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"Happiness is a state of mind, not a set of circumstances. We either
experience happiness right now – or not at all."
Dr. Richard Carlson, American author.
In This Issue
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Status of Farm Bill Rules
NRCS Drought News
Focus on the Field
Georgia: From Rights-of-Way to Wildlife
Mississippi/Tennessee: “We’ll Have an Order of Your Bamboo with a Side of
Sugar Cane, Please”
North Carolina: Anaerobic Digester Summit
Ohio: Prairies, Parks, Wetlands, and Wildlife
Word from Washington
USDA Appoints Agricultural Air Quality Task Force
Technical Service Provider Agreement with University of Tennessee Signed
Proposals for the Farmland Protection Program Requested
Secretary Announces $44 Million in Grants for Renewable Energy Initiatives
Tech Tip
Soil Survey Characterization Database to be Online
This Week's NRCS NewsLinks!
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Status of Farm Bill Rules
Agricultural Management Assistance (AMA) Program
The AMA final rule will be published in the Federal Register soon.
Contact: Dave Mason, Program Manager, at 202-720-1873.
Conservation Security Program
Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
Extended comment period closed April 3, 2003.
Contact: David McKay, Team Leader, at 202-720-1845.
Environmental Quality Incentives Program
Proposed Rule
30-day comment period closed March 12, 2003.
Contact: Melvin Womack, Team Leader, at 202-720-1845.
Farmland Protection Program
Request for Proposals was published in the Federal Register on April 3,
2003. Deadline for proposals is May 19, 2003.
Contact: Denise Coleman, Program Manager, at 202-720-9476.
Technical Service Providers
An amendment to the Technical Service Provider Assistance – Interim Final
Rule was published on March 24, 2003. Comments on that amendment must be
received by June 30, 2003.
The TSP Cost Survey solicitation period has been extended until April 30, 2003.
A correction to the Technical Service Provider Assistance – Interim Final Rule
was published in the Federal Register on March 31, 2003. The comment period for
the TSP Interim Final Rule (published November 21, 2002) was re-opened, with
comments due by April 30, 2003.
The policy, handbook, and amendment to the rule are available on the NRCS
website at http://techreg.usda.gov/WhatsNew.aspx.
Contact: Melissa Hammond, TSP Group Leader, at 202-720-6731.
NRCS Drought News
Drought Eased, Not Ended
Amid varying reports of Colorado's current drought situation and water
supply outlook following the March blizzard of 2003, climatologists at Colorado
State University's Colorado Climate Center stress that recent rain and snowfall,
although beneficial in easing the State's drought, are not enough to end the
State's drought. The climate researchers add that, even with a wetter than
average spring, it is not likely that Colorado will pull out of long-term
drought impacts in 2003, and that the State will continue to face serious
irrigation and municipal water shortages throughout the spring and summer.
According to the NRCS Water and Climate Center (WCC) water supply forecasting
staff, many locations from central Colorado received more liquid equivalent
precipitation from the recent blizzard than was recorded from October through
early March. However, despite some enormous totals, many locations'
season-to-date snowfall totals are still only near or below average; expert
consensus indicates that the storm will reduce but not come close to eliminating
drought and water supply concerns in Colorado. In mid-February, snowpack was
approximately 75 percent of average statewide. According to the WCC, as of April
1, snowpack is 94 percent of average statewide and 177 percent of last year's
snowpack for this date. Perhaps more important, according to the Climate Center,
is that snowpack statewide is currently 91 percent of the average seasonal peak
accumulations, or the average maximum for the year, which generally occurs on
April 13. Therefore, Colorado's mountains need to not only maintain the snowpack
they have but also receive a significant amount of precipitation within the next
few weeks to gain the additional 9 percent of snowpack needed to truly get the
State back to its average snowpack.
From an article in the North Forty News, Drought Eased, Not Ended
Check out the National Drought Monitor website at http://drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html
Check out the NRCS Drought Website at
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/feature/highlights/drought.html
Focus on the Field
From Rights-of-Way to Wildlife
NRCS, the Two Rivers Resource Conservation &
Development District (RC&D) of LaGrange, Georgia, and the Atlanta Gas Light
Company (AGLC) are working together to transform thousands of “idle acres” along
natural gas pipeline rights-of-way into fertile habitat for quail, turkey, deer,
and other wildlife. Through Project Wildlife Incentives for Non-Game and Game
Species (WINGS), Georgia landowners are encouraged to create wildlife habitat
along gas line and electrical power line rights-of-way through grants from
utility companies and technical assistance from NRCS and the Georgia Department
of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division. Two Rivers RC&D administers
the process whereby landowners receive the grants if they agree to follow NRCS
conservation practices such as special plowing, brush control, and plantings to
feed birds and animals. AGLC is the first natural gas company in the Nation to
participate in a project like WINGS. “What’s significant about Project WINGS is
the partnership of State, private, Federal, and local organizations. Any State
can replicate the program, and we’re glad to give them our format,” said Forrest
Hill, executive director of Two Rivers, RC&D, which is an environmental
non-profit organization whose members are 14 county governments and four soil
conservation districts.
