September 5, 2003

The Natural Resources Conservation Service provides leadership in a partnership effort to help people conserve, maintain, and improve our natural resources and environment.

Earth team volunteers of NRCS help transplant native prairie plants from a roadside near Gueydan, Louisiana, to a restored wetland nearby.  (NRCS photo by Lynn Betts.)


 

Focus on the Field
-- Chief Tours Work to Save Coastal Marshes
-- Pennsylvania Receives $3.9 Million in NRCS Funds for Farmland Preservation
-- Employees in Seven States Win Job Competitions
-- Earthen Dam to Protect Texas Watershed
-- NRCS Designs Repairs for Arizona Flood-control Structure
-- EQIP to Help Ohio Farmers Slug It Out
-- Road Signs Show Iowans the Way to More Wetland Conservation

Word from Washington
-- Farmland Protection Policy Act Training
-- NRCS Legislative Summaries, Testimony, and Reports

Tech Tip
-- New SAN Pub Shows How to Manage Cover Crops Profitably

Links to USDA and NRCS Drought News and Assistance
-- Defending Against Drought
-- NRCS California Drought Information
-- NRCS Colorado Drought Information
-- USDA Disaster Assistance Web Site
-- National Drought Monitor Web Site

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The people of NRCS, along with the agency’s partners, help owners of America’s private lands conserve soil, water, and other natural resources. NRCS is known worldwide for its accomplishments and innovations in conserving soil, protecting wildlife, improving water quality, restoring wetlands, preserving farmland, enhancing grasslands, and taking other actions to keep natural resources productive and plentiful.  Learn more about the Natural Resources Conservation Service!

 

Focus on the Field

Chief Tours Work to Save Coastal Marshes
NRCS Chief Bruce Knight recently toured marshland restoration sites along the Louisiana Gulf Coast, where staff from the NRCS Golden Meadows Plant Materials Center (PMC) in Galliano, Louisiana, have been working with agency conservationists to restore disappearing coastal marshlands.

The Chief and Louisiana State Conservationist Don Gohmert toured the PMC as part of a two-day look at NRCS coastal restoration efforts.

While loss of native prairies is a problem nationwide, the loss of coastal prairie in the southern U.S. is particularly severe. In Louisiana, where more than 2.5 million acres of tall grass prairie once covered the coastal region, today, less than 200 acres exist in small scattered remnants. Lost salt marshes become open water, killing off plants, depleting marine habitat and causing soil erosion.

“The issues with coastal erosion are so massive – it’s taking a lot of collaboration and work,” said PMC manager Gary Fine during the tour.

The PMC has tested and made available six native plant varieties for use in marsh restoration. NRCS, along with the Soil and Water Conservation Districts and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, has used these releases to help construct 23 ponds and protect almost one million linear feet of shoreline.

“It’s the plant communities that hold it all together,” Fine told Chief Knight. “And that’s where we’re starting.”

Your contact is Gary Fine, NRCS Golden Meadow PMC Manager, at 985-475-5280 or gary.fine@la.usda.gov.

Pennsylvania Receives $3.9 Million in NRCS Funds for Farmland Preservation
NRCS and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture last week announced that Pennsylvania will receive $3.9 million in Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program funds for farmland preservation this year, the Commonwealth's largest annual award and the top award in the Nation for 2003.

The funding will enhance efforts to maintain prime farmland and strengthen Pennsylvania's agricultural economy.

Of Pennsylvania's $3.9 million, nearly $2.5 million will go to the State Department of Agriculture, which plans to use the money to preserve 1,600 acres in 15 counties, including parts of five farms in Dauphin County, four in Northampton County, and three each in Berks, Centre, and Lancaster counties. County governments will receive the remaining $1.4 million to preserve about 700 acres.

Federal farmland preservation funding received a huge boost in the 2002 Farm Bill, with nearly $600 million pledged through 2007, including $65 million this year, said Doug Lawrence, NRCS Farmland Protection and Community Planning staff director, in a report on KDKA (Pittsburgh) news.

Since 1996, Pennsylvania has received nearly $5 million in Federal funds to purchase 72 agriculture conservation easements across the commonwealth.

Employees in Seven States Win Job Competitions
NRCS employees have won several small public-private job competitions, according to Government Executive magazine.

NRCS workers in Columbus, Ohio, won three competitions involving mail, clerical, and soil-mapping work because procurement officials did not receive valid private sector offers. Seven and one-half full-time equivalent positions (FTEs) were involved in these competitions.

In Annapolis, Maryland, four NRCS employees triumphed in a competition as did one employees in Auburn, Alabama, and another in Lake City, Florida. In Lake City, officials put a vacant position up for competition, to minimize the possible impact on workers.

In Michigan, four soil-mapping specialists edged out companies in a competition for their jobs, and in Oklahoma, 17 soil conservation technicians successfully defended their jobs. And in California, in-house workers triumphed in competitions involving 12 and one-half FTE.

Earthen Dam to Protect Texas Watershed
Usually quiet McAllister Park is rumbling from construction of an earthen dam in the Salado Creek Watershed.

NRCS is providing more than $3 million for the $5.1 million project, designed to protect 126 homes, 16 businesses, two churches, two schools, an apartment complex, and a half-dozen government buildings from the devastation of a 100-year-flood.  The city is paying $1.5 million and Bexar County another $307,000.

