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| Friday, October 8, 1999 Washington, DC |
Comments for Chief Reed can be sent via the "Feedback" hotlink on the NRCS homepage or by e-mail on chiefs.feedback@nrcs.usda.gov All messages are anonymous, direct, and unfiltered.
FOCUS ON THE FIELD
Account Aids NRCS Personnel, Partners Hit by Floyd - A special account has been opened at the Four Oaks Bank & Trust in Smithfield, North Carolina, to help NRCS and partnership employees who suffered property losses during Hurricane Floyd. Checks should be made payable to the "Partnership Emergency Relief Fund" and mailed to: Partnership Emergency Relief Fund, Attention: Betty Whitley, County Agriculture Building, 806 North Street, Smithfield, North Carolina 27577-9998. Her telephone number is (919) 934-7156, ext. 3. Her fax number is (919) 989-5475.
Top-Quality Precipitation Maps Now on PRISM Web Site - New, cartographic-quality mean annual precipitation maps are now available through the PRISM Spatial Climate web site developed by the National Cartography and Geospatial Center (NCGC). Produced in conjunction with Oregon State University's Spatial Climate Analysis Service, the site includes mean annual precipitation maps with overlaying roads, streams, and counties of the 48 contiguous States. Postscript files of the maps can also be downloaded for printing on local plotters; each State map measures 20 x 29 inches. A link allows GIS users to download ARC or GRASS digital files of gridded monthly or annual precipitation layers or ARC-format polygon (contour) files. The web site's address is: http://www.ftw.nrcs.usda.gov/prism/prism.html Your contact is Greg Johnson, Applied Climatologist, on (503) 414-3017. His e-mail address is gjohnson@wcc.nrcs.usda.gov
PBS "Trailside" Discovers Michigan - The "Trailside: Make Your Own Adventure" film crew flew directly from filming in Connecticut (see last week's "NRCS This Week") to explore Michigan. State Public Affairs Specialist Chris Coulon, Plant Materials Specialist Dave Burgdorf, and Engineer Frank Cousin accompanied Trailside's host Ray Browning, the Trailside host, on a two-day long horseback riding adventure along the Shore-to-Shore trail in the northwestern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. While the group rode four feisty horses along the trail, the NRCS folks enlightened Browning about the many wonderful conservation efforts taking place at sites along the trail. Look for this Emmy Award winning performance January on your local PBS station! Your contact is Christina Coulon, State Public Affairs Specialist, on (517) 337-6701x1218.
THE EARTH TEAM IN ACTION
Earth Team Connects to First Internet Volunteer - It's a global village, and Earth Team members can be recruited and live anywhere. And so it has happened with a Georgia-California connection. Jayne Ostrander, who lives in Redding, California, began as an Earth Team volunteer on July 1st as an online web page graphic consultant for Georgia's training program. Jayne acts as coach and provides technical assistance and advice all the way from the West Coast. Jayne logged 68 hours this past summer working one-on-one with Pat Hood-Greenberg, training coordinator and Acting State Public Affairs Specialist for Georgia. Long-distance volunteer services through the magic of the Internet. Who knows? International Internet volunteers could be next! Your contact is Pat Hood-Greenberg, 706-546-2069, pat@ga.nrcs.usda.gov
South Carolina Earth Teamers Stencil Storm Drains - With stencils and spray paint, Earth Team volunteers in Beaufort County remind people to not dump oil, litter, yard trash, and other debris into storm drains. The volunteers stencil "Don't Dump! Drains to River" on the drains. Led by 16-year-old Paula Randler, eight Earth Team members stenciled drains in the Laurel Bay military housing development. Stenciling is part of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) Water Watch Program, which encourages citizens to become stewards of lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands. Earth Team volunteers work through the Natural Resources Office for the Marine Corps Air Station. SCDHEC donated stencils, a local business donated paint, and the air station provided safety vests and cones. Your contact is Perdita Belk, State Public Affairs Specialist, on (803) 765-5402.
SWCS, Earth Team, Social Sciences Institute Together on Training Initiative - When the Social Sciences Institute (SSI) faced a major national project, they turned to the Earth Team volunteer program and Grand Valley State University's Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) chapter. The SWCS's current president, Rebecca Gannon, and past president, Ian Diffenderfer, both serve as Earth Team volunteers at the SSI's Grand Rapids, Michigan, office. They are working with SSI to create a training initiative that will soon be available to 30,000 local, State, and Federal employees and volunteers. Your contact is Barbara Wallace on 616-942-1503, or on e-mail at bwallace@po.nrcs.usda.gov
Alabama RC&D Starts Scholarship Program - Alabama's Gulf Coast Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council now has a scholarship program that encourages local students to earn degrees and work in agriculture, conservation, and environmental quality. Scholarship candidates complete questionnaires that require research about the history, purpose, and accomplishments of RC&D's. This year, two $1,000 scholarships were awarded. Funding comes to the RC&D through the efforts of State representatives and senators from Escambia, Mobile, and Baldwin counties. Your contact is Roland Perry, RC&D Coordinator, at 334-580-0195. His e-mail address is: rperry@al.nrcs.usda.gov
NRCS, Partners "Cross Borders" To Teach Teachers About Watershed - NRCS Texas recently partnered on "Project del Rio," which uses the concept of a watershed for the interdisciplinary studies of environmental issues that effect the Rio Grande River. A special workshop for teachers from the U.S. and Mexico teachers was held to strengthen the understanding of variables that affect water quality and make known the challenges of protecting the river's watershed. NRCS personnel from the Edinburg Field Office and the State Office provided training on non-point source pollution and water quality. The event has held in McAllen. Your contact is H. Harold Bryant, State Public Affairs Specialist, on (254) 742-9811.
