Nearly $4.5 Million More in NRCS Disaster Assistance to Alabama - NRCS, through the Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP), has approved an additional $4.45 million in financial and technical assistance for the State of Alabama for flood-related damage from Hurricane Georges. This brings the total for the State to more than $5.1 million. Since the beginning of October, EWP funds totaling nearly $41 million have been approved for flood-damage in Florida, Connecticut, Alabama, California, Puerto Rico, Louisiana, Iowa, Kentucky, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Mississippi, Nebraska, Montana, Missouri, Washington, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Through the EWP, NRCS provides assistance to pay project sponsors for work such as clearing debris from clogged waterways, restoring vegetation, and stabilizing flood-damaged river banks.

NRCS Producing Custom Demographic Data - NRCS, through its Social Sciences Institute, is producing custom demographic data for State and Regional agency offices. This data will be used to assist in the design of agency outreach programs. Custom data has been provided to all States in the Midwest Region, as well as a selection of States in the other five NRCS regions. Data is composed of information from the 1990 general population census and the 1992 Census of Agriculture.

The Leader in You Seminar Satellite Coordinates - The satellite coordinates for Leader in You "Utilizing the Internet to Meet Customer Needs," seminar are:

Date:	Wednesday, December 16, 12:30-2:00 p.m., EST.
Satellite Information:	Galaxy 3R/C-Band (Located at 95 degrees west longitude)
Transponder:	12
Channel:	12
Polarity:	Vertical
Megahertz:	3940.000
Audio:	6.2/6.8

The test signal will begin 30 minutes before the live broadcast. Technicians should use this time to check satellite receiving equipment to verify they can receive the signal.

If you have any technical problems before or during the seminar, please call Christa Arvantes at 703-739-5332, or Joan Oberlin, at 703-739-5150.

The seminar highlights include:

• debunking the myths of Internet commerce;
• identifying new opportunities in electronic commerce;
• secrets of winning Web sites; and
• managing electronic customer relationships.

For additional information, contact the NRCS Social Sciences Institute at 616-942-1503; or e-mail ssinter2@po.nrcs.usda.gov. There is no cost for this training.

NRCS Personnel Change - Effective immediately, Craig Derickson, Assistant State Conservationist for Technology in Nebraska, will serve as Acting State Conservationist in North Dakota.

Pilot Technical Training Held for Key Conservation Practices - A 3-1/2-day field-based pilot training session on conservation tillage, nutrient management, pest management, and conservation buffers was conducted in Fort Worth, Texas, November 30-December 3. Twelve State specialists and district conservationists, plus authors of the training, were present for the session. The training is designed to improve field office-level understanding of the environmental benefits, as well as increase employees' knowledge of skills in planning and installing practices. This training will be available to States in each region as train-the-trainer sessions during the first quarter of 1999. Regional sessions are planned as follows:

REGION	Location	Date
East	TBA	January 25-28, 1999
Northern Plains	TBA	February 1-4, 1999
South Central	Ft. Worth	February 8-11, 1999
West	TBA	February 22-25, 1999
Southeast	Chattanooga, TN	March 8-11, 1999
Midwest	Being scheduled

Vermont Farms Highlighted As Tourist Attraction - Vermont Farms! Association, a group of small, family farms that open their operations to the public for education and tourism, recently partnered with NRCS and the Farm Service Agency at an exhibit at the annual Vermont Travel Industry Conference held in Killington, VT. The theme was Vermont, a Farm Product. Vermont, a Farm Product promotes the concept that just about everything tourists, as well as those who live in the State, appreciate about Vermont - scenery, healthy food, open space, and grazing animals, forestland, and so forth. - is attributable, in one way or another, to agriculture.

Flood Control Structures Prevent Flood-Damage in Oklahoma - Six upstream flood control projects in north central Oklahoma prevented an estimated $1.4 million in damage during heavy rain storms during October and November. Rainfall ranging from 3 to 9 inches fell in a short time in a 6-county area on already-saturated soils. "The upstream flood control dams functioned as designed and reduced damages significantly," said Ron Clark, State Conservationist. Oklahoma has 2,094 upstream flood control dams in 141 watersheds.

NRCS Shows Strong Demand for Nutrient Management Plans in Arkansas - NRCS reports that the demand for Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans (CNMP) is increasing dramatically throughout Arkansas. The reason: farmers and ranchers are eager to establish their plans in anticipation of the approval of the final AFO strategy. NRCS and its partners have recently received more than 1,200 requests for new animal waste management plans and nearly 1,000 requests for revisions of existing plans. Filling the requests will require the services of 60 water quality specialists; however, only 12 are available.

Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Success Stories: Maine - During 1997 and 1998, four EQIP contracts, totaling $570,000, were approved to assist the Washington County Passamaquoddy Tribe in meeting many of their land management and conservation goals. In addition, $12,250 was approved for education assistance.

Two of contracts were cost-shares with the tribe's Passamaquoddy Forestry Department for timber stand improvement work, including thinning for wildlife enhancement and other conservation practices on much of the tribe's 138,000 acres of woodland. Education assistance funds were used to finance a week-long workshop co-sponsored by the Washington County Soil and Water Conservation District, the Maine Forestry Department, and the Passamaquoddy Forestry Department, entitled "Thinning for Wildlife Enhancement." The workshop, provided at no cost to tribal members, was held in May of this year at the tribes office in Princeton.

