August 30, 2002

"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
 

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)

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