| |
"If in the human economy, a squash in the field is worth more than a
bushel of soil, that does not mean that food is more valuable than soil; it
means simply that we do not know how to value the soil. In its complexity and
its potential longevity, the soil exceeds our comprehension; we do not know how
to place a just market value on it, and we will never learn how. Its value is
inestimable; we must value it, beyond whatever price we put on it, by respecting
it."
--from Home Economics by Wendell Berry, conservationist, farmer, and
professor of English
Focus on the Field
Drought Tour Draws Media and Officials
The Colorado Association of Conservation Districts, along with NRCS and the
Colorado State Conservation Board, sponsored a tour this week in the Boone,
Colorado, area, to observe and evaluate the drought condition of Colorado’s
natural resources on rangeland and dry crop land. NRCS has redirected
approximately $2.7 million for agricultural producers to assist in protecting
drought-stressed resources. This Statewide conservation program, targeted at
protecting the most fragile resources on rangeland and cropland in the State,
garnered $28 million in applications, illustrating the severe impact the drought
is having on natural resources in the State. Participants on the tour included
ag organizations, representatives from Colorado’s Congressional delegation,
representatives from Colorado’s State legislature, all three major Colorado
Springs and Pueblo network TV stations, as well as State and regional print
media.
Your contact is Mary Miller, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 719-384-5408 or
mary.miller@co.usda.gov.
Wildfire Prevention in the Magnolia State
The Coastal Plains Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council –
Mississippi's newest council area – is helping communities learn about fire
protection in rural areas of the State. Made possible through the National
Network of Forest Practitioners, in conjunction with the U.S. Forest Service,
the RC&D coordinates local meetings where U.S. Forest Service fire officers and
other State and local agencies who manage forested areas in the State contribute
to the agenda. Learning from the costly, devastating fires in the West this
summer, the meetings aim to help Mississippi local volunteer firemen,
homeowners, and landowners learn about managing property to control woodland
fires by reducing the potential for outbreaks. Additionally, some funding is
available to volunteer fire departments for training and purchasing the proper
clothing to fight these fires.
Your contact is Sandra McKay, NRCS RC&D coordinator, at 601-528-8903 or
sandra.mckay@ms.usda.gov.
2002 Farm Bill Air Quality Opportunities
An NRCS “Air Quality Opportunities in the 2002 Farm Bill’ workshop is planned
for November 5-7, 2002, in St. Louis, Missouri. The workshop is intended to give
State conservationists, key assistant State conservationists, and NRCS employees
a chance to learn about 2002 Farm Bill air quality resources opportunities and
responsibilities and to provide information as a basis for NRCS air quality
resource management policy development. Speakers from USDA, Department of
Energy, the National Academy of Science, universities and others will present
air resources data and information.
For more information on the workshop, contact your NRCS regional
conservationist.
NRCS Helps Clear the Way for Salmon Run
With only days before the kokanee salmon run, Wallowa County, Oregon officials
turned to NRCS to help clear debris from the West Fork of the Wallowa River.
Back in July, an intense downpour over the Eagle Cap Wilderness started a debris
flow of rocks, soil and logs so powerful that it tore the 4,000 square-foot Boy
Scout camp dining hall from its foundation, filling the river with debris, and
creating the potential disruption to the spawning cycle of the returning salmon.
Through the Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP), NRCS was able to
provide funding to the county for the debris clean-up effort. “The great thing
about the EWP program is that we can deliver help when it’s needed,” said NRCS
district conservationist Tom Smith. “We realized we had to move quickly or the
kokanee salmon’s spawning would be disrupted,” he added. The EWP-funded clean-up
not only protected the kokanee salmon, but also reduced the threat of debris
damage to a bridge downstream that provides the only access to homes and
businesses on the west side of the river.
Your contact is Tom Smith, NRCS district conservationist, at 541-426-4521, ext.
101.
