Community Assistance and Farmland Preservation

The Resource Conservation and Development and Rural Lands Division is working to enhance NRCS's ability to deliver technical assistance to communities experiencing development pressure by employing strategic approaches to land use planning and natural resource conservation.  Strategic Conservation Planning focuses on the development of a system to support the functions of the natural environment. The support system consists of an interconnected network of natural, working and built-up lands that support the natural ecological processes that contribute to the health and quality of life for America’s communities and people.

The loss of farmland, wildlife habitat, and open space has accelerated over the last two decades. National Resources Inventory data show that between 1982 and 2001, about 34 million acres – an area the size of Illinois – were converted to developed uses. The rate of development between 1997 and 2001 averaged 2.2 million acres per year. This is the same average rate experienced between 1992 and 1997, but up from 1.4 million acres per year in the previous decade (1982-1992). The increase in the rate of conversion is due to a number of forces including increased income, increase in population, and inadequate land-use planning, zoning and land-use laws. The American Planning Association's Growing Smart project issued a report in late 1999 that summarized the status of State land-use law reform. At that time only 11 states had substantially updated planning statutes, another 9 had moderately updated statutes and the remainder had slightly or not updated planning statutes (statutes which date back to the 1920's).

Inadequate land use planning, in many cases, has contributed to the adverse environmental, economic, and social impacts associated with growth. In a National Survey on Growth and Land Development conducted by Belden, Russonello and Stewart for Smart Growth America, 78% of respondents supported land-use planning to guide the place and size of development in their communities and an overwhelming 83% favored establishing zones to protect green space, farming, and forests on the rural-urban fringe.

In the United States, land-use decisions are primarily the responsibility of  local governments. Many times these local governments do not have the resources to develop comprehensive land-use plans to guide growth and development.  In a 2000 National Association of Conservation Districts national report, on Conservation District Growth Management Activities, the number one priority for Tools Needed to Improve Urban Conservation Delivery was "an accepted long range plan for land use in the District” followed by "improved planning equipment" and "a digitized Geographic Information System."

Community decision makers need natural resource information, planning and technical assistance to make informed choices on land use issues. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is working in partnership with local conservation districts and Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Councils to provide local jurisdictions with natural resource information, land use planning tools and other technical assistance that can help communities develop comprehensive growth management plans.

Links

NRCS Resource Conservation and Development Program: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/rcd/

NRCS Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/frpp/

Farmland Protection Policy Act: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/fppa/

NRCS Land Evaluation and Site Assessment: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/lesa/

NRCS Urban Soils Issues: http://soils.usda.gov/use/urban/

NRCS Urban Soils Primer: http://soils.usda.gov/use/urban/primer.html

Alternative Agriculture and Agritourism Resources: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/RESS/altenterprise/index.html

Illinois Urban Manual: http://www.il.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/engineer/urban/index.html

USDA Forest Service: http://www.fs.fed.us/ucf/

NACD Urban and Community Conservation Network: http://www.nacdnet.org/resources/urban.htm

American Farmland Trust: http://www.farmland.org/

Conservation Fund: http://www.conservationfund.org/?article=2048

Farmland Information Center: http://ww.farmlandinfo.org/

Success Stories

Iowa Community Assistance

Dallas County, Iowa is changing from a rural to an urban county because of the western expansion of the state’s capital city of Des Moines. To meet the challenge, the county soil and water conservation district and the NRCS are changing their traditional service delivery methods to include working with builders and developers so they can do a better job employing land conservation measures and keeping soil on construction sites. To accomplish this, the district has established a two-part outreach program called "Meet and Remind."

The district wants to prevent soil loss before it occurs. This proactive approach is the "meet" portion of the outreach program. District Conservationist Brad Harrison and his staff encourage city and county planning staffs and developers to meet with a trained conservationist at the development site before any soil is turned. They all walk the land, view environmentally sensitive areas and discuss erosion control measures. Conservation and pollution prevention plans follow.

District staff then keeps track of the development project. If an obvious urban pollution problem is observed, the staff moves to "remind" the developer. A digital picture is taken and a letter is prepared pointing out the problem to the developer and recommending they contact the district for help solving it.

Harrison says the program has been very successful. Construction site soil erosion is noticeably down and planning staffs and developers appreciate the technical assistance his staff provides. Harrison also notes, that when he meets with developers before construction begins, he has an opportunity to promote better land use and green development. As a result of these early meetings, one 200-acre project will include a wetland and a native prairie area that wasn’t on the original plan. That, he believes, is great way to serve the landowner and better the environment.

Iowa Community Conservation Program: ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/IA/news/UrbanBrochure.pdf

Massachusetts Community Assistance Partnership (MassCAP)

The Massachusetts Community Assistance Partnership (MassCAP) is a partnership among state and federal agencies that helps increase technical conservation assistance to communities in the eastern Massachusetts coastal zone. NRCS, the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Districts, the watershed associations and other groups participate. MassCAP helps people prevent and address natural resource problems by encouraging local involvement and volunteer support, by providing technical assistance on a watershed basis, by building partnerships to pool expertise and by conducting outreach and training about conservation tools and techniques.

 Massachusetts Community Assistance Partnership: http://www.ma.nrcs.usda.gov/partnerships/masscap.html

Additional Information

These documents require Adobe Acrobat.

City and Town of Brillion, Wisconsin, Attitude Survey and Mental Mapping Tool

Town of Brillion Community Attitude Survey
Town of Brillion Mental Mapping Tool

Fulton County Ohio Community Planning Survey, 2002

2002 Survey Report
Appendix A, Additional Comments by Township
Appendix B, Breakouts on Whether the Respondents Owned or Operated a Farm
Appendix C, Breakouts by Age
Appendix D, Township New Developments
Appendix E, Overall Cross tabulations by Township
Appendix F, Incorporated Cross tabulations by Township
Appendix G, Unincorporated Cross tabulations by Township
Appendix H, Example of the Community Survey Collection Document

Program Contact

Avery Patillo, National Urban Conservation and Community Assistance Leader

202-720-7671