Agricultural Air Quality to be Topic of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Meeting in Texas - Agricultural air quality, including research, health issues, agricultural burning, and the memorandum of understanding between USDA and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), will be discussed at the USDA Task Force on Agricultural Air Quality meeting on April 8-9, in Amarillo, Texas.

The meeting will be held at the Texas A&M University Agricultural Research and Extension Center on April 8 and at the Ambassador Hotel on April 9.

The Agricultural Air Quality Task Force was established by the 1996 Farm Bill. Its members, appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture, include farmers and ranchers, representatives from agricultural industry, public health officials, scientists, and engineers. NRCS Chief Pearlie S. Reed, is the new chairperson of the task force.

The memorandum of understanding, signed recently by USDA Secretary Dan Glickman and EPA Administrator Carol Browner, promotes coordination on air quality issues concerning agriculture. The agreement establishes a formal working relationship between USDA and EPA, including seeking advice from the Agricultural Air Quality Task Force.

The memorandum states that USDA and EPA will share information; seek to acquire needed research and field studies to improve the understanding of agricultural-related activities impacting air quality provide information on the need for effective conservation practices that address air quality issues where the problem exists; and confer on other air quality matters of concern.

Among activities encouraged in the memorandum are working with local conservation districts; using the conservation planning expertise of NRCS to identify farming practices useful in improving air quality; and sharing status reports on such research as agricultural emission estimates, wind erosion estimates, agricultural burning emissions, model development, and resource management system demonstration projects relative to agriculture and air quality to ensure conservation on America's private lands.

NRCS Special Assistant Assists at National Center for Resource Innovations - Barbara Osgood, special assistant to the Chief, has been detailed to the National Center for Resource Innovations (NCRI) in Rosslyn, VA. NCRI is a nonprofit organization that has been chartered to work with local government and government agencies to provide Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analyses for decisionmaking. NCRI recently completed a comprehensive study of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and the Delmarva Peninsula for the East Region.

Farm Bill Workshop - A Farm Bill Workshop, Achieving Wildlife Objectives of the 1996 Farm Bill - An Assessment and Recommendations for Improvement, will be held from April 13-15, in Arlington, VA. The workshop is designed to bring administrators of Farm Bill programs together with practitioners from the field, to listen to successes and problems, to discuss solutions, and to search for opportunities that will contribute to achieving shared goals.

Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Signup Planning - NRCS will participate in an initial planning session with the Farm Service Agency for the upcoming fall CRP signup. The details and agenda are being finalized.

IN THE FIELD

Clean Water Action Plan Regional Meetings - A series of regional meetings will begin this week on Clean Water Action Plan implementation. San Francisco, Portland, and Denver will be included on April 13-14, 14-15, and 15-16 respectively. More locations will be covered in subsequent weeks. NRCS and FS personnel are the primary USDA staff involved, with EPA, the Department of the Interior, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also providing support. The meetings will include both informational briefings on the action plan and the approach for implementation, as well as listening to States, Tribes, and other stakeholders for their comments and suggestions on the implementation process. Two major topics will be the unified watershed assessment, and animal feeding operations strategy.

Spatial Analysis for Site-Specific Management Limited Resource Farmers - Lonoke County, Arkansas - Scientists from the Soil Survey & Resource Assessment area and Soil Survey Division worked with limited resource farmers in Allport Arkansas, on a site-specific management study during March 23-25.

The team consisted of representatives from the National Soil Survey Center (NSSC) in Lincoln, Nebraska, a GIS specialist from Boise, Idaho, and an NRCS Soil Scientist from Little Rock. Grid points on two 40-acre fields were examined for soil properties by technicians from NRCS and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. A digital camera captured photos of the project. Data points were georeferenced in the field and, at an exit conference, special GIS software was used to display the data on surface maps.

This electronic soil property survey is the first to be initiated by the NRCS for use with site-specific management and can be used at any other site deemed necessary. The digital files reside on an ftp server at the NSSC and will be shared with appropriate customers in Arkansas.

The team envisions two benefits: 1.) restrictive features, such as traffic pans, were identified and then spatially extrapolated on maps showing the areas of management concerns and 2.) after several years of monitoring yield data, the farmers can better understand the soil properties that influence yield variability and can manage their fields accordingly to maximize their yields.

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 Maryland.

Maryland. Most of the 25-mile long Little Gunpowder River, which runs into the Chesapeake Bay, is a Class 3 trout stream. But for five miles the stream had unprotected shoreline pastures -- that is, until Ann McIntosh, a local leader of Trout Unlimited, mobilized. She persuaded key Little Gunpowder neighbors to help, and working with Mike Huneke, area forester for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, landowners have fenced cattle out of the stream and planted thousands of trees to shade and cool the stream to favorable trout temperature. For Trout Unlimited, promoting riparian buffers is a new twist: "Traditionally, we've come in only to protect trout streams in crisis – when they're threatened with road-building, development and the like," said 1997 President, Jay Boynton, "but in the last few years we've focused on getting in with landowners and correcting problems on the watershed, on their land – and on Chesapeake Bay." Mike Huneke calculates that more than 60 acres of riparian forest has been restored with some 30,000 seedlings along the Little Gunpowder and its feeder streams. Four miles of fencing is keeping out 350 head of cattle on seven adjacent farms. When fully established, summer stream temperature should be 10 degrees lower and some 40,000 pounds of nitrogen and 5,000 of phosphorus a year should be filtered out. He says, "The success of this project is largely due to the grassroots partnerships between the public agencies, nonprofit groups like TU, and the local landowners."

