IN WASHINGTON

Secretary Glickman Announces 25 New RC&D Areas - On March 17, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman announced that 25 areas in 18 States are now eligible for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Resource Conservation and Development Program (RC&D).

State	RC&D Areas
California	Central Sierra, South Coast
Florida	South Florida
Georgia	Rolling Hills
Idaho	Mid-Snake
Illinois/Iowa	Interstate
Iowa	Iowa Valley
Iowa	Sioux Rivers
Kentucky	Gateway, Jackson Purchase
Montana	North Central Montana
Nebraska	South Central Nebraska
Nevada	High Desert
New Hampshire	Southern New Hampshire
New York	Ontario Lake Plains
Pennsylvania	Southeastern Pennsylvania
South Carolina	Edisto-Savannah
Tennessee	Smoky Mountain
Texas	Bluebonnet
Texas	Chisolm Trail, Concho Valley, Pecos Valley
Utah	Mountainland, Wasatch Front
Washington	Big Bend

Secretary Glickman also announced the expansion of the following RC&D areas.

California	Central Coast
Georgia	Limestone Valley, Upper Ocmulgee
Pennsylvania	Pocono Northeast
Texas	De-Go-La, Rio Bravo

Administrative Convergence Approved - On March 16, 1998, Secretary Glickman signed a decision memorandum approving the administrative management and information technology framework recommended by Deputy Secretary Rominger and members of the Subcabinet. This is virtually the same convergence plan that was provided to State leaders in December, 1997. The Secretary directed the three Under Secretaries for the Service Center Agencies to move forward toward implementation by October 1, 1998. The Secretary also named Joe Leo, Deputy Administrator for Management, Food and Nutrition Service, to head the Administrative Convergence Implementation Team; this team will answer to the three Under Secretaries. The Secretary also stressed the need to include State leaders, program managers, employees at all levels of the organizations, unions, and partners in this process. More details of how this project will be planned and executed will be worked out over the next several weeks.

Service Center Implementation Update - The deputy chief and administrators for management and chief information officers from NRCS, the Farm Service Agency, and Rural Development will meet on March 30 to discuss information technology related aspects of service center implementation. This meeting will focus on recommendations on such issues as joint information technology decision processes, project management, staff resource allocation, priority setting, and the implementation of the common computing environment.

IN THE FIELD

Riparian Buffer Strips/Field Files - NRCS is collecting stories on the good work that's being done in the field with riparian buffer strips. This week, we look at Indiana and Minnesota.

Indiana - After Fort Wayne, Indiana, was said to have Safe Drinking Water Act violations and pesticide contamination in its water supply, "We decided it wasn't good enough just to sit in Fort Wayne and continue just treating the water, without looking upstream and helping make the system better there," says Doug Pooler, superintendent of the city's filtration plant. So the city began working with EPA, the Conservation Districts, NRCS, the Fish & Wildlife Service, and such groups as The Nature Conservancy and Pheasants Forever; the St. Joseph River Water Initiative is now working on improving water quality on the St. Joseph River and its tributaries. Buffers and filter strips have been installed (some, installed with assistance under EPA's Section 319 program, might be rolled over into CRP); grass strips have been planted; wetlands have been restored. The city is monitoring the results, using new immunoassay equipment that can test for specific chemicals and obtain results on raw water samples within hours. In addition to enabling the city to adjust the carbon levels in its filtration plant according to need, the monitoring also provides information on upstream efforts to reduce the raw-water levels of nutrients, pesticides, pathogens and sedimentation in the first place. Although the St. Joseph River Water Initiative stops in Ft. Wayne, where the St. Joseph and the St. Mary's River form the Maumee, (which flows east into Ohio and into Lake Erie at Toledo), some of the Initiative partners are working with the Maumee and downstream users. After all, says Pooler, "Everybody's downstream from somebody!"

