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“The Farm Bill represents the largest investment in conservation on America’s
working lands in farm bill history. The Farm Bill announces our entry into what
I call “the next golden age of conservation.”
from a speech by Bruce Knight, Chief Natural Resources Conservation Service,
at the Beltwide Cotton Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, January 7, 2003.
In This Issue
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Focus on the Field
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Alaska: A Path to New Conservation
Partnerships
South Carolina: Working Wheels
Wisconsin: Pheasants Forever Meets Earth Team
Wyoming: New Digital Orthophoto Quads
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Word from Washington
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NRCS Excellence in Conservation Award
Nominations
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Tech Tip
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Training Scheduled by Support Team
Sites to See
Find out what conservation
events and activities are occurring this month and in the upcoming months with
the Events and Activities page on our NRCS website
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Visit the
National Agricultural Library’s new super resource center, DIGITOP
USDA’s Farm Bill 2002 Website
NRCS
Legislative Summaries
AGRICOLA: USDA's AGRICultural OnLine
Access
National Association of Conservation
Districts e-Notes
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Focus on the Field
A Path to New Conservation
Partnerships
Alaska's NRCS Homer Field Office is helping several Alaska Native allotment
holders in the lower Kenai Peninsula watershed areas of Port Graham and Nanwalek
with the development of comprehensive forest management plans. Providing
conservation planning assistance and technical support has gone a long way in
establishing new partnership links and a new awareness of NRCS programs and
services between NRCS and the Alaska Native Chugachmiut Corporation, local
Native allotment owners, and traditional village councils in these watershed
areas. In addition to providing high value conservation planning and technical
assistance incorporating Alaska Native traditional values, the Homer Field
Office staff plan is to use the success of their work in these remote geographic
regions as a model for building its conservation partnerships with Alaska Native
groups.
Your contact is Mark Kinney, NRCS conservationist, at 907-235-8177, ext. 103, or
mkinney@ak.nrcs.usda.gov.
Working Wheels
The Edisto Savannah Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council and
the South Carolina Department of Social Services have teamed up to provide
welfare program graduates with used cars at zero-interest loans, so they can
commute to their jobs in Aiken, Allendale, Barnwell, Bamberg, Calhoun, and
Orangeburg counties. At a recent press conference, the media witnessed a
welfare program graduate receive the first Wheels to Work vehicle purchased
through the new program. Six other RC&D areas in South Carolina are starting
Wheels to Work projects, thereby increasing the potential for a Statewide
program. Initially, 85 cars will be placed by September 2005, with prospects
for an additional 35 to 40 more vehicles being placed through capital generated
by incoming client loan payments. Clients receiving cars will be responsible
for repaying the loan, vehicle maintenance as needed, and maintaining adequate
insurance on the car.
Your contact is contact Amy O. Maxwell, NRCS public affairs specialist, at
803-765-5402, or
amy.maxwell@nc.usda.gov.
Pheasants Forever Meets Earth Team
Pheasants Forever and the NRCS Earth Team Volunteer program in Wisconsin
have developed a unique partnership with college students in the State. Through
the Conservation Internship program, college students sign up as Earth Team
volunteers to work in NRCS offices during the summer, helping landowners in the
Conservation Reserve Program and other wildlife-related programs to establish or
enhance native grasses, shrub habitat, and riparian buffers. Upon completion of
500 hours of work they receive scholarship funds. Established in 1998, the
program has been “wildly” successful with over 50 students receiving
scholarships from such sponsors as Pheasants Forever and the Buffer Council of
Wisconsin while they gained field experience working with natural resource
professionals, establishing habitat, and practicing the conservation ethic. To
find out more about the Conservation Internship Program go to
http://www.wi.nrcs.usda.gov/about/internships/erb22.html.
Your contact is Barb Jansen, NRCS public affairs specialist, at 608-276-8732,
ext. 273, or
barbara.jansen@wi.usda.gov.
New Digital Orthophoto Quads
NRCS, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Wyoming State Engineer’s Office
recently held a press conference to announce the creation and distribution of a
Statewide set of high-resolution color infrared digital orthophoto quads (DOQ).
