USDA Unites wtih Partners to Improve Water Quality in Lake Champlain

From the USDA:

Posted by Jason Weller, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Chief, on January 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM

The Vergennes-Panton Water District along Lake Champlain in Vermont was able to upgrade the city's water treatment plant with support from USDA. The Department is working through several agencies to help improve water quality in the lake. USDA Photo by Bob Nichols.

In recent years, blue-green algae blooms have frequented Lake Champlain, impairing the lake’s water quality. Through a new partnership with USDA, nearly 20 organizations in the area will work together with farmers and ranchers to help improve water quality of the lake and reduce algae blooms.

The Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food & Markets and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources are uniting partners to engage and support farmers and forest landowners who use voluntary conservation practices that lead to cleaner water. Called the “Accelerated Implementation of Agricultural and Forestry Conservation Practices in the Lake Champlain Watershed of Vermont and New York,” this project will provide outreach to farmers throughout the watershed and help connect them with innovative conservation solutions for their land.

Last week, I visited this natural treasure and met with the local partners who are making this effort possible. Lake Champlain provides habitat for more than 300 bird species and 80 fish species, holds 6.8 trillion gallons of water, and provides drinking water for more than 200,000 people. The lake provides critical habitat as well as serves as an economic driver from recreation.

But a high level of nutrients, like phosphorous, has jeopardized the lake’s health. Agriculture is one contributor of phosphorous, and this project will enable farmers and forest landowners to take proactive steps to reduce or prevent runoff of phosphorous.

Lake Champlain is the sixth largest body of fresh water in the United States, topped in size only by the five Great Lakes. It contains 6.8 trillion gallons of water and is a drinking water source for nearly 200,000 people. Water quality is the lake is negatively impacted by phosphorus pollution.

Studies show that most of the phosphorous entering the lake comes from a relatively small footprint of land. Together, these local partners working with USDA, will target resources to areas most in need, what we call critical source areas, such as steep lands and lands prone to flooding. This project will target outreach and implementation of conservation practices to those areas.

This project is one of more than 100 unveiled last week as part of the first cadre of projects funded by the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). Created by the 2014 Farm Bill, RCPP is a partner-driven, locally-led approach to conservation. It offers new opportunities for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to harness innovation, welcome new partners to the conservation mission, and demonstrate the value and efficacy of voluntary, private lands conservation to a national audience.

With RCPP, partners are in the driver’s seat with technical and financial help from NRCS.

RCPP empowers local organizations and communities to demonstrate the importance of locally-led action and benefit from strong public-private partnerships in delivering solutions to natural resource challenges.

RCPP also attracts additional resources and allows for the expansion of private lands conservation efforts.  In this round of projects, the agency is providing more than $370 million to 100-plus projects in all 50 states and leveraging at least $400 million in partner contributions.

In Vermont, NRCS plans to invest $16 million in the project, and the partners will match with $20.5 million in contributions, including funding and technical assistance.

The heart of RCPP is about empowering local organizations to design and deliver solutions that benefit natural resources where they live and work. This project in Vermont and New York brings together a variety of partners from the local and state levels, including soil and water conservation districts, agricultural associations, government agencies and non-profit organizations. We’re proud of the leadership these local organizations are providing to execute this program, and we look forward to the benefits to come.

Working together, we can ensure we have a cleaner, healthier Lake Champlain for future generations.

NRCS Chief Jason Weller (at podium) joined leaders and partners from Vermont and New York to announce a new project that will work to improve water quality in Lake Champlain. USDA Photo.

Decrease Wildfire Risks by Choosing the Right Plants

From the USDA:

Posted by Ciji Taylor, Natural Resources Conservation Service, on November 21, 2014 at 11:04 AM

A grass fire burns across eastern Washington.

Land begins to recover one year after emergency reseeding following the Los Alamos fires in New Mexico. Some of the species planted for erosion control and habitat improvement were prairie junegrass, slender wheatgrass, mountain brome, three awn, gambel's oak and mountain mahogany.

Traveling at speeds up to 14 mph, wildfires can quickly ravish landscapes and homesteads. Experts with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, (NRCS) are studying what plants can slow fire rather than fuel it. 

NRCS’ Plant Materials Centers evaluate and study plants, including those that can reduce fire damage or losses, helping keep people, property and natural resources safe. These centers, located across the United States, can provide information on the type plant best suited for an area given factors such as geography and climate.

