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| Friday, February 1, 2002 Washington, DC. |
"The real question, the all commanding question, is whether American justice, American liberty, American civilization, American law and American Christianity can be made to include and protect alike and forever all American citizens. . ."
–- - Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) journalist, orator, and one of the foremost African-American civil rights leaders of the 19th Century
ACCOLADES
CTIC Announces First National Ag Conservation Systems Awards -
The Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) has announced three winners of its first Core 4 Conservation Awards which recognize producers who implement a system of conservation practices that protect or improve natural resources and enhance farm profitability. Winners will receive their awards next week at the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) Annual Meeting in Sparks, Nevada. This year's first place winner is Ken Remington, a dryland, no-till farmer in Central Washington County, Colorado; second place is shared by the Diamond S Farms operated by Curt, Greg, and Dan Swartzmiller of Attica, Ohio and Mike and Richard Long of Berlin, North Dakota. Core 4 Conservation is a national agricultural conservation awareness campaign that promotes using a systems approach to address economic and environmental concerns in agriculture. This innovative approach to agricultural management results in better soil, cleaner water, and greater profits. CTIC coordinates the national campaign to encourage adoption of Core 4 Conservation systems. The awards are sponsored by Syngenta, Capital Agricultural Property Services, Inc. (CAPS), IMC Global, CTIC, and NACD. For more information about the Core 4 Conservation Awards, visit the CTIC web site at http://www.ctic.purdue.edu/CTIC/AwardWinners.html.
Government Partnerships That Work -
NRCS and other Federal, State, and local partners recently received the Vermont Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence at a ceremony at the State House in Burlington for their work on the Trout River Restoration Project. After a major storm in northern Vermont caused the Trout River to overflow its banks, change course, and cause major damage to the town of Montgomery, the Federal, State, and local partner-governments in Franklin County wasted no time getting to work. With technical assistance from NRCS, the partnership restored the river to its original course – nearly two miles from where it had cut a new path after the storm – and installed other streambank restoration conservation measures. Although it was an honor to be recognized, the partners, especially NRCS district conservationist, Dave Hoyt agreed that their best reward was hearing comments about the project like, "It's great to see the boaters using the river again," There are a lot of kayakers these days and people are swimming in the river," and "I saw a Your contact is Anne Hilliard, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 802-951-6796, ext. 234.
FOCUS ON THE FIELD
Under Secretary Visits California -
USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Mark Rey joined California's new State Conservationist, Charles Bell and representatives from NACD, the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the CTIC on a tour of conservation projects in Stanislaus and Alameda counties. Tour stops included a restored wetland, the Aleutian Goose restoration area, the Stanislaus County Ag Center, and the Wente Winery in Alameda County. District conservationists Michael McElhiney and Terence Huff joined speakers from the resource conservation districts of Alameda and East and West Stanislaus, county supervisors, and other partners in discussing conservation activities. Your contact is Jolene Lau, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 831-754-1595.
Project "WINGS" Its Way onto the Airwaves -
NRCS, the Two Rivers RC&D Council, and other partners who worked on the Wildlife Incentives for Nongame and Game Species (WINGS) will see their project featured in one of a six-part television series on environmental accomplishments in the southeastern United States. On February 23, the Turner South Network will televise a 30-minute segment on the WINGS' rights-of-way management campaign, designed to create new wildlife lands beneath electrical transmission lines. The project works through cash grants and professional wildlife management advice for groups and individuals committed to three years of rights-of-way wildlife management. Other partners in the WINGS joint venture are Georgia Power, Georgia Transmission, and the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia. Your contact is Forrest Hill, NRCS RC&D coordinator, at 706-885-0101
Conservation Partners Join with DOE to Promote Bioenergy -
NRCS, NACD, and the National Association of RC&D Councils are working with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to plan four workshops for farmers to promote agricultural sources of bioenergy. The workshops will be presented by RC&D councils in Tennessee, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Hawaii. The primary goal of the workshop is to establish permanent local working groups that will follow up after the workshops. Workshops will be held at the following locations.
