Harbans Lal joined the Water Quality and Quantity Team of the West Technology Support Center in Oct. 2006 with a Ph.D. in
Agricultural Engineering and over 30 years of experience in natural resource management. He is passionate about
environmentally-friendly agriculture that can provide food, fiber and fuel for the world population with a minimum impact
to our environment.
Harbans has worked with agricultural systems around the globe including India, Brazil, and the United States. As a private
consultant, he has contracted with several federal agencies including the US-EPA, the US Forest Service, the OR/WA Bureau
of Land Management, and the USDA-NRCS. For the USDA-NRCS, he developed CNMPs (Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans) to
assess and control environmental risks of animal waste from the confined animal feeding operations. For others, he designed
and implemented natural resources information systems using GIS and other state-of-the-art information technologies. These
projects helped develop and implement water quality and quantity strategies for healthy watersheds. Few of his contributions
include the LOADSS-Lake Okeechobee Decision Support System, the AEGIS-Agricultural and Environmental Geographic Information
System, and the NRIS-Natural Resources Information System of the US-Forest Service.
He has authored and co-authored several technical bulletins, operation manuals, and refereed and non-refereed journal articles.
Among other national level projects, Harbans is currently engaged in developing tools and techniques for estimating nutrient
(nitrogen, phosphorus, temperature) credits to promote trading programs for market-based approaches to ecosystem management.
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