“All plants burn, but using the right management and plant materials gives you a better chance of lessening damage,” said Jim Jacobs, NRCS plant materials specialist for Montana and Wyoming. 

“Weather, topography and fuels dictate fire behavior,” Jacobs said. “A landowner can only control the type and amount of plant fuels, so the focus should be on managing what you can manage.” 

A perimeter or firebreak of about 30 feet should be created around homes and other buildings. This area can be created by planting low-stature grasses or perennial herbaceous plants and shrubs. Plants in the 30-foot area should be kept green, since green plants don’t burn as hot and can buffer buildings from the heat’s intensity. Plant maintenance is an important preventive step.  Pruning trees and shrubs, mowing, and keeping dead material out of the perimeter will decrease fuel load around structures. 

If planting trees, they should be planted far enough away that their canopy doesn’t grow within 10 feet of a building. Trees that hold more moisture are better than trees containing resin, such as pines, because they won’t burn as fast or as hot. Trees can also help block heat, slow wind and intercept embers, which are the main causes of structural fires and costliest part of wildfires.

In shelterbelts and wind breaks, farmers and ranchers should work to reduce what’s known as ladder fuels or plants that enable fire to climb from the ground into canopies. Keeping fires out of tree canopies helps reduce the number of embers in the air.

“Wildfires race across fields, so farmers and ranchers don’t have time to react,” Jacobs said. “At that point, it’s left to the preparation and management of your plant materials to help protect you and your structures.”

On wild lands, low- and moderate-intensity ground fires actually help forests by rejuvenating understory growth. But high-intensity fires can kill the entire plant leaving the soil bare, which increases the chances of erosion and flash flooding. In order to stabilize the soil and provide food and shelter for wildlife, landowners should reseed with grasses that establish quickly.

The Plant Materials Center in Aberdeen, Idaho is supporting post-fire reseeding management by providing foundation seeds to the commercial seed industry. These foundation seeds come from plants that are evaluated to ensure establishment and performance under specific conditions, such as post fire. 

“Firefighters aren’t our only defense to fires. Simply by using the right plants and management, we’re dispatching another type of preventive firefighter,” Jacobs said. 

Several guides and resources on planning homes and landscapes are available on the NRCS website and your local NRCS field office.

The Modern Farmer and USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Elisa O'Halloran, National Webmaster, Natural Resources Conservation Service, on March 31, 2014 at 11:00 AM

The Get Started page is a new addition to the NRCS website, and it provides the steps to assistance.

For generations, children have been singing about the farmer, his wife and kids, and even the mouse and the cheese. But today, a modern farmer is more likely to be using the mouse on his computer (or more realistically, a smartphone or tablet) than dancing around a small wooded valley with his family and farm animals.

The website of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, nrcs.usda.gov, has been evolving to keep pace with the needs of today’s farmer. Our mission is to provide American farmers, ranchers and other visitors with the tools and resources they are looking for on a site that is easy to use and navigate.

The most effective websites combine clear and readable text, usability, functionality and simple navigation. We write the text for targeted audiences, which for us includes farmers and ranchers as well as people who use our online tools, such as Web Soil Survey, PLANTS database and COMET-Farm^TM.

Recently, we created a new Get Started with NRCS page. This new webpage helps farmers, ranchers and forest landowners learn how they can make improvements to their land with conservation.

This webpage provides the five steps to getting assistance from NRCS, so that farmers, ranchers and forest landowners can know about the process of applying for assistance from the comfort of their own home, barn, tractor or wherever else they hop online.

Also, we want to point you to our revamped About NRCS and Drought Resources pages as well as our newly created Resources for Small Farms page. About NRCS provides an overview of what NRCS offers, including those popular tools that bring many visitors to our website.

Drought Resources houses information on assistance and resources that can help farmers and ranchers be more resilient to drought. And finally, the Resources for Small Farms page pulls together information and resources that may be of interest to owners and managers of smaller farms, such as information on organics and seasonal high tunnels.

We use a number of tools to help us create these pages, including site traffic and customer experience information. We’ve found that more than 61 percent of people coming to our website were new visitors, many of whom were farmers, ranchers and forest landowners looking for information on conservation programs.

We have about 13,000 visits per day on the NRCS website, and some of our most popular pages deal with soils, Web Soil Survey and Farm Bill.

