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| Friday, November 5, 1999 Washington, DC |
Cote Quoted on Holistic Herding in "Wall Street Journal" - Readers of the October 21 edition of the "Wall Street Journal" learned about a new technique for handling livestock on rangeland that is sweeping across the western U.S. Adding authority to that article on holistic herding, a low-stress way of handling cattle, was NRCS District Conservationist Steve Cote of Arco, Idaho. Steve, a much-sought-after trainer in the West, embraces this low-stress way of handling cattle to help area ranchers keep their cattle on public lands and increase returns. Cattle are not subjected to handling that makes them anxious. Good, low-stress handling prompts cattle to respond naturally and predictably. Cote and local ranchers have successfully used holistic herding to protect and enhance riparian areas and avoid overgrazing rangeland resources. Your contact is Sharon Norris, NRCS State Public Affairs Specialist, on (208) 378-5725.
Kentucky CORE4 Training A Stunning Success - NRCS Kentucky wins praises for its recent CORE4 Certified Crop Advisers (CCA) training. Many of the nearly 50 participants rate it tops among the CCA training sessions they have taken. The training specifically addresses the CORE4 practices of conservation tillage, nutrient management, pest management, and conservation buffers. A similar session has been requested for January 2000. Trainees included crop consultants, retail store employees, seed and fertilizer company sales representatives, Extension personnel, and NRCS employees. National CORE 4 materials for the training were purchased and provided by the State CCA Board. For more information, please contact David Stipes, State Agronomist, on (606) 224-7392.
Ribbon Cut at NRCS-Designed Water Quality Improvement Project - Rhode Island State Conservationist Joe DelVecchio joined Federal, State, and local officials at Curran Brook near Cumberland to celebrate an important new water quality improvement project, which is designed to improve water quality in a reservoir upstream from a 27-million gallon-a-day capacity water treatment plant. Improving water quality will allow reductions in the costs of processing water. NRCS, Northern Rhode Island Conservation District (NRICD), Pawtucket Water Supply Board, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency partnered on the project. The project took 2 years to complete and cost $260,000. NRCS supplied technical expertise and engineering services valued at $65,000. "NRCS' ability to provide a diverse range of technical assistance to private landowners for implementing on-the-ground conservation projects on private land is our greatest asset," said DelVecchio. "This is what sets us apart from other Federal agencies. This project is a shining example of what can be accomplished when NRCS partners with other environmental groups." Your contact is Nancy Wood on (401) 828-1300
AG, Nonpoint Source Workshop Draws Municipal Officials - The Lewiston, Maine, NRCS field office and the Androscoggin Valley Soil and Water Conservation District co-hosted a workshop titled "Agriculture and Nonpoint Source Issues for Municipal Officials." More than a dozen local Code Enforcement Officers heard presentations by NRCS, Cooperative Extension, and the State of Maine Board of Pesticide Control on the roles of NRCS and Districts, nutrient management, and pesticides. Dairy farmer Adrian Wadsworth spoke about agriculture and nonpoint source issues and led a field tour of best management practices on his farm. Contact Kay Nickel, District Conservationist on (207) 753-9400, or at kay.nickel@me.usda.gov
TECH TIP: Farmer Meetings and "Do-It-Yourself" Resource Assessment Tools
Do you need a locally led conservation or outreach activity? An easy-to-use soil quality assessment tool for farmers? Strong relationships among Districts, conservationists, Extension Service and farmers? If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, you should learn how to set up your own Soil Quality Card Design Team to develop a local Soil Quality Card. "Scorecards" are created by farmers at a facilitated meeting and are for their use in assessing soil quality. The cards are written in the farmers' own terms and reflect local conditions.
Step-by-step instructions are available in "Soil Quality Card Design Guide--A Guide To Develop Locally Adapted Conservation Tools," which is available through your State office or from the Soil Quality Institute (SQI) Web site at http://www.statlab.iastate.edu/survey/SQI/sqihome.shtml
Copies of the guide were shipped to State offices in mid-October. SQI recommends that you share a copy of the guide with local Conservation District and Resource Conservation and Development leaders, and with locally led conservation and outreach coordinators. The farmer meeting process described in the guide can be used for outreach and locally led conservation that support soil quality, resource health, and other issues. Nearly 50 NRCS employees and partners in eight States have been trained through the use of locally developed cards. Contact SQI through your State office to set up additional training.
The card design process was developed and field tested by SQI, NRCS field and State staffs, Extension specialists, and partners from Oregon State University and the University of Maryland.
