Remarks by Bruce I. Knight, Chief, Natural Resources Conservation Service,
at the Sixth Annual American Indian Program Delivery Training Conference
Carlton, MN
June 10, 2003

Thank you, Crystal [Leonetti], for your kind words. Good morning, everyone. It is a pleasure to be here for the Sixth Annual American Indian Program Delivery Training Conference.

I want to recognize the Elder Council: Louie Dick, who provided us with the light to follow, Evans Spino, Leland Debe, Jerry Wolf, Norman Lopez, and Loretta Metoxen. Thank you for lending your collective wisdom to the American Indian / Alaska Native Employees Association over the last few years.

Thanks also to Noller Herbert, past president of the Association, for inviting me here today. And to Herb Webb for not canceling the invitation. Herb and I had the pleasure a couple of weeks ago of attending the NRCS Partnership Diversity Summit, which brought together the leaders of several major partner organizations: NACD, NARC&DC, NASCA, and NCDEA, along with the presidents of most of the NRCS employee organizations.

We had a productive session, discussing that we all need to do to increase the diversity of our leadership structures and improve our service to traditionally underserved populations. We will meet again next month to review an action plan for reaching these goals.

I am impressed that the American Indian / Alaska Native Employees Association for NRCS devotes its annual conference to Program Delivery. It is this customer focus that makes NRCS so strong around the country, and is doing so much to strengthen our relationships in native communities.


Civil Rights Policy Statement

I would like to begin today by talking a bit about the NRCS Civil Rights Policy Statement. Every employee should have received a copy of this policy last year.

In working with Andrew Johnson to formulate that statement – and in signing it – I came to a whole new appreciation of my role in the civil rights and equal employment opportunity programs here at NRCS.

Many of you may know that being Chief of NRCS is my first job with a government agency.

My life’s work has consisted of being a farmer and rancher, working on Congressional Staffs, and working for Commodity groups. Each of these stages in my life has had strong conservation aspects, but none of them really prepared me for civil rights leadership issues.

I stand behind every word in this statement – not because they are laws and policies, but because they are the right thing to do. I will work hard to make sure NRCS lives up to the commitment represented by this policy. As an agency, we need to live up to this policy with regard to our workforce. We need to match the diversity of our recruiting to the diversity of our nation. We also need to retain the diversity we already have, even as we face Competitive Sourcing and the upcoming loss of many of our older employees through retirement.


Competitive Sourcing

I know the concept of Competitive Sourcing has been very unsettling to many NRCS employees, particularly for employees whose jobs are being studied. But I want you to know that I value your contributions to this great agency, that we will make this effort fair and equitable, and that we will use all the tools at our disposal to ease the transition of any employees who wind up being affected by competitive sourcing.

There are a few things I would like you to keep in mind when you are thinking about Competitive Sourcing.

First, Competitive Sourcing is not a reflection on the quantity or quality of your service or your dedication to conservation.

Second, it is not directed at NRCS. It is a government-wide effort, to bring down the costs of government services – to provide value to the taxpayer.

Third, Competitive Sourcing is not an effort to get rid of government employees. There are no workforce reduction targets. If the government can do the work more efficiently, the work will stay in government. We think cost comparisons will be favorable in many cases. I am confident that much of this work will stay inside NRCS -- we do many things very well and very efficiently.

One possible bit of good new for Tribal NRCS employees, most of whom work in technical jobs, is that the government tends to be able to provide technical services more economically than the private sector. That means a good, solid comparison has a better chance of coming out in favor of the government retaining the function. We will need your help in making these comparisons.

Finally, I want to repeat my commitment to helping affected employees in every way possible. If any of our studies result in work moving out of the Federal government, we will do everything we can to retain affected employees within NRCS and to assist those people into the career options of their choice.


The Retirement Bulge

You have all heard about the so-called retirement bulge, when thousands of our employees become eligible to retire. Retirement is a natural phenomenon. All of us will eventually retire, the good Lord willing. But, as long as we enjoy our work and feel valued, we won’t rush into retirement.

The retirement bulge presents both a challenge and an opportunity with regard to workforce diversity. The challenge is to retain our colleagues who want to continue working, while opening the doors for the next generation of conservationists.

In plain English, we need to have good opportunities for advancement, good training, and a good work environment if we are to keep our younger employees from moving on. We must continually strive to do more to make NRCS a good place to work, so we retain and reward the employees we have.