NRCS, University of Nebraska Create Curriculum for Grazing Livestock Major - NRCS Nebraska and the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, have created a grazing livestock systems major that integrates animal science, agricultural economics, and forage and range management. The major includes traditional courses, seminars, and internships designed for individual students. Graduates will be prepared to manage ruminant livestock production operations, consult with and educate grazing land managers, work in the agriculture industry, or enter a graduate program in an associated field. Nebraska NRCS employees Steve Chick, Craig Derickson, and Kim Stine were all involved in the development of the new program. Your contact is Pat McGrane, State Public Affairs Specialist, on (402) 437-5328.
Restored Wetland Fit for University Farm - Landowners, students, and everybody else can see the benefits of wetlands and learn restoration techniques at a recently restored wetland at the University of Missouri's Southwest Center Research Farm. NRCS funded a water control structure and performed the engineering design; the MDC constructed an earthen berm; and the University performed seeding and mulching. The farm, located in the Spring River Watershed in Mount Vernon, had poor water quality and earlier this year was accepted into the Wetlands Reserve Program. Assisting with this project were Pat Hufford, NRCS District Conservationist; David Howard, NRCS Wetland Team Leader; Bill Goodwin, MDC Wetland Biologist; Mark Hutchings, MDC Biologist; and Dr. Richard Crawford, Jr., Southwest Center Superintendent. Your contact is Norm Klopfenstein, State Public Affairs Specialist, on (573) 876-0911.
WHAT'S UP IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
Click into Info About the Programs Deputy Area - Information about NRCS' Programs Deputy Area is now just a mouse click away. Among the offerings on the area's draft home page is concise and practical information about conservation operations, watersheds and wetlands, animal husbandry and clean water programs, Resource Conservation Community Development, and international programs. Check it out at: http://www.nhq.nrcs.usda.gov/PROGRAMS/cpindex.htm Comments are welcome.
TECH TIP
Seamless Digital Orthophoto Quadrangles Online - The NRCS, FSA, USGS, Forest Service, and State agencies have cooperated for several years in developing digital orthophoto quadrangles (DOQ) data of the Nation. A DOQ is a computer-generated image of an aerial photograph in which displacements caused by camera orientation and terrain are removed to make the image very accurate. Today, about 60 percent of the 216,000 DOQs needed to blanket the continental U.S. are complete and another 25 percent are in the works. See http://mapping.usgs.gov/www/ndop/ and http://www.ftw.nrcs.usda.gov/status_data.html for information and status maps.
The DOQ is beginning to replace the aerial photograph at county field service centers that have access to geographic information systems. The DOQ images are sent to NRCS State offices on CD-ROMs by the National Cartography and Geospatial Center (NCGC). Imagery files are large, a single black and white DOQ is about 60Mb. Complete DOQ coverage of the U.S. adds up to about eleven terabytes.
Faster, less-expensive computing, new data compression techniques, and more widespread use of CDs have helped users better manage their data, and quickly access land information from the DOQs. Although network connections and bandwidths are improving, accessing the DOQs over the Internet is constrained today.
Receiving DOQ data online in the future is a possibility as the NRCS and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are exploring ways to seamlessly serve DOQs online. This means users ultimately may extract any size of land area within a county at various resolutions. Several pilot servers of this technology are online: http://tull.mit.edu, http://silo.mit.edu, http://ortho.gis.iastate.edu, http://ortho.ftw.nrcs.usda.gov, and http://www.terraserver.microsoft.com/terra_usgs.asp. The MIT-NRCS effort is being coordinated with the proposed USDA Resources Data Gateway project (http://www2.nrcs.usda.gov/gateway/ ) and with the Federal Geographic Data Committee (http://www.fgdc.gov).
An online tutorial page has been set up by MIT at http://tull.mit.edu/orthoserver for early implementers of the seamless technologies.
Your contacts are George Rohaley, National Leader for Remote Sensing, on (301) 504-2268; e-mail to george.rohaley@usda.gov and Emil H. Horvath, Ph.D., Director, Natural Resources Inventory and Analysis Institute, on (817) 509-3221; e-mail ehorvath@ftw.nrcs.usda.gov
SPECIAL EVENTS
When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers therefore are the founder of human civilization
-- Daniel Webster
"NRCS THIS WEEK" WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU!
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
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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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