May 31, 2002

"There is but one earth, one biota, and our actions in the developed and developing world alike are destroying that which is irreplaceable. There are no quick solutions…nor is there a second chance."

US National Science Board, 1989 (The National Science Board is the governing board of the National Science Foundation.)

Focus on the Field

Poarch Creek Indian Tribe and NRCS Sign Agreement
NRCS recently signed a cultural resources protection agreement with Alabama’s only Federally recognized tribe, the Poarch Creek Indian Tribe. The agreement provides protection coordination and serves as a vehicle to implement policies and procedures on a government-to-government basis to ensure that cultural resources, traditional cultural properties, sacred sites, and properties of cultural interest are mutually considered throughout all stages of NRCS conservation planning activities. This is the first agreement between NRCS in Alabama and a tribe. In April 1985, the Bureau of Indian Affairs officially acknowledged the Poarch Creek Indians as a Federally recognized Native American Indian tribe. The tribe has used its resources to develop a viable community – including housing and health care – with economic opportunities for its members. The tribe’s reservation is located near Atmore, Alabama, in rural Escambia County.  Your contact is Teresa Paglione, NRCS cultural resources specialist, at 334-887-4561, or teresa.paglione@al.usda.gov.

State Soils Monolith Featured at Fair
The Ecological Farming Association recently held its third annual Heartland Conference and Fair in Modesto, California, where NRCS displayed its San Joaquin series soils monolith. NRCS district conservationist Michael McElhiney also presented "The Great Soil Demonstration," hands-on exercises in soil quality, land judging, story index, and prime farmland classification systems. The Heartland Conference and Fair included over 100 workshops and demonstrations for all ages.  Your contact is Michael McElhiney, NRCS district conservationist, at 209-437-9320, or michael.mcelhiney@ca.usda.gov.

ESPN “Outdoors” Shoot in Minnesota
Several news spots were filmed earlier this month at John Otten’s farm in Foreston, Minnesota, for ESPN’s “Outdoors” program, showcasing the Conservation Reserve Program’s impact in improving wildlife and fish habitat. Otten is being used as a “case study” for ESPN Outdoors’ analysis of the 2002 Farm Bill. The Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts named Otten its 2001 Outstanding Conservation Farmer. The spots will aired next week on ESPN.

ESPN Spot Broadcast Times (all time are EDT)

Saturday, June 8 7:55 a.m.
9:25 a.m.
10:28 a.m.

Sunday, June 9 7:00 a.m.
8:25 a.m.
9:55 a.m.
10:55 a.m.

Your contact is Sylvia Rainford, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 651-602-7859, or str@mn.nrcs.usda.gov.

Historic Homestead Protected by Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP)
John and Kathy Lane are the first landowners in Wisconsin to sign a perpetual easement under CREP. Their homestead t dates to 1867. CREP Federal and State partnerships allow landowners to receive incentive payments for installing specific conservation practices such as conservation buffers, wetland restorations, and restoration or establishment of prairie grasslands and oak savannas. State officials, including Governor Scott McCallum, recently traveled to rural Chippewa County to celebrate the signing of the easement on the farm owned by the Lanes. "This landowner is the truest land steward I have ever met," said Mike Dahlby, private lands conservation specialist in northwest Wisconsin’s Chippewa County Land Conservation Department. The State's CREP was announced in October 2001. The $243 million Federal/State partnership targets water quality issues on 100,000 acres. About 70 Chippewa County landowners have already applied to enroll a total of 1,030 acres in CREP. More than 80 percent of nearly 400 acres that have been contracted will be planted in native trees, shrubs, or grasses which will be protected indefinitely by CRP. (from a May 2002 NACD BufferNotes article)

Word from Washington

Additional Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Funds for Drought-Stricken Montana
Secretary Ann Veneman announced this week that USDA will provide $750,000 in expedited EQIP funds to assist dryland farmers in 11 Montana counties that are experiencing the worst drought conditions in the Nation. “Montana has been hit hard by these drought conditions and we continue to examine every effort to provide additional relief to farmers and ranchers in the State,” said Secretary Veneman. NRCS will use the EQIP funds to help producers in Blaine, Cascade, Chouteau, Fergus, Hill, Judith Basin, Liberty, Phillips, Pondera, Teton, and Toole counties to rapidly establish or maintain ground cover to protect the soil and lessen or prevent dust storms. In order to maximize public health and safety benefits, first priority will be given to fields that have highly erosive soils, are near population centers or adjacent to roads, and which currently have little residue on the soil surface. Producers will be offered two options for controlling wind erosion: cover crops and no-till farming for residue management. NRCS has developed a simplified EQIP application jointly with the Farm Service Agency to expedite the process. This will allow producers to immediately begin to install the conservation practices.