South Dakota Coalition Provides Grassroots Leadership - The South Dakota Grassland Coalition has finalized its by-laws and elected officers. The coalition will provide grassroots leadership for the Grazing Land Conservation Initiative in South Dakota. Its goal is to promote voluntary action, respect private property rights through local leadership, and provide information and technical assistance to producers managing grasslands. The grazing coalition board of directors is made up of livestock producers from across South Dakota.

Interagency Hydrologic Modeling Conference - On April 16-19, NRCS will participate in a conference on hydrologic modeling in Las Vegas, NV. The conference will provide an opportunity for professionals from State and local agencies, universities, international entities, the private sector, and Federal agencies to exchange information. The NRCS national hydrologist will serve as a technical co-chair. Nearly 130 papers and 30 demonstrations are planned for the conference.

National Corn Growers Partner with NRCS at Major Education Event - NRCS and the National Corn Growers Association will demonstrate conservation buffers at their joint exhibit at the 1998 National Science Teachers Association annual meeting in Las Vegas, NV. The April 16-19 meeting should attract an estimated 18,000-20,000 educators representing academic levels from elementary to college, plus many international visitors.

The exhibit will feature a living demonstration of various buffer technologies using live plants, a constructed stream, and conservation tillage. It will also have a representation of the Mojave Desert environment, home of the endangered Desert Tortoise.

In addition, the exhibit will have a popular hands-on learning activity where visitors will make a profile of a local soil, and receive instructions on how to replicate that activity back home. Conservation, buffer and education materials will be distributed. On-site assistance is being coordinated through the local NRCS office.

National Database for Nutrient Loss and Carbon Sequestration - NRCS is cooperating with researchers at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and at Iowa State University to provide a national nutrient loss and carbon sequestration database. This database will enable NRCS to estimate the yield, nutrient movement, and carbon accumulation impacts from changing tillage, nutrient management, and conservation systems. This will allow NRCS, for the first time, to estimate nutrient reductions resulting from its conservation planning and application efforts on private lands in the U.S. The first data are expected to be available in January 1999.

GSA Announces Site of the Natural Resources Research Center in Fort Collins - The General Services Administration (GSA) has announced the location for the construction of the Natural Resources Research Center (NRRC). The new research center is to be constructed in Fort Collins, Colorado, at the Center for Advanced Technology on the Colorado State University campus. Construction of the first building is scheduled to begin in September 1998, with completion in September 1999. Additional buildings will become available each succeeding year.

The center will bring together agency partners engaged in natural resources research and related areas. Partners include the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Information Technology Center (NRCS/ITC) and the NRCS field office; the Farm Service Agency field office; the Forest Service (FS); the Office of the Chief Information Officer-National Information Technology Center (OCIO-NITC); Agricultural Research Service; (ARS) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS); and the Geological Survey (USGS).

The collocation of Department of Agriculture agencies, as well as part of the Department of Interior's Geological Survey, is expected to improve opportunities for collaboration between these entities, resulting in significant programmatic benefits. Additionally, the participating agencies intend to share administrative and support activities, which will produce savings over the life of the project.

CONSTITUENCY AND PARTNERSHIP NEWS

Opportunity Knocking - RC&D Councils, Conservation Districts, and Watershed Boards interested in applying for a free one-year enhanced subscription to the Economic Development Finance Service (EDFS) which includes support for training in Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) organization and administration, should contact Bill Amt, EDFS, (202) 624-7806; email: nadobpa@sso.org. To be eligible, the RLF must have been established after 1993, with at least one loan made to a natural resource-based business. Submission deadline is May 15, 1998. The EDFS website is located at www.nado.org/edfs.html.

LEGISLATIVE NEWS

April Recess - Congress will be in recess from April 3 until the week of April 20.

Senate Agriculture Committee Briefing on Animal Waste - On March 26, NRCS and EPA staff briefed the Senate Agriculture Committee on the draft strategy for regulating Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). Committee questions centered upon the direct impact that regulation would have on producers. Staff members were interested in what programs and assistance could be offered to CAFO operators to help them comply, and in the number of CAFOs in operation.

Congressional staff asked how the EPA draft strategy would be affected by State initiatives. Presenters responded that the national strategy is established to set a national minimum standard, but that some States would probably impose even more stringent regulations. Congressional staff also voiced concern that the proposed regulations might affect smaller operations than those that are presently being discussed.

USDA Year 2000 Compliance - On May 14, the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee (Chairman Richard Lugar, IN) will hold a hearing to review USDA's information technology systems to ensure year 2000 compliance.

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UPCOMING

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, 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.

June 14-16 - National Association of Conservation Districts, Northern Plains Regional Meeting, Badlands Motel, Medora, ND. For further information, contact Robert Raschke at 303-988-1810; fax: 303-988-1896.

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.

September 10-12 - The National Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation and the Acid Mine Drainage Coalition will host their annual conference, "Building Partnerships for Reclamation" in Knoxville, TN. The theme will focus on using a watershed approach to assist locally led conservation groups obtain needed resources to implement reclamation programs.

QUOTE

"The rains bring us trees and flowers; the droughts bring gaping cracks in the world. The lakes and rivers sustain us; they flow through the veins of the earth and into our own. But we must take care to let them flow back out as pure as they came, not poison and waste them without thought for the future."

-- Al Gore, 45th Vice President of the United States

NRCS This Week is issued weekly by the Conservation Communications Staff, NRCS headquarters, Washington, D.C., and posted in the SCS:SCS shared folder on FTS2000Mail. Please send correspondence and material via FTS2000Mail to !A16SCSOPA and type "This Week" on the subject line or e-mail: fred.jacobs2@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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