October 25, 2002

"No country, however rich, can afford the waste of its human resources."

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945), 32nd President of the United States

Accolades

Kathy Huey Named APDA’s Super Supervisor Award Winner
NRCS National Headquarters Human Resources Management Division Team Leader Kathy Huey has been awarded the Super Supervisor Award by the Association for Persons with Disabilities (APDA). The APDA annually presents the award to supervisors nominated by their employees with disabilities. The award will be presented at the APDA’s National Disability Employment Awareness Month program in the back of the USDA South Building cafeteria at 11:30 a.m. EST on October 30, 2002. Speakers will include Lou Gallegos, USDA Assistant Secretary for Administration, and Nancy Bryson, USDA General Counsel.
Your contact is Nathaniel Deutsch, USDA Departmental Administration, at 202-690-3163, or nathaniel.deutsch@usda.gov.


State Conservationist Receives Prestigious Forest Service Award
James Ford, NRCS Tennessee State Conservationist, recently received the Forest Service's
2001-2002 National Rural Community Assistance Award for his accomplishments and commitment to outreach efforts. The award was presented at the Southeast Resource Conservation and Development Council annual meeting in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Alan Pigg, Southern Region Program Manager for the Forest Service, presented the award. It recognized Ford for his outstanding accomplishments and exceptional outreach efforts in support of agriculture, forestry, conservation, and small business in underserved communities in Tennessee, and for being a part of a dynamic partnership between NRCS and the Forest Service. Pigg characterized Ford as the type of leader who appreciates the work that goes into projects and activities, and who generates and sells ideas, and inspires sponsors, agencies, and educators to dig in and make things happen. Accounts of the award presentation were carried in local media, including the Tennessean, a major regional newspaper.
Your contact is Larry Blick, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 615-277-2535, or lblick@tn.nrcs.usda.gov.

 

Focus on the Field

Girl Scouts in Our Own Backyard
NRCS National headquarters and California State staffs teamed up in Long Beach, California, to represent the agency at the Girl Scout National Council Session/49th Convention held last week at the Long Beach Convention Center. More than 15,000 Girl Scout representatives from 50 States and 81 countries, USA Girl Scouts Overseas, and several territories attended. The Backyard Conservation exhibit was set up and staffed for the event. Hundreds of Backyard publications and business cards, with the 1-888-LANDCARE number and website were distributed to Girl Scout leaders and officials, enabling them to view and order NRCS publications on-line or by phone. The most frequently heard comment from scout leaders was that NRCS publications “will be perfect for teaching our scouts lessons in soil and water conservation.”
Your contact is Fred Jacobs, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 202-720-6794, or fred.jacobs@usda.gov.


Trout Open House
The Winneshiek County Soil and Water Conservation District recently held a Trout Stream Open House to highlight the greatly improved trout habitat and recreational opportunities in the Bear Creek Watershed located in northeastern Iowa and southeastern Minnesota’s Allamakee and Winneshiek counties in Iowa and Fillmore and Houston counties in Minnesota. This is a dramatic turnaround for a watershed where, historically, floodwaters have caused damage to croplands, roads, and bridges while sediment degraded water quality hurting trout habitat, numbers, and size. This in turn negatively impacted the tourist business in this rural area. Open house visitors were treated to a tour of Bear Creek, watched Trout Unlimited volunteers install fish hides that provide protection for trout while stabilizing stream banks, and then were taken trout fishing. Best of all, area residents are pleased that the Bear Creek camp site registration book in the Highlandville General Store shows that trout fishermen from all over the world are once again traveling to Winneshiek County, Iowa.
Your contact is Lynn Betts, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 515-284-4262, or lynn.betts@ia.nrcs.usda.gov.

Restoring a Wetland
When Rod and Pam Ehler learned about the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) from their neighbors, they contacted Mike Brown, NRCS civil engineering technician at the Scottsbluff, Nebraska, district office and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Mike Happold. The Ehlers wanted to restore a wetland on their land as a habitat for waterfowl, but they also wanted to be able to graze cattle on their property. Although they had a very good pasture that had been in Pam’s family for three generations, they could see the area had once been a large wetland. Apparently, several generations ago, channels were dug through the subirrigated meadow to enlarge the pastureland. Using WRP funding, Brown designed three large dikes, seeded with a native grass mixture to help control erosion, averaging 1,100 feet long and 5 feet high, to hold water over the wettest part of the property. The Ehlers will control water depth behind 3 water control structures, based on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s recommended levels for waterfowl. All told, the project restored 80 acres of habitat. “Our cows still have a place to graze, but they no longer have to worry about becoming bogged down in wet areas. They also now have a clean source of water and we have a great place for waterfowl habitat,” Rod Ehler said.