American Indian Farm Bill Meetings
NRCS State Conservationist Janet Oertly, Rural Development State Director Lynn
Jensen, and Farm Service Agency State Executive Director Steve Cutler recently
met with American Indian tribal leaders in several locations in South Dakota to
discuss program benefits of the new Farm Bill and the potential for improved
assistance to tribes through participation in various programs. Technical
service provider opportunities were also discussed. The Mission, South Dakota,
meeting placed emphasis on a special section of the 2002 Farm Bill which
provides for additional water-saving funding through the Environmental Quality
Incentives Program for the High Plains Aquifer. This special section provides
for application of “water savings” practices in agricultural operations –
particularly on cropland over the High Plains Aquifer located in seven counties
in the south central part of the State including the Rosebud Indian Reservation.
Your contact is David Keith, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 605-352-1228 or
david.keith@sd.nrcs.usda.gov.
Word from Washington
Electronic Field Office Technical Guide (eFOTG) Unveiled
NRCS unveiled the new eFOTG this week. The NRCS technical guide is a compilation
of resource information about soil, water, air, plant, animal, and
socio-economic resources within each NRCS field office area. It also contains
other conservation planning aides, including standards for conservation
practices that are applicable for the area served by the field office. The old
technical guide was a traditional, paper-based reference used in NRCS field
offices to organize technical resources and activities for conservation. The
electronic technical guide is linked to 8,000 NRCS web pages and external sites,
including the latest material on the 2002 Farm Bill. The electronic technical
guide makes scientifically proven and time tested NRCS conservation technology
available instantly to anyone with Internet access. This innovative technology
supports the President’s management initiative on expanding e-government and
will support Farm Bill implementation and program delivery at the local level.
“Using this technology, we will be able to provide more timely information and
data to more people nationwide than previously has been available,” said NRCS
Chief Bruce I. Knight. “This is a major step forward in providing conservation
information and scientific and technological resources on the Web in an
easy-to-use environment,” he added.
During May and June of this year, 10 States pilot tested the electronic
technical guides: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Missouri,
Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Texas. All states are developing
electronic technical guides and have varying amounts of material currently
available. To access electronic technical guides, visit the NRCS website at
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov. Look under
Technical Resources for eFOTG, and then select a State.
The full text of the NRCS press release can be found at
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/news/releases/2002/020826.html.
North Dakota NRCSer Becomes SWCS President
At the end of the Soil and Water Conservation Society’s (SWCS) annual meeting in
Indianapolis in July, Myron Senechal took over as SWCS president from NRCS
retiree Bob Eddleman. Senechal is a supervisory soil conservationist, managing
and directing ecological plant science disciplines required for implementing the
Conservation Title of the 2002 Farm Bill, and is the lead natural resource
conservation planner for developing resource management systems in North Dakota.
He also has lead responsibilities in developing the state’s field office
technical guide. Senechal’s life-long goal is soil and water conservation
application as an ethic. His entire career has been with NRCS except for 2 years
of military duty. He is the first SWCS president from North Dakota and the sixth
from the Northern Plains Region. Currently, SWCS has about 8,000 members.
Your contact is Myron Senechal, NRCS resource conservationist, at 710- 530-2085,
or myron.senechal@nd.usda.gov.
Backyard Conservation Article Gets More National Exposure
The NRCS feature story, “Your Home and Yard Can Be More Earth-Friendly,”
continues to appear in small newspapers across the country – 480 newspapers in
21 States, with more than 27 million readers so far, according to the North
American Precis Syndicate, Inc. (NAPSI), which is tracking publication of the
feature for NRCS. Buying advertising space in these newspapers to convey the
message would have cost nearly $90,000, according to NAPSI – as compared with
less than $4,000 for producing, distributing, and tracking the story.
NAPSI’s story is intended to stimulate public use of information available
through the NRCS Backyard Conservation program and the FS Advanced Housing
Research Center. The article is an extension of NRE’s “Conservation Where You
Live” event in Madison, Wisconsin, for Earth Day 2002, which was attended by
Secretary Veneman. View materials on Conservation Where You Live at
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/feature/conservationwhere.html.
