USDA-EPA Announce Unified National Strategy for Animal Feeding Operations - The proposed USDA-EPA Unified National Strategy for Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs) is one of more than 100 actions President Clinton has directed to be taken as part of the Clean Water Action Plan. Its purpose is to guide AFO owners and operators as they take actions to minimize threats to water quality and public health caused by AFOs, while ensuring the long-term sustainability of livestock production in the United States.

The 41-page document is not a proposed regulation, but does contain intended approaches to implementing and improving the existing regulatory program of the Clean Water Act, which will likely affect up to 20,000 livestock producers.

It also notes that 95 percent of the 450,000 AFOs will be encouraged to voluntarily implement comprehensive nutrient management plans (CNMPs). The strategy contains a national expectation that all AFOs develop and implement CNMPs by the year 2008. These plans include: manure handling and storage, application of manure to the land, record keeping, feed management, integration with other conservation measures, and other manure utilization options.

Details that are in the strategy:

• Components of a CNMP.
• Voluntary approaches to implementing plans.
• Priorities for the regulatory program.
• Definitions for concentrated AFOs.
• Financial assistance options.
• Improving the existing Clean Water Act Permitting Program.
• Review and revision of existing regulations.
• A coordinated research and technology transfer plan.
• Building capacity to help develop and implement CNMPs.
• Policies to gather and share data on AFOs.
• Policies on confidentiality of information on voluntary program operators, maintaining a firewall between voluntary and regulatory program information.
• Encouragement of industry leadership.
• Eight guiding principles and seven strategic issues.
• Key roles of Federal, State, and local government, and producers, industry, research, and environmental groups.

Hispanic Heritage Month: September 15 - October 15 - "Women in Leadership" is the theme of this year's Hispanic Heritage Month. Many activities will occur during the celebration, which is held to observe the contributions that Hispanic men and women have made in fields ranging from science and medicine, education, business, law, politics, sports, and to many other areas that affect our lives. All employees are encouraged to join in the activities.

NRCS Personnel Changes - Effective immediately, John A. Bricker will serve as Acting Director, Civil Rights until further notice.

Effective immediately and until further notice, Charles Adams will serve as Acting Regional Conservationist for the South Central Region, in addition to his regular duties as Regional Conservationist of the Southeast Region.

IN THE FIELD

Video Editing Available for NRCS Offices - The NRCS National Employee Development Center (NEDC) in Fort Worth is offering its video editing facility for use at no charge to States, regions, institutes and centers to produce their own videos. NEDC audio-visual specialist Chris Larson is available to assist you in using the computerized digital video editing system to organize and produce your training video. For more information, contact Chris Larson at NEDC at 817-509-3247; email: clarson@ftw.nrcs.usda.gov.

Treasure Uncovered In LaCrosse, Wisconsin Basement - While cleaning out the basement of the La Crosse, Wisconsin, County Courthouse in preparation for a move, Steve Kluess, NRCS district conservationist, came across a rarity and a mystery. He found two hand-crafted cases, dated 1916, labeled "Major Soils of the Western Region and Eastern Provinces of the United States." Inside was a collection of about 80 small glass vials containing samples of soil from across the U.S.

The Bureau of Soils was formed in 1899, and by 1916 soil surveys were just getting underway in a few areas of the country. This collection may be the first and only of its kind. Steve contacted Duane Simonson, Soil Survey Project Leader in Richland Center, and presented him with his find.

Duane did a little investigating to try and find out why a rare collection of American soils would be buried on a shelf in the La Crosse County Courthouse and how long it has been there. No current or retired soil scientists in the State had ever heard of it or anything like it. There were no papers or letters referring to it in La Crosse. One might conjecture that the nearby Coon Creek Watershed Demonstration site, the first large-scale erosion control project in the country in 1935, may have something to do with it. La Crosse was also the site of a USDA Experimental Station working on erosion control, also in the 1930's. Recovering this historic collection could not have been more timely. Next year, 1999, is the centennial year of the soil survey. NRCS is celebrating a Soil Survey Centennial to help people learn about soil. Wisconsin has contributed the Soils Collection to the Centennial for display around the country during 1999. No more dusty courthouse basements for this treasure of soils.

Buffer Initiative Gains Municipal Support - Under the leadership of NRCS, thousands of individual landowners are installing conservation buffers all across the country. Many of the buffers are being installed in a coordinated fashion to protect whole watersheds or water-source water areas.

The following are some examples of water suppliers themselves supporting the installation of buffers.

Syracuse, New York, will invest up to $10 million during the next 10 years in on-farm conservation measures to protect its unfiltered Skaneateles Lake water supply, and to avoid spending up to $60 million for a filtration plant.

Fort Wayne, Indiana's, filtration plant managers are now working along the St. Joseph River, from which the city draws its water, to install buffers and reduce the amount of nonpoint source pollution entering the river from the land.