The third EQIP contract went to the tribe-owned Northeastern Blueberry Company for establishing integrated crop management and other conservation practices on 1,860 acres of the tribe's blueberry land. Education assistance funds were used to train four tribal members as integrated crop management scouts. The four were subsequently hired by the Washington County Soil and Water Conservation District.

The fourth EQIP contract with the Passamaquoddy Tribe provided funding for fencing practices, watering systems, waste storage facilities, and so forth and to restore a 240-acre beef farm owned by the tribe. This funding allowed the farm manager to begin renovation on the farm to support a small beef herd utilizing a rotational grazing system. Restoration of a small apple orchard and other plans to eventually diversify the farm are evolving due to the financial assistance provided through the EQIP contract.

The EQIP program has brought USDA financial and technical assistance to the tribe to an unprecedented level. It has been fundamental in assisting the tribe in meeting its land management and conservation goals.

Special Animal Feeding Operation (AFO) Meeting Held - Nebraska State Conservationist Steve Chick chose to hold a special AFO meeting even though Nebraska was not one of the scheduled national listening session locations. He emphasized that the meeting was solely for discussion and information exchange.

Attending the meeting were State Technical Committee members, State Department of Agricultural and Department of Environmental Quality officials, Nebraska Farm Bureau, Farm Service Agency, and State agricultural and environmental organizations. Attendees were encouraged to submit written comments by the January 18 deadline.

Congress will be in recess until January 6, 1999.

Receive "NRCS This Week" by E-mail - You can receive "NRCS This Week" by e-mail the minute it's cleared. To get on the NRCS THIS WEEK mailing list, send an e-mail to: listproc@nrcs.usda.gov. Do not use a subject line and put the following in the body of the message: subscribe NRCS-THIS-WEEK Firstname Lastname (example: subscribe NRCS-THIS-WEEK Fred Jacobs). To get help with other commands that are available at the "listproc@nrcs.usda.gov" address, send a message with no subject and the word HELP on a line by itself in the body of the message. "NRCS This Week" will continue to be posted on the NRCS Homepage.

December 13-16 - (Nevada) The National Ground Water Association (NGWA) will hold its Annual Convention and Exposition at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV. For more information, call 1-800-551-7379; or visit the NGWA convention and exposition website at: http://www.ngwa.org/whatsnew/gold.html.

December 17 - (Washington, DC) USDA Resource Conservation & Development Policy Advisory Board Meeting. For more information, contact Susan Wallace at 202-720-2241 or visit the South Dakota Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils, Inc. website at www.enetis.net/~jdaly.

January 10 - 13 - (South Dakota) The Western Resource Conservation & Development Association Meeting will be held in Spearfish, SD. For more information, call the NRCS Resource Conservation & Community Development Division at 202-720-2241.

January 19-21 - (Illinois) Soil and Water Conservation Society will host a 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 - (Colorado) Colorado State University will host "Tailings and Mine Waste '99" in Fort Collins, CO. The conference will provide a forum for presenting information on mine 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 - (California) 53rd National NACD Annual Meeting to be 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. Meeting agenda highlights and registration information are on NACD's home page at http://nacdnet.org/meetings/.

February 17-20 - (Texas) 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 e-mail: WayneF86@aol.com.

February 21-26 - (Nebraska) The Society for Range Management and the American Forage and Grasslands Council will hold their annual meeting, "Building on Our Heritage," at the Holiday Convention Center, 3321 South 72nd Street in Omaha, NE. For more information, visit the Society for Range Management web site at: http://srm.org/meetings.html.

February 22 and 23 - (Virginia) The U.S. Department of Agriculture will hold the 75th annual Agricultural Outlook Forum at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel, 1700 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA. For more information, visit the Agricultural Outlook Forum website at: http://www.usda.gov/agency/oce/waob/agforum.htm.

April 21 - (Connecticut) The Southern New England Chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation Society is holding its Spring conference, "Urban Riparian Buffers," in Enfield, CT, at the Harley Hotel. The deadline for papers is December 1. Submit papers to the Southern New England Chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation Society, PO BOX 262, Storrs, CT 06268; or e-mail: jpashnik@prodigy.net.

May 16-19 - (Texas) The National Watershed Coalition is presenting its Sixth National Watershed Conference, "Getting the Job Done at Ground Level," at the Doubletree Hotel in North Austin, TX. For more information, contact John W. Peterson at 703-455-6886 or 4387; fax: 703-455-6888; or e-mail: jwpeterson@erols.com.

May 23-28 - (Indiana) 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.

June 6-9 - (Pennsylvania) The American Farmland Trust and 13 other agricultural organizations, in cooperation with NRCS and several other Federal agencies, will host the "Keep America Growing: Balancing Working Lands and Development" conference at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Philadelphia, PA. For more information, contact Karl Otte at 703-440-8611; or visit the conference website at: www.farmland.org/KAG.html.

"Recent measurements have shown that under continued corn growing over large areas in the Middle West, one inch of topsoil is lost by erosion every seven years. To build this precious inch of soil, Nature took not less than 300 years."

From a radio talk by Hugh Hammond Bennett, September 3, 1930.

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.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at 202-720-2600 (voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call 202-720-5964 (voice or TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

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