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About Washington
NRCSUpdated
06/23/2008
Who We Are...
![NRCS Mission Icon: "Helping People Help the Lan."](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090116042144im_/http://www.wa.nrcs.usda.gov/images/Mission.gif)
With the mission
of “Helping People Help the Land,” the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
provides products and services that enable people to be good stewards of the
Nation’s soil, water, and related natural resources on non-Federal lands. With
our help, people are better able to conserve, maintain, or improve their natural
resources. As a result of our technical and financial assistance, land managers
and communities take a comprehensive approach to the use and protection of
natural resources in rural, suburban, urban, and developing areas.
A Partnership ApproachSince the Dust
Bowl of the 1930’s, NRCS has worked with conservation districts and others
throughout the U.S. to help landowners, as well as Federal, State, Tribal, and
local governments and community groups.
NRCS has six mission goals: high quality, productive soils; clean and abundant
water; healthy plant and animal communities; clean air; an adequate energy
supply; and working farms and ranchlands. To achieve these goals, the Agency
implements these strategies:
• Cooperative conservation: seeking and promoting cooperative efforts to achieve conservation goals. • Watershed approach: providing information and assistance to encourage and
enable locally-led, watershed-scale conservation. • Market-based approach: facilitating the growth of market-based opportunities
that encourage the private sector to invest in conservation on private lands.
Conservation Assistance
Our locally-based NRCS
staff works directly with farmers, ranchers, and others, to provide technical
and financial conservation assistance. Our guiding principles are service,
partnership, and technical excellence.
NRCS helps landowners develop conservation plans and provides advice on the
design, layout, construction, management, operation, maintenance, and evaluation
of the recommended, voluntary conservation practices. NRCS activities include
farmland protection, upstream flood prevention, emergency watershed protection,
urban conservation, and local community projects designed to improve social,
economic, and environmental conditions.
NRCS conducts soil surveys, conservation needs assessments, and the National
Resources Inventory to provide a basis for resource conservation planning
activities and to provide an accurate assessment of the condition of the
Nation’s private lands.
As the leading source of technology as it applies to natural resource
conservation on private lands, NRCS develops technical guides and other
Web-based tools to help enhance natural resource conservation efforts.
For
More InformationPlease contact
NRCS at your local USDA Service Center, listed in phone directories under U.S.
Government, or visit our Web site at:
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov.
These files require
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
"Who
We Are - Helping People Help the Land." fact sheet
February 2006 (PDF; 40 KB)
NRCS History
Civil Rights
NRCS Leadership
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