The Georgia Rural Water Association, in its Edie Creek proposal for a source water assessment and protection program, says, "USDA programs are being used to promote conservation practices, such as buffer zones and critical area planting, in the watershed. The local city and county governments are active in meeting the resource needs of their respective residents. A watershed protection zoning ordinance exists within Lamar County. This ordinance outlines practices such as buffer zones and setbacks in order to improve water quality within the area."

NRCS, Others to Conduct Workshop for American Indians - The NRCS American Indian Liaison, other agency staff members, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs will conduct a workshop with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians entitled, Working Effectively with American Indians, September 28 - October 3, in Fontana Village, North Carolina. The purpose is to provide a frame work for NRCS employees to understand the special and unique relationship between tribes and the Federal government and facilitate the development, delivery, and accessibility of USDA programs and services to Indian tribes and tribal members. Tribal members will provide local cultural value system training.

Laboratory Information and Management System - The National Soil Survey Laboratory in Lincoln, Nebraska, is developing a new Laboratory Information and Management System (LIMS) to replace the outdated mainframe-based system that is not Year 2000 compliant. An early prototype of the new LIMS has been quickly created using existing software developed to manage the NRCS soil database. All work on LIMS is under an approved waiver.

CONSTITUENCY AND PARTNERSHIP NEWS

April 22, 1999: Earth Day Ag Celebration - "Agriculture and the Environment: A Growing Partnership" is a three-year initiative spearheaded by the American agricultural community to highlight ongoing conservation practices that are helping America's farmers and ranchers contribute to clean water and air, healthy soil, improved wildlife habitat and open spaces, and a quality environment. Earth Day 1999 kicks off the agriculture community's rededication to establishing growing partnerships between agriculture and the environment, building on environmental successes, and developing innovative practices that conserve our natural resources and provide the world with an abundant, reliable, and affordable supply of food, natural fiber, and other agricultural products. A special day of celebration - to be held on April 22, 1999 - will be the culmination of a week-long series of events across the country. Over the seven-day period, members of the agricultural community will be reporting on environmental successes and innovative practices. The final national event will feature comments from Administration and Capitol Hill dignitaries; testimonials from farm and ranch advocates; a traditional farmers' market; and an exhibition of innovative partnerships already underway. The Ag-Earth Partnership is made up of the following organizations:

Agricultural Marketing Service of USDA	National Cattlemen's Beef Association
American Farm Bureau Federation	National Corn Growers Association
American Farmland Trust	National Council of Farmer Cooperatives
American Feed Industry Association	National Farmers Union
Association of California Water Agencies	National Grange
Cargill	National Pork Producers Council
CF Industries	NRCS
Conservation Technology Information Center	Society of American Florists
Farm*A*Syst/Home*A*Syst	Soil and Water Conservation Society
Farmland Industries	Sunkist Growers
IMC Global	Terrene Institute
National Association of Conservation Districts	The Fertilizer Institute
National Association of State Departments of Agriculture

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UPCOMING

September 19-23 - Society of American Foresters 1998 National Convention, Traverse City, MI. NRCS foresters will meet September 24, following the convention, to participate in strategic planning, technology exchange, and discuss and resolve various issues. For more information, contact Keith Martell at 517-731-4612.

September 22-25 - National Civil Rights Committee Meeting, Washington, D.C. For more information, contact Darrel Dominick at 207-866-7241; e-mail: ddominick@me.nrcs.usda.gov.

September 27-29 - NACD Agricultural Lands Resources Committee Meeting to be held at the Holiday Inn in Topeka, KS. For more information, contact Bill Horvath at 715-341-1022; fax: 715-341-1023.

September 27-30 - Thorne Ecological Institute hosts "Peaks to Prairies: A Conference on Watershed Stewardship, Sustaining Communities and the Environment" at the Rushmore Plaza, Holiday Inn, Rapid City, SD. For more information, call 303-499-3647; fax: 303-499-8340; or e-mail: dir@thorneecoinst.org.

October 3 - The Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital is planning to hold an environmental ECO-EXPO at Greenbelt Park in Greenbelt, MD. NRCS will be present with a soil display and "hands on" soils exhibit for the participants. Volunteers are needed! For more information, contact Leslie Burks at 202-645-3087, or Cheryl Simmons at 410-465-3180.

October 4-7 - North American Conference on Enterprise Development Through Agroforestry: Farming the Agroforest for Specialty Products, will be held at the Doubletree Park Place Hotel, in Minneapolis, MN. For more information, contact Scott Josiah at 612-624-7418; fax: 612-625-5212; or e-mail: CINRAM@forestry.umn.edu.

October 5-9 - Joint meeting of the State Resource Conservationists and State Conservation Engineers, Reno, NV. For more information, contact David Thackeray at 202-720-0134; or email: david.thackeray@usda.gov.

