NRCS Completes, Delivers Soil Survey for Craters of the Moon National Monument - Two years ago, the National Park Service asked NRCS Idaho to perform an out-of-this-world task: complete a soil survey of Craters of the Moon National Monument. Last month, Soil Specialist Neil Peterson and Geographic Information Systems Specialist Dave Hoover, both of the NRCS State Office in Boise, delivered a compact disc containing a digital version of the soil survey to the Craters of the Moon National Monument resource staff. Compiling the data for the survey was NRCS soil scientist Rulon Winward. Rulon traveled by bicycle to get into some areas. Sometimes he had to walk up to 8 miles one way over sharp and rugged lava clinkers. "It was like walking on glass," Rulon said. "And it was as hot as an oven out there." His work also produced a pair of technological "firsts" for Idaho: the State's first soil survey written to compact disc and the first time a soil survey had been completed in Idaho through use of the new National Soil Information System. Ten new soil series were identified in the survey.

WHIP To Help Restore Riparian Buffer in Arkansas - Sixteen landowners in east-central Monroe County will use the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP), to restore wooded buffers along a six-mile stretch of an unnamed tributary of Locust Creek. Once filled with bottomland hardwood trees, the area for 20 years has been home to weed cover and dead timber, and frequently assaulted by floods. Two highly motivated local landowners, with District Conservation Dennis Jones, brought other landowners to the Monroe County Conservation District Office to tell them about the benefits of WHIP and its possibilities for the tributary. "There is no opposition because all the landowners were in favor of doing something and getting started as soon as possible," Dennis said. Participating landowners may also be eligible for State conservation tax credits offered by the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission. The final buffer area will be the largest effort of its kind in the Nation and provide a home to a variety of wildlife.

Watch Out Weeds...Phyllis Is Out To Get You! - Colorado Earth Team Volunteer Phyllis Lake makes weeds in Rio Blanco County nervous. Very nervous. Phyllis is committed to going after, and whacking by one means or another, weeds that gets in her way. Right now, Phyllis, who is known for putting ideas into action, is writing a grant to assist several landowners with the aerial spraying of 500 acres near Meeker. She is actively involved in the Rio Blanco County 4-H Weed Club, which is planning to establish demonstration plots that show the importance of weed control. Phyllis is planning for later this year a horseback pack trip to take an inventory of weeds in the Flat Tops Area of the White River National Forest. Thanks to her anti-weed activism, government agencies, private organizations, and corporations are joining together to control weeds on 250,000 acres in the Piceance Creek area. Phyllis recently received the "Recognition of Outstanding Teamwork and Cooperation in the Field of Weed Management Award" at the Colorado Weed Management Conference in Grand Junction.

RC&D Helps Underserved Farmers in Georgia Beat Climatic, Economic "Dry Spells" - Georgia's Golden Triangle RC&D is helping underserved farmers and owners of small farms in southwest Georgia stay in business through an outreach project that provides irrigation water to areas hardhit by dry weather. With this year's growing season predicted to be the driest of the decade, the Portable Irrigation Management Assistance and Demonstration Project is certain to be an economic lifeline for the project's participants. Because of NRCS assistance to the RC&D, participating farmers will have access to a truck, a trailer, two hard-hose irrigation systems, and the advice of an irrigation technician. One farmer already has successfully germinated seeds for her vegetable crop and has expanded the variety of crops that she will grow. Participants receive training in irrigation management and engine maintenance. Demonstrations and irrigation training for area farmers are planned.

Now That is Great Conservation Education! - Tennessee's Clinch-Powell RC&D reports some remarkable statistics about a consistently remarkable conservation education effort. During the past 11 years, more than 13,000 students have attended the RC&D's annual conservation camps. This represents nearly 90 percent of all residents in the RC&D area between the ages of 11 and 22. More than 1,500 students and teachers braved sun and rain at this year's camp, which was put on through the talents of more than 60 volunteers.

S.K. Worm Video Wows Kids In Nebraska - National Soil Survey Center Volunteer Coordinator Judy Kisch turned the S.K. Worm segment of the Ag-Earth Day satellite video broadcast into an exciting educational experience for her grandson's second-grade class. Judy reports that the kids enjoyed the video and receiving their own personalized copies of the S.K. Worm "World's Greatest Soil Diploma." She has filled requests for copies of the broadcast from the Lincoln and North Platte Public School Systems.

RC&D, "Progressive Farmer" Show Kids How To Stay Safe - The Northwest Alabama RC&D Council and Progressive Farmer magazine recently gave nearly 400 children some important lessons in safety. At a Safety Day Camp held at Northwest Shoals Community College, children learned about how to stay safe around large animals, heavy equipment, poisons and fire, and all-terrain vehicles and lawn mowers. Also held were sessions on the 911 emergency telephone number, first aid, fire arms and hunting, and electrical safety. Each participant received a T-shirt and a take-home packet of safety materials.

WHAT'S UP IN WASHINGTON

Global Change Team Holds First Meeting - This week, the NRCS Global Change Action Team met for the first time. The team is charged with examining issues of global change and making recommendations about how NRCS can more effectively respond to global change. High-priority issues for the team are: internal and external communications strategies, increasing the utility of soil, climate, and vegetation databases for predicting how agriculture can respond to global change, and determining how global change issues might affect the NRCS delivery of information to the agency's clients.

Glickman, Browner Witnesses at Senate Hearing on Clean Water Action Plan - On Thursday, May 13, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing on the Clean Water Action Plan. The Senators will examine the origins of the plan, how the public has been involved in the process, and also look at the various programmatic authorities and activities that are associated with the plan. USDA Secretary Dan Glickman and Administrator Carol Browner of the Environmental Protection Agency were the primary Administration witnesses.

SPECIAL EVENTS

10th International Soil Conservation Organization Conference

Purdue University

Lafayette, Indiana

May 23-28

Joint HEPM/FWPM Annual Training

Las Vegas, Nevada

June 14, 1999

 

7th Annual National Organization of Professional Hispanic NRCS Employees Training Conference

Las Vegas, Nevada

June 15 - 17, 1999

"QUOTE OF THE WEEK"

If there were some standardized, simple remedy for the ills of the land that could be applied indiscriminately, the job of soil conservation would be comparatively easy. But there is about as much variety in erosion and the performance of the water and wind as in the landscape of the country.

-- "Adjustment of Agriculture to Its Environment," Annals of the Association of American Geographers , Hugh Hammond Bennett, December, 1943

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