The dam, expected to be completed in late 2004, will decrease water surface elevations in the watershed by approximately 1 to 4 feet down stream from the dam, according to representatives of the San Antonio River Authority.

The project is the last in a series of flood-control projects in the watershed authorized by Congress four decades ago.  Thirteen similar flood-control structures are in place along the Salado and its tributaries.  (San Antonio Express-News. Image by Bob Owen.)

NRCS Designs Repairs for Arizona Flood-control Structure
NRCS is part of a Federal, State, and local project to repair a 40-year-old flood control dike near Florence, Arizona.  The five-mile-long dike has major cracks that could cause it to fail under the pressure of a heavy flood, representatives of the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) have said.

If the dike isn't repaired, the Federal Emergency Management Agency could designate Florence as sitting in a flood plain, making construction and insurance in the town more expensive.

The main issue of concern for the dike is the embankment cracking.  NRCS is working on a crack repair design.  The agency also plans to fund additional work by an engineering firm to reevaluate the "probable maximum flood" at the dike, determine the adequacy of the emergency spillway, and develop five alternatives for modification of the dike or spillway to handle this flood.

The "probable maximum flood" represents the worst flood that is meteorologically possible at that location.  This would be worse than a 100-year flood, which has only a 1 percent chance of occurring in any year.  Perhaps the worst flood the dike could have prevented in recent history occurred in 1955, which was rated as a 25-year flood.

Representatives of the ADWR, with assistance from Salt River Project, have installed automated rain gauges on the structure.  They will measure both rainfall and the depth of water, giving local emergency responders as much notice as possible to activate the dike's emergency action plan.  (Casa Grande Dispatch)

EQIP to Help Ohio Farmers Slug It Out
A special Environmental Quality Incentives Program project will help Ohio farmers control slugs on no-till cropland.

In recent years, crop production on no-till land has been reduced by slug infestations. Once slugs get established in corn and soybean fields huge crop losses can occur.

The project's goals are to protect soil and water quality, encourage farmers to continue to use the no-till method, and provide information on how to reduce the number and severity of future infestations.

With incentive payments, landowners and farm operators will implement best management practices. Based on funding, about 12,500 acres of cropland will be scouted and treated over 3 years. An individual producer may enroll up to 250 acres. Contracts will include cost sharing for pest scouting and treatment on a per-acre basis.

In this partnership effort, NRCS, soil and water conservation district personnel, and certified crop advisors will scout slug populations and document progress. The Department of Entomology at The Ohio State University, Wooster, will provide sample data and arrange educational workshops for producers.

Producers in a six-county area who farm on C and D slopes using a predominant crop rotation of corn and soybeans may be eligible for this project.  (Coshocton Tribune. Image courtesy of CalPhotos.)

Roadsigns Show Iowans the Way to Conserve Wetlands
Call them signs of good things to come for Iowa's wetlands.

In the past 3 years, more than 100 road signs marking wetland restoration sites have appeared along Iowa highways. The first sign debuted in June 2001, highlighting the Bristol Wildlife Area in Greene County.

The project's goal is to celebrate the 100,000 acres of restored wetlands in Iowa.

NRCS Iowa and local soil and water conservation districts plan to post a sign on every USDA-sponsored wetlands restoration site. Some conservation districts are also using the signs to highlight conservation buffer areas as well.  (Iowa Farm Bureau Spokesman. Image by Heather Lilienthal.)

Word from Washington

Farmland Protection Policy Act Training
Farmland Protection Policy Act (FPPA) training materials are being shipped to NRCS State Offices. The training includes background on the Farmland Protection Policy Act, introductory information on Land Evaluation Site Assessment (LESA) and a sample Farmland Conversion Impact Rating request (AD-1006) scenario. The 508 compliant (accessible for visually and hearing impaired) CD enclosed in the training packet contains a library of information, including the 1996 LESA Guidebook. A link to a PDF version Spanish version of the Guidebook can be found on the LESA webpage.

The purpose of FPPA is to minimize the impact Federal programs have on the unnecessary and irreversible conversion of farmland to nonagricultural uses. It assures that – to the extent possible – Federal programs are administered to be compatible with State, local units of government, and private programs and policies to protect farmland. FPPA does not authorize the Federal Government to regulate the use of private or non-federal land or, in any way, affect the property rights of owners.

Your contact is contact Cheryl Simmons, NRCS soil conservationist, at 202-720-8890 or by e-mail.

NRCS Legislative Summaries, Testimony, and Reports
Get timely and accurate information from NRCS Legislative Affairs.

Tech Tip

New SAN Pub Shows How to Manage Cover Crops Profitably
The Sustainable Agriculture Network has produced a handbook that assists landusers in selecting the best cover crops and discusses the effects of cover crops on the management of pests, crop rotations, and building soil fertility.

Available in print, on CD-ROM, and on the web in PDF format, 'Managing Cover Crops Profitably' addresses 20 widely used cover crops and features a section on up-and-coming cover crops. 

It also contains a distribution map for each cover crop.  Each map indicates where the cover crop is either well adapted or marginally adapted, where the cover crop behaves as either a winter or summer annual, and where it behaves as either an annual or perennial.

This second edition includes sections in which farmers describe their experience using a cover crop.

Other cover crop resources are available through NRCS's PLANTS web site.  Just click on “Links” in the top frame, click “Agriculture-Related,” then click “Cover Crops.”

For more information, please contact james.henson@usda.gov, USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center.  (Image courtesy of Sustainable Agriculture Network.)

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