The Ehlers are now looking into restoring their upland acres as well. They recently applied for Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program funds through NRCS to seed 87 acres into native grass next spring. (From a September 2002 Neb News story)
Your contact is Joanna Pope, NRCS Public Affairs Specialist, at 402-443-3463, or joanna.pope@ne.usda.gov.


Standing Rock Sioux and NRCS Agreement
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and NRCS recently signed a first-of-its-kind cultural resources agreement at the Tribal Headquarters in Fort Yates, North Dakota. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe will be now be reimbursed by NRCS for all archeological investigations and consultations that certified tribal personnel perform. NRCS will be notified of all findings and retains ultimate responsibility for all cultural resource determinations as well. While the South Dakota NRCS has used tribal archeologists in the past, this new agreement recognizes their expertise and formalizes the process. Prior to the agreement, NRCS had typically conducted their own site file searches when applying for archeological permits from the Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO). Under the new agreement, the THPO will conduct the site file searches and advise NRCS on the presence of, or the potential for, traditional cultural properties/sacred sites in the general area. Signing the agreement were South Dakota State Conservationist, Janet Oertly; North Dakota State Conservationist, Tom Jewett; Standing Rock Tribal Chairman, Charles Murphy; Standing Rock Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Tim Mentz, Senior; and Standing Rock Soil Conservation District Chair, Pat McLaughlin.
Your contact is Dave Keith, NRCS public affairs specialist at 605-352-1228, or david.keith@sd.usda.gov.


NRCS Conservationist Presents Paper at National Conference
At a recent National Association of Abandoned Mine Land Programs conference, Dan Seibert, NRCS resource conservationist in the Somerset County Technical Office, and Pam Milavec, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), presented their technical paper titled, "Pennsylvania's Efforts to Address Operation, Maintenance, and Replacement (OM&R) of Abandoned Mine Drainage (AMD) Passive Treatment Systems." The paper explains that a total of $93 million has been spent on AMD watershed restoration projects in Pennsylvania since 1988. A portion of this funding has gone to construct 153 AMD passive treatment systems. The paper goes on to describe how funds have come from many sources, including NRCS and the PL-83-566 Program, and that failure to maintain these systems could be detrimental to watersheds that support many stream uses. NRCS and DEP have established a work group to provide recommendations to address the need for OM&R, and taken a lead role in implementing recommendations, including the development of maintenance plans and agreements, training local watershed groups in routine maintenance, and troubleshooting problems.
Your contact is Dan Seibert, NRCS resource conservationist, at 814-445-8979, ext. 132.



Partners to Restore Eelgrass Habitats
A NRCS, Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island (with funding through the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program), Save The Bay, and the University of Rhode Island-Graduate School of Oceanography (URI GSO) partnership is completing a week-long effort of transplanting and seeding thousands of eelgrass (Zostera marina) plants in Narragansett Bay. The project is using recent advances in underwater seeding and whole plant transplanting techniques. Eelgrass is an under water marine flowering plant or “seagrass” that is important ecologically to bays and coasts worldwide. It is a primary source of food and shelter for many types of marine life, including economically important finfish and shellfish species, such as the bay scallop. The restoration conducted at Fogland Point and Poplar Point builds on the work completed earlier this year and will incorporate recent advances in eelgrass seeding techniques. “The eelgrass beds that have been restored - are now full of life with creatures such as seahorses, flounders, tautog, crabs, and many types of bait fish,” said Wendy Norden, restoration ecologist for Save the Bay.

The team is using URI GSO’s innovative creation, an eelgrass seeding machine, to sow hundreds of thousands of eelgrass seeds under water. The seeding machine acts as an underwater planting device, where seeds are injected in a nutritive gelatinous matrix, pumped into the tines of the planting sled and injected just below the sediment surface. The seeding machine uses the same technology the food industry employs to inject jelly into donuts. Additionally, whole eelgrass plants, collected from a designated donor site, are also being planted within the restoration area using the TERF (Transplanting Eelgrass Remotely with Frames) methodology as developed by Dr. Fred Short of the University of New Hampshire. This approach allows eelgrass shoots to be tied directly to lobster pot frames. Eelgrass shoots are tied to TERF frames with dissolvable crepe paper by volunteers from a boat and are then deployed by divers. Weeks later, the TERF frames are removed once shoots have rooted into the sediment.
Your contact is Jeanne Comerford, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 401-822-8816 or jeanne.comerford@ri.usda.gov.



