinity-L, send an e-mail message with the words Subscribe Salinity-L followed by your first name then last name (do not use a subject line) in the body of the message to listserve@unl.edu. To visit the ARS Water Management Research Laboratory web site, enter http://asset.arsusda.gov/wmrl/wmrl.html.

INTERNET SITES OF NOTE

General Accounting Office - http://www.gao.gov

National Performance Review - at http://www.npr.gov/initiati/mfr/

National Envirothon Homepage (correction) - http://www.dunnscomp.com/Natenv/

UPCOMING EVENTS

June 15-18 - National Association of RC&D Councils Conference, St. Paul, MN. Contact: Becky Lane, 202-546-8800 or write to: National Association of RC&D Councils, 509 Capital Court, NE, Suite 100, Washington, D.C. 20002.

June 24-26 - National Agricultural Resource Management Planning Conference, Omni Royal Orleans, New Orleans, LA. Call Lyn Kirschner at 765-494-1827 or send e-mail to: kirschner@ctic.purdue.edu.

July 16-19 - Best Management Practices for Irrigated Agriculture and the Environment, Holiday Inn, Fargo, ND. For information call the U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage at 303-628-5430 or send e-mail to stephens@uscid.org.

July 17-19 - Land Improvement Contractors of America Summer Meeting, Providence, RI. Contact Wayne F. Maresch at 301-248-9313 or e-mail to: Wayne F86@aol.com.

July 22-25 - The 52nd Soil and Water Conservation Society Annual Conference; Interactions, Managing Ecosystems on a Watershed Basis; Toronto, Canada. Contact: Jennifer Pemble, 800-843-7645. Conference information can also be found at: http://www.swcs.org/AnnCon.htm.

August 3-6 - Fifth Conference on Agroforestry in North America, "Exploring the Opportunities for Agroforestry in Changing Rural Landscapes," Ithaca, NY. Contact Cornell University Conference Services 607-255-6290 or visit the Association for Temperate Agroforestry Web site at: www.missouri.edu/~afta/afta_home.html.

August 10-14 - American Society of Agricultural Engineers National Meeting, Minneapolis, MN.

September 1-6 - The 9th World Water Congress, International Water Resources Association, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Contact Aly M. Shady at 819-994-4098 or e-mail aly_shady@ACDI-CIDS.gc.ca.

November 2-4 - International Irrigation Exposition & Technical Conference, Nashville, TN. For conference information visit the Irrigation Association's Web site at <http://www.irrigation.org/ia/main.html>.

QUOTE

"Compliance with EEO laws sends a message to all employees--that the characteristics that make them unique are valued and respected, and that the NRCS work environment is one in which all employees should feel free to produce their best work, without being concerned about discrimination."

--Paul W. Johnson, Chief

NRCS This Week is issued weekly by the Conservation Communications Staff, NRCS headquarters, Washington, D.C., and posted on the NRCS Home Page at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov. Please send correspondence and material via e-mail to: nancy.garlitz@usda.gov or mail to Editor, "NRCS This Week," NRCS, P.O. Box 2890, Washington, DC 20013 or FAX to Editor, "NRCS This Week," 202-690-1221.

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