| Oak Ridge, Tennessee March 6, Pollard Auditorium 210 Badger Ave Oak Ridge, TN 37830 Fax: 865-251-2196 Phone: 865-576-3149 Pollard Auditorium contact: Nancy Reed at reedn@orau.gov Primary contact: Alan Neal, Cumberland Mountain RC&D Coordinator; 2691 Andersonville Hwy Clinton, TN 37716 865-494-2343 ext 5, or <aneal@tn.nrcs.usda.gov> fax 865-494-2346 |
El Reno, Oklahoma March 12, Redlands Community College 1300 S. Country Club Road El Reno, Oklahoma 73036 (25 miles west of Oklahoma City, exit 123 on I-40 and 1/2 mile south) Primary contact: Larry Wright, Great Plains RC&D Coordinator 1505 N. Glenn English Cordell, Ok 73632 580-832-3661 |
West Des Moines, Iowa, March 15, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation 5400 University Avenue West Des Moines, Iowa 50266 Primary Contact: Kurt Hoeft, Cedar Valley RC&D Coordinator 641-257-1912 Kauai, Hawaii, May 16, 17, Holiday Inn Sun Spree Kauai, Hawaii 96766 Primary Contact: Laurie Ho, Garden Island RC&D Coordinator 888-879-6651 |
Your contact is Karen A. Scanlon, CTIC Communications Director, at 765-494-2238 or scanlon@ctic.purdue.edu.
Celebrate National Black History Month! -
National Black History Month is celebrated during February to salute and honor the contributions African-Americans have made to this Nation. This year's theme is "The Color Line Revisited: Is Racism Dead?" In 1926, Harvard-educated Dr. Carter G. Woodson began the observance to instill a sense of pride, heritage, and honor in African-Americans and to encourage other racial groups to learn more about the African-American culture. In 1976, the week-long event was expanded to the entire month of February to allow more time for observances. Dr. Woodson's choice of February honors two well-known civil rights leaders born during the month: Frederick Douglas (February 14) and Abraham Lincoln (February 12). Your contact is John Glover, NRCS National Black Emphasis Program Manager, at 301-504-2193, or john.glover@usda.gov.
Here Are Your Backyard Conservation Lesson Plans -
One of the original partners in the Backyard Conservation Campaign (the Wildlife Habitat Council (recently completed a series of lesson plans that are online and ready for educators to use. Developed with support from NRCS, the lesson modules teach students in grades 3 through 12 how to appreciate wildlife in their backyards and take steps to create additional wildlife habitat within their communities. The lessons cover birds and migration, the importance of pollinators, amphibians, native plant communities, and local laws for backyard conservation. Each lesson contains interdisciplinary activities designed to promote investigation, team building, and critical thinking and will help students understand the wildlife habitats in their backyards. The lesson plans are available at http://www.wildlifehc.org under the Backyard Conservation graphic.Your contact is Mary Cressell, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 202-690-0547.
New Pest Management Policy -
New pest management policy (GM 190 – Part 404 – Pest Management, November 2001) and implementation plan will be released within the next several weeks. States will have 1 year from the release of the new policy to develop a their own pest management (595) conservation practice standard and 2 years to fully implement the policy. The implementation process should begin immediately, however, because States will need time to provide appropriate training to field service center staff and build essential partnerships with Cooperative Research, Education, and Extension Service, crop consultants, agrochemical dealers, commodity groups, and State regulatory agencies. The new pest management policy emphasizes the importance of reducing pest management environmental risk through the development of a pest management component of a resource management system plan. The policy also emphasizes integrating pest management with other plan components. Erosion reduction, water management, nutrient management, and other conservation objectives and program goals are compatible with pest management environmental risk reduction.