We hope you enjoy these new and revamped pages, and we welcome feedback on how we can improve our “digital” service center. We’re excited to have the opportunity to help you get started with NRCS!

Secretary's Column: A New Report Shows the Critical Benefits of Farm Bill Conservation

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, on December 6, 2013 at 12:00 PM

America’s farmers, ranchers and landowners have led the way in recent years to conserve and protect our soil, water and wildlife habitat.

With the help of Farm Bill programs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has worked with a record number of producers since 2009 – more than 500,000 of them – to get this important work done.

Ever since the Dust Bowl, we’ve known that investments in conservation on working lands and other wild areas is important. And this week, a new report amplified our understanding for the critical importance of the Farm Bill in protecting natural resources in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

The report showed that over the past seven years, conservation efforts have reduced the amount of nitrogen leaving fields by 48.6 million pounds each year – about 26 percent – and reducing phosphorus by 7.1 million pounds, or 46 percent.

These conservation practices are also preventing soil erosion, helping to ensure that our farm fields across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed remain vibrant and productive in the years to come. Conservation practices have lowered the estimated amount of eroded soil by about 15.1 million tons every year, or 60 percent. Put another way, that’s enough soil to fill about 150,000 railcars.

In addition to ensuring healthy cropland and clean water, these programs strengthen wildlife habitat that boosts outdoor recreation. From hunting and fishing, to camping and hiking, outdoor recreation adds more than $640 billion in benefits to our economy each year.

The Chesapeake Bay watershed initiative is just one of many landscape-scale initiatives undertaken by USDA in recent years. From the Mississippi River Basin to the Ogallala Aquifer, USDA has worked with producers to enroll millions of acres in targeted landscape initiatives – and today’s report once again highlights the positive impact this work can have across the nation.

From clean soil to healthier water, the benefits of conservation impact every American – and they’re one reason why USDA is pressing Congress this fall to provide a comprehensive, multiyear Food, Farm and Jobs Bill that continues our record conservation efforts.

A new Farm Bill would continue targeted conservation efforts on working lands that ensure soil quality, water quality, erosion control, forest restoration, and wildlife habitat.  It would continue major working land programs such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and Conservation Stewardship Program, through which USDA has provided more than 190,000 landowner contracts since 2009, as well as the Conservation Reserve Program under which we have held a signup each year during this Administration.

A new Farm Bill would also ensure that tens of millions of acres remain in conservation practices by linking crop insurance compliance to conservation program participation.

Across the nation, our farmers, ranchers and landowners are stepping up to protect our natural resources. They deserve our support – and the most important thing that can happen today is for Congress to achieve passage of a new Food, Farm and Jobs Bill that stands by producers and continues our long legacy of conservation.

USDA Celebrates Soil's Importance on its Special Day

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Terry Bish, Acting Director, Public Affairs, Natural Resources Conservation Service, on December 5, 2013 at 3:15 PM

In this photo from the 2009 Society for Range Management (SRM) Award tour, Soil Quality Specialist, Rick Bednarek, formerly of SD, explained the darkness of the soil was due to the organic matter which is the key indicator of the health of soil.

Too often, it’s treated like dirt. But this week our living and life-giving soil is finally getting some of the respect it deserves today, for World Soils Day.

While soil may not enjoy the media attention of Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s, it can be argued that it shares importance with all three. Where would we be without soil?

This amazing resource is responsible for nearly all life on the planet. Naturalist Aldo Leopold describes soil perfectly, saying: “Land is not merely soil, it is a fountain of energy flowing through a circuit of soils, plants and animals.”

Understandably, it’s easy to take soil for granted because it’s mostly hidden from view — and few who live off the farm have reason to give it a second thought. Fortunately, scientists, conservationists and farmers are increasingly recognizing that keeping our soil healthy and functioning is the key to our survival.

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and its conservation partners are working directly with private landowners to improve the health of the soil on our working lands. And by improving the health of the soil, we are also improving the health and vitality of our farms, families and communities.

This renewed focus on the health of our soil has created an exciting new revolution in American agriculture as farmers, ranchers and other landowners are increasingly making their land more productive and sustainable through soil health management systems.

Although all farming operations are different, most all can benefit from:

• keeping the soil covered as much as possible;
• disturbing the soil as little as possible;
• keeping plants growing throughout the year to feed the soil; and
• diversifying plants as much as possible using crop rotation and cover crops.

