The NRCS Electronic Technical Guide

OLD: The Field Office Technical Guide (FOTG)

Technical guide is the traditional, paper-based reference tool used in offices of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to organize technical resources and activities for conservation. The technical guide is

Paper based: Each office maintains the technical guide in three-ring binders, adding and deleting material manually.

Localized: Contains scientifically proven and time tested NRCS conservation technology, approved by a State Technical Guide Committee (STGC) in each State.

Available in NRCS offices: A State’s technical guide can take up several shelves of office space, so NRCS offices maintain the guides and let partners photocopy the portions they need.
 

NEW: The electronic Field Office Technical Guide (eFOTG)

The electronic technical guide makes NRCS technical information available on the web. The electronic technical guide is

Paperless: Almost all material is on-line and updated instantly online.

Localized: State Technical Guide Committees still approve State-based content.

Available to everyone: No more going to NRCS offices to view technical guides. Farmers and ranchers, technical providers, students, and others can use the material on their home, school or office computers.

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov Click on “Technical Resources” navigation bar.

Provides access to other web-based resources: The technical guide has links to thousands of NRCS web pages and external sites.
 

USER Comments

“Overall it was really easy to use and move around in. I had no problems navigating. Quite a few interesting and helpful links.”
Soil Conservationist, California

“If you have not seen the new eFOTG web site you need to. Imagine every field office’s technical guide on the web! We just completed entering all our data on the eFOTG and it works like a charm.”
Resource Conservationist, Portland, Oregon

“The site was easy to access and easy to use.”
District Conservationist, DeFuniak Springs, Florida

"I don't know if we know it yet but I think this tool is going to do more for introducing the Pacific Basin to the rest of NRCS and USDA, dare I say the WORLD.”
Soil Conservationist, Pacific Basin Area

“The new electronic technical guide will definitely help our staff and me do our job faster and better. We no longer need to spend hours filing updates or making multiple copies of important documents to insure we can find them when we need to. When a farmer calls me asking about what a new technology for irrigation water management can do for him, I can direct him to our latest online technical information.”
District Conservationist, in Fort Collins, Colorado

“Coming from a person who has spent my first 15 years using the materials and my last 15 years as the state engineer trying to maintain the stuff I see, not only the value, but the enormous time savings at the state and field level.”
Agricultural Engineer, Little Rock, Arkansas


“With eFOTG, you don’t have to worry whether the field office has the latest information filed. The latest information is posted once, and that’s it.”
Management Analyst, Texas
 

Content

Section I - General Resource References

This section provides general state maps, descriptions of Major Land Resource Areas, watershed information, and links to NRCS reference manuals and handbooks. This information helps people understand the natural resources within the field office service area and helps them make decisions about resource use and management systems. It also provides references or electronic links to researchers, universities, and cooperating agencies, as well as conservation practice costs, agricultural laws and regulations, and computer-based tools used in resource analysis.

Section II – Natural Resource Information

This section contains information, data, and interpretations about soil, water, air, plant, and animal resources. This information includes soils information; climatic data; cultural resources information; threatened and endangered species lists; ecological site descriptions; and forage suitability group descriptions.

Section III - Resource Management Systems and Quality Criteria
Quality Criteria are used to establish treatment levels necessary to adequately address natural resource concerns and human considerations that help provide sustained and enhanced use of natural resources.
Section IV - Practice Standards and Specifications

Section IV contains the standards for each of the conservation practices adopted for use within a State. Practice standards establish the minimum level of acceptable quality for planning, designing, installing, operating, and maintaining conservation practices. Practice specifications establish the technical details and workmanship required to install a practice on specific sites and the quality and extent of the materials to be used.

Section V - Conservation Effects
This section provides background information on how the implementation of Conservation Practices affects each identified resource concern in the state.

Development

Publishing the technical guide electronically is one way in which NRCS is participating in the government-wide effort to make services and information available to the public electronically (eGovernment).

Ten States have been pilot testing their electronic technical guides since the beginning of June (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Texas).

NRCS offices in many States have already placed most or all of their technical guide content on the Internet as part of the electronic technical guides. Offices in other States have posted less content, but are working toward posting their remaining material.

Benefits

• Supports and benefits Farm Bill implementation and program delivery
• Provides framework for showcasing NRCS technology
• Provides multiple ways to quickly access and process technology information
• Reduces paperwork
• Provides a consistent and easy way for State committees to keep technical guides up-to-date and certified
• Provides field offices, farmers and ranchers, technical service providers, and others access to NRCS technology across States and field offices
• Maintaining web page links is streamlined and can be accomplished by technical specialists. Does not require State information technology staff commitment.
• Field offices save time by not having to file updates
• National template with available content is provided
• States can easily import content from other States
• System maintenance is centralized, reducing burden on States
• Technical service providers can access technical content without it being specially prepared for them
• States can more easily manage and track updates
• The framework accommodates and leverages existing state electronic technical guide content/sites