State Technical Committee

What is the State Technical Committee?

The Food Security Act of 1985, as amended, authorizes the State Technical Committee to provide recommendations for establishing technical guidelines and program criteria and priorities necessary to carry out conservation provisions of the Farm Bill.

The committee also helps assure that Civil Rights requirements in Program Delivery are met.

Additionally, the State Technical Committee provides recommendations on a number of issues within a variety of conservation programs.

Although the State Technical Committee has no implementation or enforcement authority, USDA gives strong consideration to the Committee's recommendations.

Roles and Responsibilities

The State Technical Committee may advise the NRCS State Conservationist on many issues. See the following for examples:

• State program management policies and procedures
• Technical programmatic recommendations
• Statewide public information and outreach campaigns
• Identifying significant statewide natural resource concerns
• Guidelines for developing ranking criteria for evaluating applications
• Guidance on eligible conservation practices
• Technical guidance on conservation practices, including new, innovative practices
• Cost-share rates and incentive payment limits and methods of payment
• Identifying, monitoring, and analyzing performance indicators
• Evaluating and reporting program impacts on natural resources and the environment
• Coordinating with other Federal, State, tribal, and local public and private activities

Who are the Committee Members?

The NRCS State Conservationist shall act as the Committee Chair.

In addition, the state conservationist will ensure equal representation of interests, seriously consider the Committee’s technical advice, and call and provide notice of public meetings when necessary.

State Technical Advisory Committees are composed of individuals who represent a variety of natural resource sciences and occupations including soil, water, air, plants, wetlands, and wildlife.

To participate on the Committee, individuals or groups may submit to the NRCS State Conservationist a request that explains their interest and outlines their natural resource credentials.

Representatives on the committee may include:

• Natural Resources Conservation Service
• Farm Service Agency
• Forest Service
• Extension Service
• Farmers Home Administration
• Fish and Wildlife Service
• State departments and agencies, including:
  • State fish and wildlife agency
  • State forester or equivalent official
  • State water resources agency
  • State department of agriculture
  • State association of soil and water conservation districts
• Other agency personnel with expertise in soil, water, wetland, and wildlife management
• Agricultural producers with demonstrable conservation expertise
• Nonprofit organizations with demonstrable conservation expertise
• Persons knowledgeable about conservation techniques
• Agribusiness

Meetings

The Illinois State Technical Committee meetings are held on a quarterly basis at central locations throughout the state.

Chairperson

The Illinois State Technical Committee is chaired by the NRCS State Conservationist who can be contacted at the following address:

William Gradle, State Conservationist
USDA-NRCS
2118 W. Park Court
Champaign, Illinois 61821
Phone: 217- 353-6600
E-mail: bill.gradle@il.usda.gov

For More Information

If you need more information about the State Technical Committee or any other NRCS program, please contact your local USDA Service Center, listed in the telephone book under U.S. Department of Agriculture, or your local conservation district.

Information also is available on the World Wide Web at: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/farmbill/2002/

The following document is available in Adobe Acrobat Format
State Technical Committee Fact Sheet
StTechCom0706.pdf (PDF, 71 kb)