By improving soil health can harvest benefits on and off the farm including increasing farmland sustainability and resilience, improving water and air quality, providing wildlife habitat and reducing flooding.

This work ensures healthy soil will be plentiful for future generations.

World Soil Day serves as a reminder to all of us that we owe our existence to the soil. President Franklin Roosevelt says it best: “The nation that destroys the soil destroys itself.”

In naming Dec. 5 World Soil Day and 2015 as International Year of Soils, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations aimed to focus attention on something we see, touch, walk on and depend on every day – and should never take for granted.

As we face mounting global production, climate and sustainability challenges, I believe there is no better time to work hand-in-hand with farmers and ranchers to improve the health of this critical living resource.

For more information on soil, visit NRCS’ soil health awareness campaign, “Unlock the Secrets in the Soil.”

The South Dakota Legislature made Houdek (pronounced hoo-deck) the official State Soil in 1990. South Dakota has over 650 different soils.

USDA Updates Multi-year Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Dean Johnson, USDA Facilities Energy & Water Program Manager, on December 5, 2013 at 10:00 AM

Many of the USDA programs touch almost every American, every day.  And as concerns grow about climate change, greenhouse gases and depleting natural resources, USDA continues creating opportunities for farmers, ranchers, forest landowners, public land managers and families in rural communities. These opportunities help these stakeholders generate prosperity in innovative, sustainable ways while conserving the Nation’s natural resources and preventing pollution.

USDA is committed to leading by example through fostering a clean energy economy, improving the environment by conducting operations in a sustainable and environmentally responsible manner and complying with environmental laws and regulations. To accomplish this, USDA focuses on the future. The Department recognizes the significance of global climate change and utilizes this knowledge to create and maintain conditions under which people and nature can exist in productive harmony.

Building upon past sustainability efforts, USDA released its 2013 Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan, which aligns sustainability goals, greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, and overarching objectives for sustainability with its Strategic Plan. The Sustainability Plan helps USDA meet the targets the President set for agencies in 2009 for reducing energy use, pollution and waste in agency operations, and saving taxpayer dollars as a result.

Moreover, the Sustainability Plan integrates all statutory and policy requirements into a single implementation framework for advancing sustainability goals together with existing Departmental goals. The Plan makes the best use of existing and available resources. It also includes methods for obtaining data needed to measure progress, evaluate results and improve performance. The Department’s 2013 Plan is an annual update to its first edition, which was developed in June 2010.

Specifically, the Sustainability Plan provides a review of past performance, addresses challenges to achieving sustainability, discusses lessons learned and outlines actions planned beyond 2013.  So far, USDA has accomplished the following:

• Purchased and generated enough green power to meet 7.3 percent of the Department’s 2012 electricity use.

• 17.9 percent reduction in indirect greenhouse gas emissions compared to the 2008 base year.

• 5.5 percent reduction in direct greenhouse gas emissions compared to the 2008 base year.

• 21.3 percent reduction in energy intensity compared to the 2003 base year.

• 11.4 percent of buildings meet the Guiding Principles for Federal High Performance and Sustainable Buildings.

• 836.9 percent increase in alternative fuel consumption (for fleet vehicles) compared to the 2005 base year.

• 75 percent of the applicable (also known as covered) light duty vehicles USDA acquired are alternative fuel type.

• 12.6 percent reduction in potable water use compared to the 2007 base year.

More information about USDA’s 2013 Strategic Sustainability Plan is at http://www.dm.usda.gov/emd/sspp.htm.

Mimic Nature to Harvest Benefits of Healthy Soil, Expert Says

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Michelle Banks, Natural Resources Conservation Service, on December 3, 2013 at 2:00 PM

NRCS joins others to celebrate World Soil Day on Dec. 5.

In the minds of many, a freshly tilled field is picturesque – clean and ready for the next planting. But according to a soil health expert, what looks good to the eye, isn’t always good for the soil – or a farmer’s bottom line.

Thursday, on World Soil Day, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is celebrating the importance of healthy soils and sharing how farmers and ranchers can help care for it through conservation practices like no-till.