Secretary Veneman designated Montana as a drought disaster area in March during a visit to the State. Last week, the Secretary also announced the authorization of emergency grazing on Conservation Reserve Program acres in Montana in an effort to provide drought relief in areas hardest hit by drought conditions during the past year. For additional information on local drought conditions in the 11 Montana counties, visit the NRCS Montana website at http://www.mt.nrcs.usda.gov/.  Your contact is Fred Jacobs, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 202-720-6794.

Accolades

NRCS Engineer Reappointed to State Engineering Board
Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura has reappointed NRCS hydraulic engineer Sonia Maassel Jacobsen to another 4-year term on the Minnesota Board of Architecture, Engineering, Land Surveying, Landscape Architecture, Geoscience and Interior Design. Jacobsen currently serves as Board Secretary and has been instrumental in fine tuning the Professional Engineer experience evaluation process for the board. She was selected as NRCS Engineer of the Year in 2000 and recognized as one of 10 candidates for “Federal Engineer of the Year” that same year. Jacobson has been with NRCS in Minnesota for the past 16 of her nearly 25 years with the agency.
Your contact is Sylvia Rainford, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 651-602-7859, or str@mn.nrcs.usda.gov.

Tech Tip

Farm Bill Contributions to Wildlife Conservation Summarized
"A Comprehensive Review of Farm Bill Contributions to Wildlife Conservation 1985-2000" summarizes a review of the scientific literature that documents wildlife responses to programs established under the conservation title of the 1985 Food Security Act, as amended in 1990 and 1996 (Farm Bill). This report finds that positive wildlife response was evident when the needs of wildlife were considered in conservation planning and implementation. Literature was annotated and summaries of wildlife responses were provided for the Conservation Reserve Program, Wetlands Reserve Program, Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, and Environmental Quality Incentives Program. The report, edited by Wildlife Habitat Management Institute, was developed collaboratively by NRCS and its partners. The document can be downloaded at http://www.ms.nrcs.usda.gov/whmi/crfb.htm.
Your contact is Ed Hackett, NRCS wildlife biologist, at 601-607-3131 or ehackett@ms.nrcs.usda.gov.

NRCS people, projects, and programs appeared this week in the following newspapers:


Alabama: Farm Bill Could Generate New Interest in Conservation Programs (The Times Daily)

Alabama: Group Hands Out Money to Help Community (The Times Daily)

REGIONAL ONLY: Alabama: (The Daily Mountain Eagle)

Arizona: 2002 Farm Bill Web Site (The Yuma Sun)

California: Hearings Held on Third-party NRCS Conservation Planning (The Western Farm Press)

Kentucky: Farmers, Government Join the Protect Green River (The Louisville Courier-Journal)

Maine: Orchards to be Preserved (Kennebec Journal)

Michigan: Farm Bill Expected to Help Northern Michigan Farmers (Cadillac News)

Minnesota: Farm Bill Will Help Families and Communities--Commentary by Sen. Paul Wellstone (The Savage Pacer)

Mississippi: Cochran: Farm Bill Will Bring Stability to Agriculture (Delta Farm Press)

Montana: USDA Provides Montana $750,000 in Drought Assistance (AgWeb News)

National: Harkin Proud of Conservation Emphasis in Farm Bill (Successful Farming)

National: Congress Authorizes Great Lakes Basin Program for Soil Erosion and Sediment Control (Environmental News Network)

New Mexico: Government Helping Pay for Habitat Projects (The Silver City Daily Press)

Oklahoma: Ag Spotlight: No-till Lands Save Topsoil, Slow Erosion (NewsOk.com)

South Dakota: S.D. Native Leads Natural Resources Agency (The Midwest News)

Tennessee: 2002 Farm Bill Doubles County’s Conservation Funding

Texas: Goat Island Restoration to Protect City Park (The Baytown Sun, Texas)

Texas: Hidden Motives? Farm Bill a Boon for Texas, a Source of Tension Abroad (The Times Record News, Wichita Falls)
 

(NOTE: Links are tested at the time NRCS This Week is cleared. However, by the time readers try the link, the story may be off its server. In most cases, readers can go to the paper's homepage, where they will be able to access the story through the paper's archives).

Colorado: State Drought Panel Has No Good News to Report (The Rocky Mountain News, Denver)

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