Minnesota - "Dick Hufford always wanted to do something for wildlife, but it wasn't financially feasible – until now with cost-sharing under CRP," says Stevens County NRCS district conservationist Stanley Musielewicz. Hufford, who with his sons raises corn, soybeans, alfalfa, wheat, cattle and hogs on 2,500 acres, has put about 20 acres of his farm in CRP, mostly for wildlife and wind and water erosion control. He has planted over 9 acres of trees – spruce, green ash, locust, dogwood, plum, chokecherry - and 6 acres of switchgrass. In one field, Hufford has put in 6 acres of switchgrass along a riparian strip for habitat and erosion reduction. Pheasants Forever helped him plant 1,800 trees on about 9 acres in the same field; the trees were planted through 6-foot-wide tree mulch fabric, which keeps down weeds, eliminates the need for mowing, reduces soil erosion, holds soil moisture, and protects the trees. Although it will take about 5 years to recoup his part of the cost of the improvements, there will be 10 years of income from the CRP rent. Hufford plans next to restore a wetland area between a neighbor's 40-acre WRP-restored wetland and a Waterfowl Protection Area owned by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. "I've farmed all my life and that land's been pretty good to me," Hufford says, "so I'd like to put something back, for me and my grandkids."

Massachusetts Watershed Initiative Underway - The Massachusetts Watershed Initiative has been launched, using a watershed approach to combat nonpoint source pollution and ensure the sustainability of watershed resources. The initiative seeks to improve protection of environmental quality through comprehensive environmental management, coordination of efforts among agencies, and collaboration among diverse stakeholders. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, together with many community supporters, will create a new environmental management framework based on community partnerships and interagency cooperation within the natural boundaries of Massachusetts' 27 watersheds.

CONSTITUENCY AND PARTNERSHIP NEWS

NRCS 1998 Earth Day Celebration - The Natural Resources Conservation Service, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, American Farm Bureau, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, and several other organizations have formed a partnership to celebrate American agriculture's environmental stewardship successes on Earth Day, April 22. This effort will showcase the contributions agriculture and private landowners make to the environment.

This year's event will celebrate the role of the farmer and rancher in his/her commitment to the earth and its bounty. There will be a week-long series of public and media activities - culminating with a commemorative event at USDA on Earth Day.

The new NRCS Backyard Conservation campaign will be launched during the Earth Day Event in Washington. This campaign takes 10 on-farm conservation practices and shows how miniature versions can be used in a backyard. The goal is to inform urban and suburban residents of the good conservation work being done by farmers and ranchers and, at the same time, encourage them to adopt conservation practices in their own backyards.

LEGISLATIVE NEWS

Management of Animal Waste - On April 2, the Senate Agriculture Committee (Chairman Richard Lugar, IN) will hold a hearing on legislation that would change National standards governing the management of animal waste.

NRCS/EPA Brief House Agriculture Committee on Confined Livestock Issue - On March 13, NRCS and EPA officials briefed House Agriculture Committee staff on the issue of Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO). The briefing was mainly focused on the EPA draft strategy for aggressively enforcing Clean Water Act provisions dealing with CAFOs. An EPA official described how EPA would be working closely with USDA over the next several months to develop a strategy for minimizing adverse environmental impacts of large livestock operations.

The NRCS Deputy Chief for Science and Technology described how USDA expertise would be needed to assist landowners in meeting new requirements. He said that NRCS has played a role regarding technical review in CAFO policy to ensure that the policies are scientifically sound. In general, presenters described EPA's role as setting the standards for allowable levels of nutrients in water, while USDA has expertise on proper management of nutrients on the land. Congressional staff expressed concern about the impact of regulations on producers.

New Legislation - The following bill was recently introduced and is of significance to NRCS and conservation:

H.R. 3451 by Boswell (IA) -- The legislation would amend the Conservation Reserve Program to treat a nonprofit as a separate person for purposes of applying the limitation on payments under conservation reserve contracts.