Once a Teacher, Always a Teacher
Deck Hunter, NRCS Earth Team Volunteer, retired teacher, author, and former wilderness ranger is sharing her love of the outdoors and wildlife with other Wyomingites who would like to do what they can to increase wildlife habitat. Hunter is conducting workshops (she refers to the workshops as “chats”) on how to become a backyard conservationist. The Hunters reside near the foothills of Wyoming’s Big Horn Mountains. A walkabout to tour their Certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat is offered as part of the program. Hunter teaches that areas set aside for wildlife may be small patios or large ranches. Workshop attendees learn that habitat can be developed in town, in a subdivision, or in the country. She notes that one of the first steps is to assess the yard for enhancement possibilities and then decide where to begin. Programs include winter feeding; nesting boxes and houses; plants, trees, and shrubs that attract wildlife; butterfly gardens; and attracting hummingbirds.
Your contact is Nancy Atkinson, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 307-261-6482, or nancy.atkinson@wy.usda.gov
 

Word from Washington

National Conference on Farm Bill Conservation Opportunities
The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) and the Conservation Technology Information Center will present a National Conference on Farm Bill Conservation Opportunities November 12-14, 2002, at the Hilton St. Louis Airport Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri. The program will provide a forum for USDA experts to provide perspectives on Farm Bill programs and also feature workshops on conservation program implementation. The conference is intended for conservation policy leaders; conservation, agricultural industry, and environmental organizations; and media practitioners. More information is available on the conference website at http://nacdnet.org/FBC/.
Your contact is Debra A. Bogar, NACD, at 303-988-1893, or deb-bogar@nacdnet.org.


October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month
The national theme for this year's National Disability Employment Awareness Month is “New Freedom in the 21st Century.” President George W. Bush stated, “Our Nation's annual observance of National Disability Employment Awareness Month allows us to reflect upon, and consider the potential possessed by, the millions of Americans with disabilities who currently serve in our workforce, as well as those who are ready and willing to join the workforce.” To read White House Executive Order 13078 on Increasing Employment of Adults With Disabilities, go to http://janweb.icdi.wvu.edu/cap/13078.htm.

In 1988, Congress expanded the national disability employment awareness observance to a month-long kick-off for year-round programs that highlight the abilities and skills of Americans with disabilities and changed its name to National Disability Employment Awareness Month.
Your contact is Terry Kirby, NRCS National Headquarters Disability Employment Program Manager, at 202-720-8758, or terry.kirby@usda.gov.
 

Tech Tip

Fall 2002 series of "The Leader in You"
The fall 2002 series of "The Leader in You" training seminars is scheduled for Thursday, November 14, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. EST. and Tuesday, December 10, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EST. "Leaders Teaching Leaders: Accelerating the Pipeline," broadcast on November 14, will emphasize that "leaders develop other leaders." Trainer Andrea Zintz, vice-president of Human Resources and a member of the Management Board at Johnson and Johnson will host the broadcast.

"Leading Change," broadcast on December 10, will be presented by John Kotter from the Harvard Business School, an authority on leadership and change. His presentation will give special attention to the necessity and importance for leadership and management to facilitate change.

This satellite training is available at no charge and only to the employees, directors, and Earth Team volunteers of the sponsors. Taping rights are available for the first seminar, "Leaders Teaching Leaders: Accelerating the Pipeline." It is important to note that "Leading Change" is for live broadcast only. Because taping rights are not available, "Leading Change" will not be available from the Social Sciences Institute's (SSI) lending library.

"The Leader in You" series is appropriate for staff development initiatives at all levels of the Conservation Partnership. SSI and the National Employee Development Center, in cooperation with the National Association of Conservation Districts, National Association of Conservation District Employees, and the National Association of State Conservation Agencies, sponsor the series.
Your contact is Barbara Wallace, NRCS community planner, at 616-942-1503, or barbara.wallace@usda.gov.

 

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