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scenic view of the Don Howard homestead, Washington (NRCS photo -- click to enlarge)NRCS This Week mast head

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Alaska

Alaska’s First Mobile Meat Processing Facility (NRCS photo -- click to enlarge)Alaska’s First Mobile Meat Processing Facility
Thanks to an NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant, locally raised meat from Sitkinak Island, Alaska, is now available to consumers in Kodiak.  Alaska’s first mobile meat processing facility will provide healthy, grass fed beef to consumers. “Knowing where your meat comes from and who is caring for the animals and processing them is important to me,” said part-owner Nathan Mudd who helps operate the facility.
 

 

California

NRCS in California is working with private groups and farmers to build up the numbers of pollinatorsNRCS Helping Build-Up Pollinators
In recent years, U.S. honeybee keepers have lost roughly 30 percent of the bees annually because of parasites, diseases, and colony collapse disorder.  This is bad news for farmers who count on honeybee pollination to help grow many fruit and vegetable crops.  Learn how NRCS in California is working with private groups and farmers to build up the numbers of  pollinators.
 

 
Nebraska

painting the gourd birhousesMakin’ Money Camp was Great!
Twenty-three 5th through 8th graders had a great time learning how to be successful entrepreneurs. They came from Creighton, Brunswick, Bloomfield, Elgin, Neligh, and Oakdale, Nebraska to take part in a two-day Makin’ Money Camp.
 

 

 

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eighty percent of the approximately 1,400 seed plants grown around the world require pollination by animals like the hummingbirdNational Pollinator Week
June 22-27, 2009, is National Pollinator Week when many activities are being held across the Nation to bring attention to the importance of pollination and the animals involved in sustaining the nation's ecosystems.  Many NRCS offices and partners are sponsoring or participating in these events.

 

 

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Ryan Flohr -- Nebraska Earth Team VolunsteerRyan Flohr -- Nebraska Earth Team Volunteer
Ryan Flohr is a School-to-Work student from Leyton High School who volunteers for NRCS three afternoons a week.  Ryan has Down’s Syndrome and as part of his development, he works every afternoon.

 

 

 

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cytisus scoparius (NRCS iamge by J. Petereson -- click to enlarge)The PLANTS Advanced Search Becomes More User-Friendly
The powerful PLANTS Advanced Search just got easier to use.  Users who visit the site can now access all of the PLANTS data with the Advanced Search link located at the top of the left navigation box on the PLANTS home page.

 

 

 

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Milton Whitney first Director of the USDA Division of Agricultural Soils (USDA image -- click to enlarge)Milton Whitney First Director of the USDA Division of Agricultural Soils
This circa turn of the 20th century photo depicts Milton Whitney first Director of the USDA Division of Agricultural Soils (USDA image -- click to enlarge).  In 1893, President Grover Cleveland asked Charles W. Dabney to be Assistant Secretary of Agriculture and charged him with creating a nonpartisan, professional scientific corps at the USDA -- the USDA Division of Agricultural Soils.  Dabney chose Milton Whitney to be its director.

NRCS This Week features a weekly historical photo and caption.  NHQ, districts, States, RC&D councils, and all other NRCS entities are invited to submit a historical photo of activities or individuals who have worked or are working for the agency along with a caption. 
 

 

 

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