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UPCOMING

March 1-31 - National Women's History Month.

March 25 - Association for Persons with Disabilities in Agriculture (APDA) Meeting, Washington, D.C. For more information contact: President: Mel Padgett at 202-720-1495.

March 26-28 - 3rd Annual Timber Utilization Conference and Equipment Exposition, Fountainhead Resort, Eufaula, OK. Sponsored by Ouachita Mountains RC&D, Inc. For information, call 918-423-2479 or 580-873-9277; e-mail: omrcandd@icok.net. Visit the web site at http://www.icok.net/~omrcandd/.

March 31 - The USDA Chapter of Blacks in Government will host a lunch time workshop in recognition of Women's History Month. Dr. Francine Dove Hawkins will give a presentation entitled, "Diversity or Die." The workshop will be held in Washington, D.C. For further information, contact Star Bryant at 202-720-0183. There is limited seating, so please RSVP to Star as soon as possible.

April 6-7 - First National Mitigation Banking Conference, J.W. Marriott Hotel, 1331 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. Conference registration is being handled by the Terrene Institute, 4 Herbert St., Alexandria, VA 22305; or call 703-548-5473; fax: 703-548-6299. For more information, contact Gary Wooten, Watersheds and Wetlands Division, NRCS National Headquarters, at 202-690-1588; e-mail: gary.wooten@usda.gov.

April 6-7 - An American Wetlands Month Celebration, "Team Wetlands: 101 Ways to Win for Wetlands," Hyatt Crystal City, 2799 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Arlington, VA. For information, call 703-548-5473; fax: 703-548-6299; or write to Terrene Institute, 4 Herbert St., Alexandria, VA 22305.

April 19-25 - National Volunteer Week.

April 20-22 - NRCS and several partner organizations, including the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, will hold a 3-day event "Agriculture and the Environment: A Growing Partnership, " culminating on Earth Day on April 22. The event will be held in the patio area of the Department of Agriculture Whitten Building. For more information, contact Fred Jacobs, 202-720-4649; email: fred.jacobs2@usda.gov.

April 20-24 - The Grazing Lands Technology Institute will host a National conference for NRCS employees that will highlight the new technology provided in the newly delivered National Range and Pasture Handbook. It will be held at the Holiday Inn-South in Fort Worth, Texas beginning at 1:00 p.m., April 20 and ending at noon on April 24th. For more information, contact Larry Butler at 817/334-5232, ext. 3622, or email: lbutler@ftw.nrcs.usda.gov.

May 4-10 - Public Service Recognition Week, National Mall Event. For more information, contact Gretchen Hakola at 202-410-4352; fax: 202-401-4433; e-mail: permail@patriot.net.

May 5-7 - Federal Asian Pacific American Council (FAPAC) Conference, sponsored by USDA and 23 other Federal agencies. The conference will be held in Washington, DC. For more information, contact Harry Takai at 202-267-6024.

May 23-28, 1999 - 10th International Soil Conservation Organization (ISCO) Conference "Sustaining the Global Farm," Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. For information, call 765-494-8683; fax: 765-494-5948 c/o ISCO99; e-mail: isco99@ecn.purdue.edu. Write to ISCO99, Purdue University, 1196 SOIL Building, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1196.

July 27-August 1 - 11th National Envirothon, Michigan State University, Lansing MI. For more information, contact Brenda Weiser at 800-825-5547, ext. 27; e-mail: envirothon@nacdnet.org or visit the event website at http://www.dunnscomp.comp/Natenv.

September 28-30 - Wisconsin Resource Conservation & Development (RC&D) Association Annual Meeting, Manitowoc, WI. Contact Greg Hines at 920-683-5196.

QUOTE

" Defining myself, as opposed to being defined by others, is one of the most difficult challenges I face."

-- Carol Mosely-Braun, United States Senator

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: fred.jacobs@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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