Your contact is Forest Hill, Executive Director, Two Rivers RC&D, at,
706-885-0101.
“We’ll Have an Order of Your Bamboo with a Side of Sugar Cane, Please”
Giant pandas, Le Le (pronounced Luh Luh) and Ya
Ya (pronounced Yah Yah), arrived hungry and tired after their long trip by FedEx
from Beijing, China, this week, but the NRCS Jamie L. Whitten Plant Materials
Center (PMC) in Coffeeville, Mississippi, and the Memphis, Tennessee, Zoo were
ready for them. Through an agreement between the zoo and NRCS, the PMC will
provide the panda’s dietary staple of 20 to 40 pounds of bamboo daily until the
zoo is able to cultivate its own crop. During a typical day, a panda spends 14
hours eating bamboo, sugar cane, and vegetables and the other 10 hours sleeping.
Ya Ya (which means "beautiful little girl” in Chinese) is a two year-old,
140-pound female giant panda, from the Beijing Zoo. Le Le (which means “happy
happy” in Chinese) is a four year-old, 160-pound, male giant panda from the
Chongquing Zoo. Zoo officials say Le Le and Ya Ya will make their first public
appearance on April 25, after settling into their $16 million, three-acre, China
Exhibit “home,” which opened last July.
Your contact is Jeannine May, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 601-965-4337,
or jbm@ms.nrcs.usda.gov.
Anaerobic Digester Summit
NRCS and other Federal agencies will sponsor the
Anaerobic Digester Summit to be held in Raleigh, North Carolina, June 2-4, 2003.
The event is being organized and managed by the Water Environment Federation (WEF)
and is intended for those with an interest in anaerobic digester technology;
animal waste management; and rural economic, energy, and environment issues. The
summit will look at the technical and institutional challenges to expanding
adoption of anaerobic digester technologies and opportunities for the public and
private sectors to work together to facilitate digester adoption within the
context of animal waste management, rural economic development, and
environmental improvement. The mix of plenary sessions, panel presentations,
individual presentations, and discussions and displays will focus on the
appropriate application of anaerobic digester technology for waste management
and use in animal agriculture.
You can access the preliminary program on the Water Environment Federation (WEF)
website at: http://www.wef.org/pdffiles/AnimalManureinfo.pdf as well as the Call
for Papers http://biosolids.policy.net/relatives/25561.pdf
and Author
Instructions http://biosolids.policy.net/relatives/25562.pdf
Your contact is Dan Meyer, NRCS natural resource specialist, at 301-504-2226,
or daniel.meyer@usda.gov.
Prairies, Parks, Wetlands, and Wildlife
With help from the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP),
a partnership effort between NRCS, the Nature Conservancy, and local and State
government are working to restore natural prairie vegetation, create wetlands,
and design stream channels on 225 acres, near Columbus, Ohio. This wildlife
habitat would likely have been lost to urban sprawl had it not been for the WRP
funds and quick work by this conservation partnership. The Prairie Township Park
District WRP site inside the Darby Creek Watershed – a WRP priority area – is
mostly bottom land with a creek running through it. The land had been approved
for WRP, so when the landowner decided to sell, the Nature Conservancy quickly
found an interested buyer in the Prairie Township Park District who wanted to
preserve the wildlife habitat. The park district lacked funds to buy the site so
NRCS and the Nature Conservancy created a plan to secure funding through a Clean
Ohio Grant and keep the land’s WRP easement intact through the transaction
process. Within a year, the partnership facilitated the successful purchase of
the natural area by the park district. Currently the partnership is developing
plans to protect and enhance this valuable wildlife habitat and natural area for
local residents to enjoy.
Your contact is Jeff Raifsnider, NRCS public affairs specialist, at
614-255-2471, or jeff.raifsnider@oh.usda.gov.
Word from Washington
USDA Appoints Agricultural Air Quality Task Force
Secretary Ann M. Veneman announced this week the members of the recently
re-established Agricultural Air Quality Task Force for 2003-2004. The task force
is chaired by NRCS Chief Bruce Knight and made up of USDA employees, industry
representatives, and other experts in the fields of agriculture and air quality.