Diversity in Customer Service

Our Civil Rights agenda does not stop with recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce. It must be embodied in how we serve our customers. We need to do more in terms of promoting program delivery among traditionally underserved populations, including American Indians and Alaska Natives.

You all know that the Department of Agriculture has historically had problems with delivering programs equally to all farmers and ranchers. Our job, yours and mine, is to change that!

We have a good foundation for improving our customer service in American Indian and Alaska Native communities. There are now 193 full or part-time NRCS Tribal Liaisons across the country. About 125 different Tribal Nations are now participating in NRCS programs. There are now 23 Tribal Conservation Districts, and 3 in the final stages of the approval process. (I want to thank the members of the Association for your help in forming these districts.) Currently there are more than 70 NRCS offices that serve or are located on Tribal lands.

Just as our conservation practices change the physical environment on a daily basis, we can change the service environment for our customers and improve the reputation of USDA. All of the agencies within the Department have been working hard to correct this situation, and NRCS is no exception.

The training courses developed by the National Employee Development Center help everyone who does conservation work with Tribes, including NRCS employees, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Forest Service, Conservation Districts, and other partners. I thank the members of the Association who serve as members of the trainer cadre for these courses.

But there is much that needs to be done.


Farm Bill Opportunities

The new farm bill makes more resources available to more farmers than ever before. It is important that we all work hard to extend the benefits of the new farm bill to everyone who is eligible. That means doubling our efforts to serve all kinds of farmers. It means reaching out to all communities, including American Indian and Alaska Native communities. It means being open, fair, courteous, and responsive to all farmers and ranchers.

USDA is being held increasingly responsible for delivering Agriculture programs to all citizens in this country, and that responsibility flows through agreements and contracts to everywhere Federal dollars are involved. NRCS and all of its partners must live up to this responsibility in everything we do, from meetings with landowners to delivery of services. That is what we talked about with our partner organizations last month.

Many of you are well positioned in your local communities to get our messages out to those who could benefit from our programs and services.


Technical Service Providers

The farm bill also provides for Technical Service Providers to assist landowners on a voluntary basis.

No one will be forced to use a Technical Service Provider. Our goal is to make the program attractive enough that Technical Service Providers are in demand and we NRCS employees won’t have to work nights and weekends to keep up.

We are making great progress working with Tribes on the Technical Service Provider process.

In Kansas, NRCS is in preliminary discussions with the Pottawatomie Tribe on a contribution agreement to hire a soil conservationist to provide additional technical assistance on Tribal lands. NRCS in Kansas is also working with the Kickapoo Tribe, exploring options through the Technical Service Provider process to design and install watershed structures to provide greatly needed flood protection for the Tribe.

The NRCS Northern Plains Region met with 84 individuals representing 14 Tribes to brief them on Tribal opportunities using Technical Service Providers. One specific topic involved using American Indian Colleges as a conduit for training Technical Service Providers.
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North Dakota NRCS held an orientation session with the Fort Berthold American Indian Reservation Tribal Council to explain the TSP process and farm bill opportunities.

Washington State NRCS has been contacted by the Quinault and Colville Tribes about opportunities. A meeting is planned for July to meet with them.

All across the nation, Tribes have expressed great interest in the Technical Service Provider process. As the process continues to unfold, we hope to be able to develop a close working relationship with many Tribes in addressing their resource concerns through the Technical Service Provider process.

One of the things you can do to help in the Technical Service Provider process is to talk up the program in the community, so that a wide diversity of third party vendors come forward to do the work. We must ensure that these are people farmers and ranchers will trust to give them quality service.


Technical Delivery System

Another key to success is for us to maintain the strength of our technical delivery system for farmers and ranches in every community.

One aspect of strengthening our technical delivery system is to be sure we focus on conservation and not on programs. Our goal is to help producers reach their conservation goals.

Frequently we are involved in helping producers set goals, or translate existing goals into plans. We help producers do good things for the land within the context of maintaining a strong economic operation.

With all the new farm bill money, there will be a temptation to focus on programs – numbers of applications received, numbers of contracts approved, numbers of acres treated. But this approach drifts away from our 70-year history of providing conservation assistance.

Focusing on conservation goals, rather than programs, is one aspect of improving our technical delivery system.


Conclusion

So, there are challenging times ahead for all of us. I know, because you are attending this week’s conference, that you have the dedication and the energy to help NRCS meet these challenges.

I wish you good luck and continued success.