The technology will assist in managing public land, wildlife, and water;
identifying new roads, flood plain areas and weed infestations; and depicting
conservation practices and the conversion of prime agricultural lands to other
uses. The photographs will also be used on the Wind River Indian Reservation to
aid in mapping oil and gas drilling. Wyoming’s former Governor, Jim Geringer;
NRCS State Conservationist Lincoln E. Burton; and NRCS GIS Coordinator Randy
Wiggins participated in the press conference to announce the new technology.
The aerial photos, now being converted to DOQs and county ortho-mosaics, have a
pixel resolution of about 2 feet. Distribution should be made to all Wyoming
field offices within the next 12 months.
Your contact is Randy Wiggins, NRCS GIS coordinator, at 307-261-6451, or
randy.wiggins@wy.usda.gov.
Word from Washington
NRCS Excellence in Conservation
Award Nominations
Through work with its partners, NRCS has achieved many conservation
successes visible on America's landscape. To recognize these valuable
contributions to natural resources conservation on private lands by non-Federal
government partner groups or individuals, the annual NRCS Excellence in
Conservation Award was developed.
Once again it’s time to submit nominations for this
year's NRCS Excellence in Conservation Award. Any non-Federal individual,
group, tribe or organization is eligible for nomination by an NRCS employee.
Nominations are limited to one double-spaced 8 ½ " X 11" page per State, Region,
and Headquarters Deputy Area. See the award website for nominating criteria and
guidelines for submitting nominations at
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/partners/excellence2003.html. Please submit an
original and six copies of the nomination (including the coversheet with
appropriate concurring signatures) no later than March 11, 2003 to:
USDA, NRCS, Human Resources Management Division
ATTN: Brian Wedding
14th and Independence Avenue, SW
Room 6218-S
Washington, D.C. 20250
Your contact is: Brian Wedding, NRCS, Human Resources Management Division, at
202-720-2900, or brian.wedding@usda.gov.
Tech Tip
Training Scheduled by Support Team
The Army Corps of Engineers HEC-RAS software, for use in projects involving
stream hydraulics, water surface profiles, and watershed analysis, has been
adopted by NRCS. The Conservation Engineering Division and the National Water
and Climate Center (NWCC) have organized an HEC-RAS team to support
implementation. "Introduction to HEC-RAS," a 3-day course developed by the
team, provides an introduction to use of HEC-RAS, with water surface profiles in
channels and flood plains, bridge and culvert hydraulics, hands-on example
applications, and some specialized features. This introductory HEC-RAS course
has already been presented to 227 students in 16 states. The HEC-RAS team has
scheduled training for fiscal year 2003. Based on responses received from the
states, introductory courses will be held in Arkansas, Kansas, Maryland,
Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington, and
Wisconsin. "Advanced Use of HEC-RAS" courses are being planned for Alabama,
Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Texas, and Utah. Notices will be distributed when
dates have been determined. The team is comprised of three engineers from the
NWCC, an engineer from the National Design, Construction and Soil Mechanics
Center, and seven engineers from NRCS State Offices. The team maintains a Web
site, supports the program through on-line assistance, and provides classroom
training. HEC-RAS and associated information may be downloaded through the NWCC
Web site, http://www.wcc.nrcs.gov. Select
Water Quality and Quantity Sciences, then select Hydrology and Hydraulics, then
select Tools/Models, and then select HEC-RAS.
Your contact is William Merkel, Hydrology Team Leader, NRCS National Water and
Climate Center, at 301-504-3956, or
william.merkel@ea.nrcs.usda.gov.
Please send correspondence and material for "NRCS This Week" to the editor by: e-mail to: fred.jacobs@usda.gov or by fax to: Editor, "NRCS This Week," 202-720-1564; or by mail to: Editor, "NRCS This Week," NRCS, P.O. Box 2890, Washington, D.C. 20013.
You can receive NRCSTW via e-mail by sending an e-mail to: listproc@nrcs.usda.gov. Do not use a subject line and put the following in the body of the message: subscribe NRCS-THIS-WEEK Firstname Lastname (example: subscribe NRCS-THIS-WEEK Rachel Carson). To get help with other commands that are available at the "listproc@nrcs.usda.gov" address, send a message with no subject and the word HELP on a line by itself in the body of the message. "NRCS This Week" is posted on the NRCS Homepage.
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The NRCS Mission: The Natural Resources Conservation Service provides leadership in a partnership effort to help people conserve, maintain, and improve our natural resources and environment.
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