October 11-14 - The Association of Dam Safety Officials will host "Dam Safety '98," Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, NV. For more information, call 606-257-5140; fax: 606-323-1958; or e-mail: damsafety@aol.com.

October 19 - 1998 Annual Meeting of the Soil Science Society of America will feature a Symposium on Carbon Sequestration in Soils to be held at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland. For more information, contact Julie Jastrow; e-mail: jdjastrow@anl.gov, or Dale Johnson e-mail: dwj@dri.edu.

October 21-23 - The Texas Section of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers will hold its annual meeting in San Marcos, Texas, at South West Texas State University. For more information, contact Anna Rodriguez at 512-239-1307; or fax: 512-239-1300.

October 24-28 - NACD Fall Executive Board Members Meeting to be held at the Radisson Inn in Bloomington, MN. For more information, contact Robert Raschke at 303-988-1810; fax: 303-988-1896.

October 27-28 - The New Mexico Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts is hosting their 52nd annual conference, "Local Vision - Locally-Led - Global Hope," at the Sheraton Uptown in Albuquerque, NM. For more information, please contact Debbie Hughes at 505-981-2400.

November 6-8 - The Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA) will host the 13th Annual Sustainable Agriculture Conference, "New Directions for Sustaining Agriculture," at the Clemson University Madren Center, Clemson, SC. For more information call: 919-542-2404; fax: 919-542-7401; e-mail: cfsa@intrex.net; or visit CFSA's website at: http://sunsite.unc.edu/cfsa/index.htm.

November 8-10 - California Association of Resource Conservation Districts will host its annual business meeting and conference, "Bridging the Gap," at the Doubletree Hotel in Palm Springs, CA. For more information, contact Aleta Zak at 916-447-7237; e-mail: carcd@ns.net. November 10-13 - ETC/Environmental Technology China will present "The 4th International Exhibition on Environmental Protection, Pollution Control, and Green Production Technology," China International Exhibition Centre, Beijing, P.R., China. For more information, contact Rebecca Fung at 852-25163346; fax: 852-25165024; or e-mail: aes@adsaleexh.com.

November 16-19 - The American Water Resources Association (AWRA) is sponsoring its Annual Conference at the Marriott Grande Hotel in Point Clear, AL. For more information, call the AWRA at 703-904-1225.

November 17-20 - The National Organization of Professional Asian Pacific American NRCS Employees is sponsoring its first annual training conference in Sparks, NV. Poster and technical papers are being solicited. Deadline to submit topic and general outline is October 30. Poster papers cannot exceed an area of a 4' x 8' board or table top display. For more information on poster papers, contact Kent Matsutani at 308-254-4507; or email: wmatsuta@ne.nrcs.usda.gov. For general information on the conference, contact Mon Yee at 503-414-3264; e-mail: myee@or.nrcs.usda.gov; or Virginia C. Lewis at 505-761-4408; e-mail: vlewis@nm.nrcs.usda.gov.

December 8-12 - 7th Annual Training Conference of the National Organization of Professional Black Natural Resources Conservation Service Employees, "Bridging the Gap to the New Millennium," will be held at the Excelsior Hotel in Little Rock, AR. For more information, contact Jackie Roscoe at 202-720-5235; fax: 202-720-5548.

January 19-21, 1999 - Soil and Water Conservation Society will host its National conference, "The State of North America's Private Land" at the Holiday Inn O'Hare in Chicago, IL. For more information, contact Charlie Persinger at 515-289-2331; fax: 515-289-1227; or e-mail: swcs@swcs.org.

January 24-27, 1999 - Colorado State University will host "Tailings and Mine Waste '99" in Ft. Collins, CO. The conference will provide a forum for presenting information on mill tailings, mine waste, and current and future issues facing the mining and environmental communities. Contact Linda L. Hinshaw at 970-491-6081; fax: 970-491-3584; or e-mail: lhinshaw@engr.colostate.edu.

January 31-February 4, 1999 - 53rd NACD Annual Meeting to held at the Town and Country Resort and Conference Center (1-800-772-8528) in San Diego, CA. For more information, contact Robert Raschke at 303-988-1810; fax: 303-988-1896.

February 17-20, 1999 - Land Improvement Contractors of America Winter Convention, Adams Mark Hotel, San Antonio, TX. Contact Wayne F. Maresch at 301-248-5749; FAX-301/248-0847; or email: WayneF86@aol.com.

May 23-28, 1999 - The International Soil Conservation Organization will host the 10th International Soil Conservation Conference, "Sustaining the Global Farm," at Purdue University in West LaFayette, IN. For more information, call 765-494-8683; fax: 765-494-5948 c/o ISCO99; e-mail: isco99@ecn.purdue.edu; or visit the conference website at: http://spc3.ecn.purdue.edu/isco99/isco99.htm.

QUOTE

"We must learn to live more lightly on the land."

Bruce Babbitt, (b. 1929) Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior

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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