“Conservation of our natural resources, including air quality, is important to
our farmers and ranchers,” Veneman said. “I am pleased these individuals have
agreed to serve on this task force.”
The Agricultural Air Quality Task Force charter is renewed every 2 years to
address agricultural air quality issues. The task force will serve as an
advisory committee and will operate under the terms of the Federal Advisory
Committee Act. The role of the task force is to advise the Secretary on issues
related to agricultural air quality, including strengthening and coordinating
USDA air quality research efforts and identifying cost-effective ways in which
the agriculture industry can improve air quality. Representatives from USDA’s
Forest Service; Agricultural Research Service; and Cooperative State Research,
Education and Extension Service also will participate on the task force.
The first meeting of this task force will be May 20-21, 2003, in Washington,
D.C. Additional information is available on the Web at
http://fargo.nserl.purdue.edu/faca.
Your contact is Beth Sauerhaft, NRCS designated federal official (DFO), at
202-720-8578, or beth.sauerhaft@usda.gov.
2003-2004 USDA Agricultural Air Quality Task Force
Alabama
Tommy L. Coleman, Alabama A&M University Arizona
Kevin G. Rogers, Producer California
Mark P. Boese, San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District
Manuel F. Cunha, Jr., Nisei Farmers League
Robert G. Flocchini, University of California-Davis
Roger Isom, California Cotton Ginners & Growers
Hawaii
Stephanie A. Whalen, Hawaii Agricultural Research Center
Idaho
Dave Roper, Producer
Dar Olberding, Idaho Grain Producers Illinois
James K. Trotter, Producer
Indiana
Robert N. Jackman, Veterinarian, State Senator
Rita Sharma, Producer
Maryland
Phillip J. Wakelyn, National Cotton Council of America New York
Douglas Shelmidine, Producer
North Carolina
Viney P. Aneja, North Carolina State University
Garth W. Boyd, Smithfield Foods, Inc
Joseph Rudek, Environmental Defense
Sally L. Shaver, US Environmental Protection Agency
Oklahoma
Annette H. Sharp, Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality
Utah
Nan Wankier Bunker, Producer
Texas
Robert V. Avant, Jr., Texas Food and Fibers Commission
Calvin B. Parnell, Jr., Texas A&M University
John M. Sweeten, Jr., Texas A&M University
West Virginia
Timothy Wade Maupin, Cargill Turkey Products
Technical Service Provider Agreement with University of Tennessee Signed
The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced a cooperative partnership
with the University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service (UT-Extension)
that will offer producers options in developing their comprehensive nutrient
management plans. This is the first agreement where NRCS recognizes a
university’s comprehensive nutrient management plan certification program as a
source for technical service providers. USDA and the university signed a
memorandum of understanding (MOU) at a ceremony held this week in Washington
D.C. The signatories were Bruce Knight, Chief, NRCS; Dr. Jack Britt, Vice
President, University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture; Dr. Charles Norman,
Dean, University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service; and Dr. Robert T.
Burns, Designated Technical Leader, University of Tennessee’s Comprehensive
Nutrient Management Plan (CNMP) Certification Program.
The three-year agreement allows UT-Extension to recommend certified nutrient
management specialists in manure and wastewater handling and storage, nutrient
management and land treatment practices as NRCS technical service providers.
These providers must perform work that meets NRCS standards and specifications
for effective nutrient management.
“We recognize the value of the award-winning CNMP program offered by one of our
Nation’s land grant universities,” Chief Knight said. “By making UT-Extension a
certifying organization, we will ensure producers who need conservation
assistance can choose from a cadre of top-notched experts.”
The certified specialists will be placed on a national, web-based registry
called TechReg that is available to landowners, farmers, ranchers and others
seeking conservation technical assistance.
Additional information on technical service provider assistance is available
at http://techreg.usda.gov. Information on the 2002 Farm Bill can be found at
http://www.usda.gov/farmbill.
Proposals for the Farmland Protection Program Requested
NRCS is requesting proposals for the Farmland Protection Program (FPP) from
Federally recognized Indian tribes, States, units of local government or
nongovernmental organizations to cooperate in the acquisition of conservation
easements on farms and ranches. “Our productive soil is a national treasure—and
keeping America’s farm and ranch lands producing is a high priority now and for
the future,” Chief Bruce Knight said. “Land use devoted to agriculture also
provides important contributions to environmental quality, historical and
archaeological resources, our rural heritage and scenic beauty.”