Your contact is Richard Lindeborg, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 202-720
4772 or richard.lindeborg@usda.gov.
Accolades
YourTown Program Recognized
The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), a Federal-State partnership that
works with the people of Appalachia to create opportunities for self-sustaining
economic development and an improved quality of life, has identified Alabama’s
YourTown program as one of the three most effective ARC-funded programs in the
State. The workshop program’s format engages citizen leaders and professionals
through participatory lectures, case-study presentations, and interactive group
problem solving, including work on realistic issues in a hypothetical small
town. The goal is to teach advanced leadership skills supported by information
and planning tools that can be applied to the process of designing the future of
a given locality. Paul Kennedy, Cawaco County Resource Conservation and
Development (RC&D) Coordinator, has been instrumental in implementing the
YourTown program in the State. For more information, log onto:
http://www.yourtownalabama.org/
Your contact is Paul Kennedy, NRCS RC&D coordinator, at 205-251-7739 or
Paul.Kennedy@al.usda.gov
Tech Tip
Plant Materials Useful for Wildfire Revegetation
This summer’s western U.S. wildfires have made the role of revegetation critical
to preventing soil erosion in impacted areas. A number of native grasses
released through the NRCS Plant Materials Program can be highly successful at
providing this needed cover. Seed is readily available for long-time performers
like Critana and Bannock thickspike wheatgrass, Pryor and San Luis slender
wheatgrass, Sherman big bluegrass, Goldar and Whitmar bluebunch wheatgrass,
Secar Snake River wheatgrass, and Sodar streambank wheatgrass. New releases
appropriate for post-wildfire seeding are Garnet Germplasm mountain brome,
commercially available, and Tusas Germplasm bottlebrush squirreltail, in
commercial production and soon to be available from growers. Details about these
plants and other releases suitable for wildfire revegetation are available from
regional plant materials specialists. Go to
http://plant-materials.nrcs.usda.gov/ and click on your location to find the
NRCS Plants Materials Center nearest you.
Your contact is Dan Ogle, NRCS plant materials specialist, at 208-378-5730 or
dan.ogle@id.usda.gov.
NRCS Drought, Flood, Fire & Snowpack News
Nebraska: USDA Programs Offer Drought Assistance (The Independent, Grand
Island)
http://www.theindependent.com/stories/082602/new_usda26.shtml
Kansas: Drought Lasts Long After Rain Falls (Topeka Capital-Journal)
http://www.cjonline.com/stories/082602/kan_drought.shtml
South Dakota: Severe Flood Conditions to Continue for at Least a Year (Black
Hills Pioneer)
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1300&dept_id=156923&newsid=5184877&P
This Week's NRCS NewsLinks!
California: Watershed Group Will Meet Tuesday (Daily News, Red Bluff)
California: Unique Coalition Preserving Lands (Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Iowa: Wind Energy
Workshop at Floyd Nature Center (Globe Gazette, Mason
City)
New Mexico: We Must Not Vote Down Water District (Albuquerque Tribune)
New York: Grants Support Valley Waterways (Poughkeepsie Journal)
National: New
Technology Available Online for Conservation (Environmental News Network)
Florida:
Big Money Sparks Debate Over Future of Manure (Gainesville Sun)
Illinois: SWCD Tour
Focuses on Wetland Renaissance (Daily Journal, Kankakee)
New Mexico:
Watersheds in View of Forest Fires Studied (Silver City Daily
Press)
National: NRCS Puts Technical Guide Online (Successful Farming Agriculture
Online)
(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).
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: listproc@nrcs.usda.gov (NHQ personnel should send their e-mail to: GW:"listproc@nrcs.usda.gov@i"). 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 Rachel Carson). 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" is posted on the NRCS Homepage.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or 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 and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
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.
< NRCS This Week Archives
| | |