Cooperative Conservation; An Effort by All, for All

Grand Rapids, MI
September 14, 2004

Thank you, Gordon. It is a pleasure to be here today.

I wasn’t able to make it to your annual meeting last year in Colorado Springs, but my special assistant Dave Gagner addressed you on my behalf.

This spring, I was able to meet with your board, along with Ben Grumbles of the Environmental Protection Agency and Larry Payne of the Forest Service, to talk about various aspects of cooperation between State conservation agencies and our Federal agencies.

One important feature of the 2002 farm bill was that it asked NRCS to implement a system of national and local priorities for determining which contracts to approve under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. We had a great need to inform producers in all parts of the country about both the national priorities and their local priorities.

When Dave Gagner talked to you in Colorado Springs, he asked you on my behalf for your help in spreading the word about these priorities. Judging from the large number of applications we received in the following months, I would say that State agencies were very good at spreading the word. I thank you for your help.

The expectations created by the 2002 farm bill created a blizzard of applications for all of the Federal conservation programs – and a much greater need for matching funds and other funding from conservation partners, including the States.

Dave also asked for your help in developing new partnerships. Again, we have seen results, and I thank you for your help. States are continuing to develop the kinds of partnerships that make conservation possible.

I have been seeing first hand examples all around the country, particularly during August, when I traveled to a number of events marking the 50th anniversary of the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Program. Communities in many States have been rededicating dams that were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s and restored this year using combinations of Federal, State, and local funds. These partnerships make it possible for communities to restore these aging dams and protect their communities from floods.

Update on NASCA Coop Agreement

I know you all are interested in the status of the cooperative agreement between NRCS and NASCA. I’m happy to report that I have a copy with me ready to sign.

Record levels of conservation

As you know, the 2002 farm bill makes a record investment in conservation on America’s private lands – an increase of more than $17 billion over a ten-year period. That increase is making great things possible.

2003 Accomplishments

NRCS and the partners had many accomplishments in FY 2003.
• Providing conservation technical assistance.

• Completing plans for resource management systems on more than 17 million acres.

• Developing and applying more than 8,000 comprehensive nutrient management plans.

• Serving nearly 3.8 million customers around the country.

• Completing or updating soil survey mapping on 22.5 million acres.

• Gathering employee suggestions to streamline program delivery.

• Working toward implementing the President’s management initiatives.

For the second year in a row, our Earth Team volunteers contributed more than a million hours of their time.

Other accomplishments included:

• Allocating $2.4 billion to the States, including $155 million in year-end reallocations.

• Generating $30 million in savings.

• Reaching out to be sure every farmer and rancher knew about farm bill programs and had an opportunity to participate.

• Developing National and local priorities for conservation programs.

• Writing program rules based on thousands of comments from our conservation partners.


TSP Update

The farm bill actually created more conservation opportunities than NRCS could ever hope to capitalize on without outside help. We would have been tempted to hire hundreds or even thousands of additional employees to get the job done.

That’s why the bill included a provision calling for private sector Technical Service Providers. These providers work in communities in every State, providing landowners the help they need to plan and implement conservation practices, with NRCS providing the funds.

The Technical Service Provider process gives us another way– a better way – a way that is consistent with keeping government small and keeping functions that are available commercially from becoming part of the Federal government.

The Technical Service Provider process should actually strengthen the partnership between NRCS and conservation districts, States, agencies professional associations, Tribes, and others who will be providing the service. This is why we made adjustments to the rule last year to ensure that we would continue to build upon the partnership.

More than 3,200 potential Technical Service Providers have applied for certification through our TechReg site on the Internet. More than 1,900 of them have completed the certification process.

We also gathered data to allow the State NRCS offices to determine the not-to-exceed rate for each service in that State.

We posted these rates on the Web. Since then, we have completed work on new, adjusted rates based on the latest information.

We posted these new rates on the Web last week at www.tsp-nte.nrcs.usda.gov/. The TechReg site is a wonderful example of e-government at its best. Through it, we have a great tool that provided nearly $24 million in FY 03 and is expected to utilize over $40 million in FY04. A large swath of which will go to State partners that service providers can use to apply for certification, NRCS can use in the certification process, and producers can use to locate providers.

We will publish a final rule in the two weeks.

Conservation Security Program

We are also in the midst of implementing the Conservation Security Program CSP – probably the most exciting concept in the 2002 farm bill. CSP will change the way we do conservation with – a greater emphasis on conservation goals, rather than programs, and -- an increasing emphasis on local issues and local leadership.