When soil is heavily tilled, the stalks from the previous crop are chopped, and the top several inches of soil structure are disturbed. Conventional thought suggests this fluffing action allows for better seed placement, but Ray Archuleta, NRCS conservation agronomist, said that no-till systems, especially when combined with cover crops, are better – and lead to healthier, more drought-resistant soil.

Archuleta, who works at the agency’s East National Technology Center in Greensboro, N.C., said no-till has significant financial benefits for producers, too.

“No-tillage can save thousands of dollars every year in fuel, labor and equipment maintenance,” Archuleta said.  “The key is to let the soil organisms do the work.”

Tennessee grain farmer Bartt McCormack has refrained from tilling — instead using no-till planting — for more than 35 years.  He knows first-hand why no-till with cover crops has created a favorable soil ecosystem. They’ve had a positive impact on his bottom line, he said.

“We’re a 90-95 percent no-till operation,” he said. “When you start pulling iron over 6,000 acres, it takes a lot of labor and a lot of fuel.”

McCormack grew up using tillage on the family farm, but after enrolling in NRCS programs, the farm began implementing no-till on more and more acres.

But McCormack cautions there is a process in transitioning to a no-till operation. He advises that farmers have to re-tool and change management practices on herbicides and rotations, but most importantly, they need to have an open mind at the possibilities that no-till with cover crops can bring.

“It’s not like changing a pair of pants,” he said.

McCormack has seen a boost in yields since he made the transition to no-till. “I’ve seen a 60 bushel difference in yield,” he said. “That’s a tremendous amount.”

On fields where he also planted cover crops, McCormack said his yields were event better. “Looking back, plowing up my fields was reducing my yields.”

Like a growing number of farmers across the nation, McCormack is sold on the benefits of improving soil health. He plans to continue experimenting with different varieties and combinations of cover crops, including planting multiple species on nearly all of his 6,000 no-till acres this fall.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has designated Thursday, Dec. 5 as World Soil Day.  To find out more about soil health click here.

Bartt McCormack uses cover crops and no-till to improve yields on his Tennessee farm.

USDA Researchers Working Together to Conserve Our Nation's Resources

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Tara T. Weaver-Missick, Chief, Information Products and Services Branch, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Information Staff, on September 11, 2013 at 1:30 PM

USDA researchers are working together to protect and conserve our beautiful nation and all of its majestic natural resources for generations to come.  As part of USDA’s Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP), more than 60 USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are working together to gain a better understanding of the role that agricultural conservation programs and practices play in achieving our nation’s environmental objectives of clean air and water, healthy soils and flourishing natural habitats.

USDA began the CEAP program in 2003 to study the environmental benefits of conservation practices implemented through 2002 Farm Bill programs.  As part of CEAP, ARS scientists are evaluating 14 watersheds across 12 ARS locations to provide the additional scientific basis for the CEAP National Assessment being led by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.  Those watersheds were selected in part to address specific concerns, like manure management on animal feeding operations, water use on irrigated cropland, drainage water management, wildlife habitat and riparian restoration. These watershed studies also should help develop performance measures for estimating soil, water and air quality, and perhaps other potential benefits for specific conservation practices.

ARS scientists have developed Web-based tools, databases and models to help farmers, ranchers, land managers, policy makers, other Federal agencies and experts more easily manage and evaluate information that can help them make more informed environmentally- and economically-based decisions that support our nation’s conservation efforts.

As a further extension of ARS’ conservation research efforts, in September 2012, ARS established the Long-Term Agro-ecosystem Research (LTAR) network, which includes 10 ARS sites and builds on existing ARS experimental watersheds—including  several that also contribute to the CEAP watersheds and rangelands efforts nationwide. The LTAR network addresses large-scale, multi-year research, environmental management and technology transfer related to the nation’s agricultural ecosystems in an assortment of different environments, at regional-to-continental scales.

What we do and how we do it has a lasting impact on our wildlife and their habitats, our water, land, air, and ultimately our planet’s health as a whole.  Information gleaned from programs like CEAP and LTAR will provide a stronger knowledge base on the true effects that agricultural, environmental and other practices have on our nation’s natural resources—helping us all to be better stewards and protectors of our world.

For a list and description of the watersheds in this study visit: http://www.ars.usda.gov/Research/docs.htm?docid=18645

For more information about USDA’s CEAP program visit: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/technical/nra/ceap/

For more information about the LTAR network visit: http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/programs/programs.htm?np_code=211&docid=22480