Fishery Biologist Nate Caswell attended the Managing Agricultural Landscapes for Environmental Quality Workshop in Kansas City, Missouri, in October 2006. 

The workshop was hosted by the Soil and Water Conservation Society, with the primary objective of “fostering discussion among scientists and technicians working to quantify the environmental benefits of conservation practices on agricultural land at landscape or watershed scales.” 

The workshop included sessions on resource assessment, research methods, targeting, and realistic expectations of conservation activities.  These topics are becoming more relevant to the Service as we shift toward smaller focus areas and take a watershed-level approach to habitat conservation and restoration.  They are especially relevant to Carterville FRO as the primary land use in much of the geographic area covered by our office (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio) is agriculture.