CSP is a new approach. It recognizes conservation achievements on working farm and ranch lands by identifying and rewarding farmers and ranchers who are meeting high standards of conservation and environmental management on their operations.

CSP is a unique approach. No other Federal conservation program rewards agricultural producers for their overall conservation effort.

CSP will help producers maintain existing conservation stewardship and make additional environmental gains by implementing additional conservation measures. CSP will motivate producers to be better stewards. By recognizing producers who practice good stewardship and provide the environmental benefits that society expects, CSP provides strong incentives for producers to improve their stewardship sufficiently to fully participate in the program. In short, as Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman has said, “CSP will reward the best and motivate the rest.”

CSP Implementation

We published the interim final rule for CSP in June. That means we are both implementing the program and accepting public comments this summer. The due date for comments is September 20 that is being extended to October 5. We need your agency comments.

As of August 26, the Conservation Security program was up and running. We signed the first contracts in the 18 participating watersheds around the country. There are nearly 2,200 contracts in all. We were able to allocate the entire $41 million in CSP money for this year. And this year’s money will translate into nearly $400 million over the ten-year life of the contracts. And we were able to award contracts to every landowner in the 18 watersheds who qualified. But we expect it to be five times as big next year. And we are confident that watersheds in every State will participate -- hundreds of watersheds in all.

And there are things conservation partners in every State can be doing now to help their producers get ready to participate in CSP. CSP will soon be our largest working lands conservation program.

Wetlands Initiative

In addition to the work we are doing under the farm bill, President Bush has also challenged us to do more in the area of wetlands. On Earth Day, the President announced a new national goal for wetlands. He said, “Instead of just limiting our losses, we will expand the wetlands of America.” He said that over the next five years our nation will restore at least one million acres of new wetlands through incentive and partnership measures such as our own Wetland Reserve Program (WRP), improve the quality of a million acres of existing wetlands through expanded public-private efforts, and protect a million acres of wetlands by increasing grants for land protection programs. It is going to take a lot of work in every State and the active participation of State agencies to reach that goal. But, working together, I am sure we can do it.

Measuring

Last spring at the NASCA board meeting in Washington, I talked about how elected officials at both the Federal and State level are increasingly interested in how well we can measure the benefits of our conservation activities. Governments can no longer appropriate money for conservation based on faith. They need to see the benefit. NRCS and the Agricultural Research Service have started a five-year study to determine the conservation benefits of government conservation programs on agricultural lands. The study, called the Conservation Effects Assessment project, involves nationwide assessment of conservation benefits plus in-depth studies in 20 selected watersheds around the nation.

NRCS recently announced eight special emphasis watersheds to participate in the in-depth studies. These are in addition to 121 benchmark watersheds being studied by ARS. The ARS part of the study has been going on for some time.

Starting next year, CEAP will give us annual information on the effects of such practices as animal waste management for beef, swine, poultry, and dairy, surface and subsurface drainage, irrigation management, wildlife habitat management, riparian restoration, tillage management, fertilizer and pesticide management, and reservoir water quality. The data from these studies will be of great value to Federal agencies like NRCS and to State agencies like yours when it comes time to justify our budget requests.

Conclusion

You can see that there is a lot going on in conservation at the Federal level and many opportunities for the Federal and State agencies to work together to get even more conservation done on the ground. In closing, I would like to mention a recent Executive Order by President Bush calling for unprecedented closer cooperative conservation among Federal agencies. Cooperation and entrepreneurship – in the workplace, on the lands, and in our forests – lie at the heart of environmental progress. Some of the best conservation and environmental protections result when landowners and communities work together.

The President wants our Federal agencies to support this culture of responsibility and to respect private landowners by being good neighbors and good environmental partners. The order covers the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, and the Environmental Protection Agency. It calls on the three departments and EPA to work in ways that foster cooperative conservation, take into account the interests of landowners and accommodate local participation. The departments and EPA have to report to the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality each year on actions taken to implement this order. The order also calls for a White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation to be held within a year to get advice on how to conduct cooperative conservation. I’m sure the Federal conservation agencies and your State agencies will find this conference to be very productive.

One last point I want to make today is to repeat an offer I made at the board meeting this spring, and that is to remind you that information from NRCS is increasingly available electronically. I hope many of you will subscribe to our electronic publications. All you have to do is go to http://news-source.nrcs.usda.gov. I look forward to continuing and building on the longstanding relationship between the members of NASCA and NRCS.

Thank you.