The SQI has a small supply of the guide. The SQI's address is 2150 Pammel Drive, Ames, Iowa 50011, phone (515) 294-4592. Questions about the guide and training requests may be forwarded to Arlene Tugel at (505) 646-2660, or by email at atugel@nmsu.edu
HONORS AND ACCOLADES
Diane Gelburd Declared "Super Supervisor" By APDA - What does it take to be named a "Super Supervisor" by the Association for Persons with Disabilities in Agriculture (APDA)? You can start by following the lead of Dr. Diane Gelburd, Director of the NRCS' Ecological Sciences Division at National Headquarters.
The APDA recently saluted Dr. Gelburd for both hiring and accommodating a deaf employee. She located a highly qualified deaf employee whose field was biology, and reengineered a position to create an appropriate opening. After hiring the employee, she went out of her way to ensure full communications to achieve the deaf employee's full integration into the office environment. In an era when we still find some deaf employees isolated and not included in staff meetings or staff chitchat, she's taken the extra steps. She coordinated with USDA's TARGET Center and secured special adaptive technology. She is leading the staff in learning sign language so that she and they can communicate fully with the employee. She does the little things, like coming in and signing "good morning" and keeping the employee informed of what's happening in the division. She takes personal responsibility for making sure there is a sign-language interpreter at staff meetings. She also encourages his career development and participation in career-enhancing activities. Congratulations, Diane! You truly are a "super supervisor." For more information about the award and the APDA, contact the association's Vice President, Nathaniel Deutsch, on (202) 720-1883.
FWP Advisory Committee Takes Texas Civil Rights Award - What does it take to be named a "Super Supervisor" by the Association for Persons with Disabilities in Agriculture (APDA)? You can start by following the lead of Dr. Diane Gelburd, Director of the NRCS' Ecological Sciences Division at National Headquarters.
NOW IN PRINT
SARE Pub Features "How-To's" Of On-Farm Research - A new, no-cost, 12-page bulletin for farmers and ranchers, and the Extension educators who work with them, offers outlines on how to conduct research on farms. Published by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Program's Sustainable Agriculture Network, the bulletin contains practical tips for crop and livestock producers, as well as an in-depth comprehensive list of resources. Co-written by a team of research scientists, the bulletin features many SARE grant recipients. The publication is available at www.sare.org/san/htdocs/pubs/ or by calling (301) 504-6422. Ask for "Put Your Ideas to the Test: How to Conduct Research on Your Farm or Ranch." Your contact is Valerie Berton, SARE Communications Specialist, on (301) 405-3186
Dust Bowl Leads Magazine's List of Century's Worst U.S. Weather Events - The November-December issue of "Weatherwise" magazine rates the Dust Bowl as the Nation's worst weather event of the 20th Century. More than any other weather or climate event, says "Weatherwise," the 1930's drought shaped American society. The article cites how the Dust Bowl led to flight from the Plains to California that forced changes in farm policy and compounded the economic devastation of the Great Depression. Among the top 10 worst weather events were Hurricane Andrew in 1992, El Nino of 1997-98, and what "Weatherwise" called "perhaps the most underrated weather disaster of the century"--the great Mississippi River Valley Flood of 1927 that killed thousands of people and necessitated the evacuation of more than 1 million.
(Correction: Please note that the National Watershed Coalition Conference is scheduled for May 2001, not May 2000 as reported in last week's "NRCS This Week." The editor apologizes for any confusion or inconvenience this error caused.)
No race can prosper till it learns there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.
-- Booker T. Washington, African-American educator
Please send correspondence and material for "NRCS This Week" to the editor by: e-mail to: brad.fisher@usda.gov; or by fax to: Editor, "NRCS This Week," 202-720-1564; or by mail to: Editor, "NRCS This Week," NRCS, P.O. Box 2890, Washington, D.C. 20013
If you are not a NRCS employee, you can receive NRCSTW on an e-mail by contacting: listproc@nrcs.usda.gov (NHQ personnel should send their e-mail to: GW:"listproc@nrcs.usda.gov@i"). Do not use a subject line and put the following in the body of the message: subscribe NRCS-THIS-WEEK Firstname Lastname (example: subscribe NRCS-THIS-WEEK Eleanor Roosevelt). To get help with other commands that are available at the "listproc@nrcs.usda.gov" address, send a message with no subject and the word HELP on a line by itself in the body of the message. "NRCS This Week" will continue to be posted on the NRCS Homepage.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at 202-720-2600 (voice and TDD).
To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call 202-720-5964 (voice or TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
Addresses and telephone numbers for NRCS' Civil Rights Staff are: NRCS Civil Rights Program Compliance Division, 5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Mail Stop 5471, Beltsville, MD 20705-5471; phone: (301) 504-2287. NRCS Civil Rights Employment Division, 5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Mail Stop 5472, Beltsville, MD 20705-5472; phone: (301) 504-2181.
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