The new pest management policy, practice standard, environmental risk analysis tools, pesticide and soils data, and associated training were all developed as a complete package to help support State implementation of pest management in conservation planning. Pest management technical assistance is available to States from the NWCC Pest Management Team. Team contact information, important pest management links, and WIN-PST software, pesticide data and soils data can be found at http:www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/water/quality/frame/pestmgt.html
Your contact is Ken Pfeiffer, NRCS pest management specialist, at 503-414-3061.
Pest Management Policy Companion Training Available -
The comprehensive NRCS National Employee Development Center training course "Nutrient and Pest Management Considerations in Conservation Planning" is now available for online enrollment at http://www.ftw.nrcs.usda.gov/iris/nutrient_pest/menu.html to help meet Pest Management Specialist certification needs. The course covers all aspects of NRCS pest management planning including hands-on use of the Windows Pesticide Screening Tool (WIN-PST). Your contact is Dave Drennan, NRCS employee development specialist, at 817-509-3246 or ddrennan@ftw.nrcs.usda.gov.
New Tools to Improve Employee Development -
NRCS Human Resources Division Director, Karen Karlinchak and NRCS National Employee Development Center Director, Jerry Williamson teamed-up over the past year to lead a national team to design a system that tracks skills and competencies of employees. The Skills Information Management System (SIMS) will provide critical information to assist agency leadership in decision-making as well as help NRCS capitalize on employees’ skills and identify additional skills needed to meet the agency’s goals and objectives. SIMS benefits to employees include an additional career planning tool, an enhanced training program, ability to update skills and stay current with technology.
SIMS will be developed and implemented in two phases to provide for an efficient employee development mechanism and to ensure minimal burden on field operations. Phase I includes the development of a web-based employee skills profile to capture information such as education, training history, job approval/certifications, and so forth. This profile will be designed as a self-servicing tool in CAMS. Benefits include the ability to generate information on the location, name and number of employees, for example: who have a degree in Animal Sciences, major and/or minor; certified as a nutrient management specialist; who can speak a foreign language and are willing to participate in a detail. The timeline for Phase I implementation is targeted for spring 2002.
Phase II Implementation, planned for summer 2003, includes a comprehensive competency management model that will define skill requirements by position and grade, assess skills possessed by employees, resulting in an agency wide gap analysis. Benefits include the ability to provide information on the location, name, and number of employees who, for example can provide training in nutrient management, are proficient or expert conservation planners, or need the conservation planning course. Your contact is Sue Brooks NRCS employee development specialist, at 817-509-3245.
Lake Stage Indicators Developed Using Subaqueous Soil Morphology -
In an effort to protect its water resources from significant harm, the State of Florida has passed legislation mandating minimum flows and levels on its lakes, rivers, springs, and aquifers. To describe the fluctuating hydrology of lakes, the State has defined the frequent high (FH), average (AVE), and frequent low (FL) levels as the lakeshore elevations that are flooded 20, 50, and 80 percent of the time, respectively. Lake stage indicators (LSIs) are used to determine the historic FH, AVE, and FL of lakes that have few or no stage records. In the past, the State has relied on vegetation-based LSIs. However, due to the seasonal and annual changes that occur in vegetation, soil morphology-based LSIs have become more desirable because they persist through wet and dry cycles and offer permanent lake stage markers. Technology that uses soil morphology for the identification and delineation of jurisdictional wetlands has been in use for a decade or more. An NRCS soil scientist and University of Florida researchers have successfully extended the technology to much wetter ecosystems that have subaqueous soil. By correlating lake stage data with subaqueous soil morphology, reliable LSIs for FH, AVE, and FL levels have been developed for north central Florida's Lake Lowry and Lake Magnolia, two recharge sandhill lakes of the central Florida sand ridge. These indicators can be applied to hydrologically similar lakes on similar landscapes that have little or no stage data. Soil morphology-based LSIs are being identified for other types of recharge sandhill lakes. When this work is completed, identification of LSIs will begin for discharge lakes, rivers, and springs. Your contact is Wade Hurt, NRCS soil scientist, at 352-392-1951 or wade_hurt@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu.
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.
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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 and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
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