NRCS and Farm Service Agency Create Shared Positions in the Pacific Basin Area - NRCS and USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) have signed formal agreements creating two shared positions to provide services to traditionally underserved people in the Pacific Basin Area.

The goal is to provide qualified personnel that can offer the needed FSA program assistance while enhancing the NRCS assistance to American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The positions will be located in the Service Center Office in American Samoa or Guam.

Update on the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) 16th Sign-Up - With 90 percent of the data entered on the 16th CRP general sign-up, which ran from October 14 to November 14, 1997, results so far are showing 8.5 million acres offered.

NRCS Personnel Changes - Effective immediately, Nick Pearson, Assistant State Conservationist, Nevada, will serve as Acting State Conservationist for Nevada.

Effective December 31, 1997, Leroy Stokes, Jr., Partnership Liaison, Northern Plains Regional Office, Lincoln, NE, will serve as Acting State Conservationist for Colorado.

Effective January 5, 1998, Rosendo Trevino III, State Conservationist of New Mexico, will serve as the Acting Regional Conservationist for the West Region.

USDA Accepting Applications for 1890 National Scholars Program - Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is accepting applications for its 1890 National Scholars Program for the 1998 school year. The program is aimed at undergraduate students studying agriculture or related subjects at the 17 historically black 1890 land-grant universities, with the goal of placing successful graduates into career positions at USDA.

"USDA is dedicated to providing educational opportunities for our Nation's young people through the 1890 National Scholars Program," Glickman said. "We partner with the 1890 institutions in an effort to interest these students in careers in agriculture, food, natural resources, or related disciplines. The employment component of the program, where the students join our workforce, helps bring diversity to USDA."

USDA provides students in the program with full tuition, fees, books, use of a personal computer, software, employment, and employee benefits for each of the four years they are pursuing a bachelor's degree. The institutions provide the scholarship recipients with room and board for each year. Students must sign a service agreement to work one year at USDA for each year of the scholarship.

The current 1997 school year marks the sixth year of the program. To date, 151 students have been selected as USDA/1890 national scholars. The retention rate of students is 92 percent. Six of the 31 students selected this year as USDA/1890 national scholars are working with NRCS.

Applications for the 1998 school year must be received by January 15, 1998. For more information about the 1890 National Scholars Program contact Della Streaty-Wilhoit at 202-720-1164.

Maryland Earth Team Volunteers Plant 7,000 Trees and Shrubs - Elmer Dengler, NRCS District Conservationist in Allegany County, MD, recently planned and led the work of 90 Earth Team volunteers who planted 7,000 trees and shrubs at Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) sites in Western Maryland. Dengler recruited the volunteers from Savage Mountain, Backbone Mountain, and Greenridge boys' camps. The camps are part of a long-term alternative sentencing program for youth under 21 who have committed non-violent crimes. The volunteers said it felt good to be a part of something important and worthwhile. "We couldn't have met our EWP goals without their help," said Dengler.

http://www.nal.usda.gov/wqic/pfiest.html - Pfiesteria piscicida web site of the Water Quality Information Center of the National Agricultural Library.

January 26-28, 1998 - National Conservation Buffer Initiative Science and Technology Conference and Workshops, San Antonio, TX. Contact the Conservation Technology Information Center at 765-494-9555, or visit the CTIC Web site at http://www.ctic.purdue.edu. The Web address for conference information is http://www.ctic.purdue.edu/Releases/BufferConf.html.

February 1-5 - "Setting the Stage for Conservation," National Association of Conservation Districts' 52nd Annual Meeting, Opryland Hotel, Nashville, TN. For information contact Robert Raschke or Linda Neel at 303-988-1810.

February 10-12 - "Managing Manure in Harmony with the Environment and Society," Soil and Water Conservation Society West North Central Manure Management Conference, Iowa State Center, Scheman Building, Ames, IA. Contact: Bob Ball, NRCS, Parkade Center, Suite 250, 601 Business Loop 70 West, Columbia, MO 65203. Phone: 573-876-0900.

February 18-21 - Land Improvement Contractors of America annual convention, Opryland Hotel, Nashville, TN. Call Wayne Maresch at 301-248-5749 or send e-mail to WayneF86@aol.com).

February 21-24 - Winter Meeting of the National Governors'Association, Washington, D.C.

February 23-24 - Agricultural Outlook Forum 98, Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, D.C. For registration details call 202-720-3050, send e-mail to agforum@oce.usda.gov, or write to Outlook Forum 98, 5143 South Building, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-3812.

March 22-24 - North Central RC&D Association Meeting, Traverse City, MI.

April 6-7, 1998 - First National Mitigation Banking Conference, J.W. Marriott Hotel in Washington, D.C. Conference registration is being handled by the Terrene Institute, 4 Herbert St., Alexandria, VA 22305; phone: 703-548-5473; fax: 703-548-6299. For more information contact Gary Wooten, Watersheds and Wetlands Division, National Headquarters, at 202-690-1588, or send e-mail to gary.wooten@usda.gov.

May 23-28, 1999 - "Sustaining the Global Farm," 10th International Soil Conservation Organization (ISCO) Conference Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. For information contact ISCO conference organizers by telephone at 765-494-8683, by fax at 765-494-5948 c/o ISCO99, or by e-mail at isco99@ecn.purdue.edu. Send correspondence to ISCO99, Purdue University, 1196 SOIL Building, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1196.

"Nature does nothing uselessly."

--Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), Greek philosopher

NRCS This Week is issued weekly by the Conservation Communications Staff, NRCS headquarters, Washington, D.C., and posted on the NRCS Home Page at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov. Please send correspondence and material via e-mail to: nancy.garlitz@usda.gov or mail to Editor, "NRCS This Week," NRCS, P.O. Box 2890, Washington, DC 20013 or FAX to Editor, "NRCS This Week," 202-690-1221.

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