SC NRCS employees gathered in
Columbia, SC, on January 12, 2011,
for a training session and a day of
fellowship. |
Welcome to the South Carolina Natural Resources Conservation Service
(NRCS) website! South Carolina is the state of beautiful places and
smiling faces, and from the
mountains in the Upstate to the coastal regions of the Palmetto State,
conservation does make a difference in South Carolina! Agricultural,
urban and rural communities are striving to maintain a harmonious
balance among the soil, water, air, plants, animals and the people
that use these precious natural resources.
We invite you to explore our conservation programs and contact the
local USDA Service County in your area to learn more about the
assistance available to you. If you’d like to join our conservation
initiative by volunteering, click on the "Earth Team" link
to find out how you can help.
From the farm to the city…NRCS works hard to protect South
Carolina’s natural resources. Working together, we can make a
difference.
"Who We Are... Helping people help the land."
With the mission of “Helping People Help the Land,” the Natural
Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides products and services
that enable people to be good stewards of the Nation’s soil, water,
and related natural resources on non-Federal lands. With our help,
people are better able to conserve, maintain, or improve their
natural resources. As a result of our technical and financial
assistance, land managers and communities take a comprehensive
approach to the use and protection of natural resources in rural,
suburban, urban, and developing areas.
A Partnership Approach
Since the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s, NRCS has worked with
conservation districts and others throughout the U.S. to help
landowners, as well as Federal, State, Tribal, and local governments
and community groups.
NRCS has six mission goals: high quality, productive soils; clean
and abundant water; healthy plant and animal communities; clean air;
an adequate energy supply; and working farms and ranchlands. To
achieve these goals, the Agency implements these strategies: •
Cooperative conservation: seeking and promoting cooperative efforts
to achieve conservation goals. • Watershed approach: providing
information and assistance to encourage and enable locally-led,
watershed-scale conservation. • Market-based approach: facilitating
the growth of market-based opportunities that encourage the private
sector to invest in conservation on private lands.
Conservation Assistance
Our locally-based NRCS staff works directly with farmers,
ranchers, and others, to provide technical and financial
conservation assistance. Our guiding principles are service,
partnership, and technical excellence.
NRCS helps landowners develop conservation plans and provides
advice on the design, layout, construction, management, operation,
maintenance, and evaluation of the recommended, voluntary
conservation practices. NRCS activities include farmland protection,
upstream flood prevention, emergency watershed protection, urban
conservation, and local community projects designed to improve
social, economic, and environmental conditions.
NRCS conducts soil surveys, conservation needs assessments, and
the National Resources Inventory to provide a basis for resource
conservation planning activities and to provide an accurate
assessment of the condition of the Nation’s private lands.
As the leading source of technology as it applies to natural
resource conservation on private lands, NRCS develops technical
guides and other Web-based tools to help enhance natural resource
conservation efforts.
For More Information
Please contact NRCS at your local USDA Service Center, listed in
phone directories under U.S. Government, or visit our Web site at:
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov.
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