FPP is a voluntary program, reauthorized in the 2002 Farm Bill, that helps
farmers and ranchers keep their land in agriculture. Eligible land includes farm
and ranch land that has prime, unique or other productive soil or that contains
historical or archaeological resources. These lands also must be subject to a
pending offer from eligible entities for the purpose of protecting topsoil by
limiting conversion of that land to nonagricultural uses.
The request for proposals was published in the Federal Register on April 3,
2003. Proposals must be received in the appropriate NRCS State office by May 19,
2003.
The request for proposals and additional information on FPP can be found at
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/farmbill/2002. Information on the 2002 Farm
Bill is at http://www.usda.gov/farmbill.
Secretary Announces $44 Million in Grants for Renewable Energy Initiatives
$23 Million Targeted for Farmers, Ranchers and Small Business to Improve
Energy Efficiencies and $21 Million Provided for the Biomass Research and
Development Initiative
This week, Secretary Ann M. Veneman announced the availability of approximately
$44 million in grants that will support President Bush’s energy plan to develop
renewable energy and expand the economic prospects and environmental promise of
biomass. “These programs support the President’s goal to enhance renewable
energy supplies,” said Secretary Veneman. “Developing alternative energy sources
that reduce pollution and increase energy security is an important part of the
Administration’s overall energy policy.”
Both programs were authorized by the 2002 Farm Bill and will be conducted in
collaboration with the Department of Energy. Veneman said that $23 million are
available from USDA’s Rural Development for the Renewable Energy Systems and
Energy Efficiency Improvements programs to assist farmers, ranchers, and rural
small businesses develop renewable energy systems and make energy efficiency
improvements to their operations.
Through the Biomass Research and Development Initiative, $21 million in grants
are available to eligible entities to carry out research, development and
demonstrations on biobased products, bioenergy, biofuels, biopower and related
processes.
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, on behalf of USDA and DOE, is
requesting proposals for biomass research, development and demonstration
projects. The solicitation package (USDA-GRANTS-031803-001) is posted on the
Federal funding opportunities website at http://www.Fedgrants.gov, and in more
detail at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov and
http://www.bioproducts-bioenergy.gov/.
Proposals for this joint solicitation must be submitted by May 16, 2003, to
USDA-NRCS, Management Services Division, P.O. Box 2890, Washington, DC
20013-2890, Attn: Sheila Leonard.
Information about additional energy grants provided for by the Farm Bill and
about USDA’s energy policy can be found at
http://www.usda.gov/farmbill and
http://www.usda.gov/energy/, respectively.
Tech Tip
Soil Survey Characterization Database to be Online
A database of soil survey characterization data has been created at the
National Soil Survey Center's Soil Survey Laboratory. It contains the "legacy"
data from the mainframe database and the complete, verified data from the Soil
Survey Laboratory-Laboratory Information Management System (SSL-LIMS) database.
The database serves as a staging area for the soil data warehouse and is
replicated at the NRCS Web farm in Fort Collins. Anyone using a web browser will
be able to view and print standardized reports of characterization data from the
Web farm. Users will also be able to search and download delimited text files of
user selected data. Selection methods include criteria related to project, site,
and pedon information (i.e., State, county, series name, and taxonomic
classification). A report of the soil profile descriptions associated with the
characterization data will also be available at the Web site. The Web pages are
508 compliant and, therefore, are accessible to all, including those with
disabilities. The database will be available from
http://soils.usda.gov/soil_survey/nscd/main.htm.
It is anticipated that the URL (http://vmhost.cdp.state.ne.us:96/) will continue
to be available until archiving of the legacy database is completed. The legacy
mainframe database, including descriptions stored on the mainframe and Pedon
Description Program databases, will be archived in several formats. The archived
formats will be delimited ASCII files, Microsoft Access database, and report
files. These formats will be stored on CDROM. Future enhancements to the Web
delivery system include the capability for lab project submitters to view their
project's progress to completion, access to provisional data before project
completion and verification, and the capability to suggest additional analyses
and additions/corrections to the project's information.
Your contact is Steve Reinsch, Director, NRCS Soil Mechanics Center, at
402-437-5337 or sreinsch@nsmc.nrcs.usda.gov.
Please send correspondence and material for "NRCS This Week" to the editor by: e-mail to: fred.jacobs@usda.gov or by fax to: Editor, "NRCS This Week," 202-720-1564; or by mail to: Editor, "NRCS This Week," NRCS, P.O. Box 2890, Washington, D.C. 20013.
You can receive NRCSTW via e-mail by sending an e-mail to:
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The NRCS Mission: The Natural Resources Conservation Service provides leadership in a partnership effort to help people conserve, maintain, and improve our natural resources and environment.
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