Achieving Excellence in Conservation

Remarks by Bruce I. Knight, Chief,
Natural Resources Conservation Service, at
National Programs/Operations Management Workshop

Salt Lake City, Utah
August 22, 2005

Good afternoon and welcome to the National Programs/Operations Management Workshop.

I am glad to see all of you here.

Tom and Kathy and their staffs have prepared a full agenda to help you increase your understanding of our programs and business tools and build your management skills.

This is particularly important since a number of folks have changed jobs over the past several years. We’ve also had a number of changes in our responsibilities—new programs, program changes, greater performance expectations and vigorous accountability demands.

It’s been said that “Change is a part of every life and that resisting change is often as futile as it is frustrating.” I expect more than a few of us have been frustrated at one time or another by resisting the dramatic changes we’ve experienced in NRCS.

But I want to make one thing clear. What hasn’t changed—and what won’t change—is our commitment to cooperative conservation on private working lands.

This year NRCS is celebrating its 70th anniversary. We’ve been a partner in conservation since 1935. That’s seven decades of helping people help the land.

Your Role at NRCS

Each of you is here because you hold a critical position within NRCS, and your work is vital to the success of our agency. We’ve all been facing challenges and changes over the past several years, and I want to thank you for your hard work and dedication. You support our field staff and serve as a bridge between program and operations policy and development at headquarters and implementation at the local level.

We’re also holding this joint workshop because it’s essential that our workload managers and our program managers understand each other’s roles so they can work together effectively. To put it bluntly, in any organization, it is very tempting to self-sort ourselves into us and they…If those guys in management just…fill in the blank. Well folks, if you are here, you are they!

As we move into Fiscal Year 2006, having a common understanding will benefit us all. Your jobs have changed significantly since the 2002 farm bill was signed, and we need to smooth the way to help us all be more transparent and efficient.

Changes for NRCS

NRCS is doing business differently today. The good news is Congress has authorized more than $17 billion in conservation funding through the 2002 farm bill.

For years we fantasized about having more money. Now we have it—and the workload to go with it and the growing pains to go with it!

We have to find new ways to work—more efficiently, but just as effectively. We can’t go one-on-one with every customer. We’ll need to find other strategies—the Internet, third parties, such as Technical Service Providers, and more partnerships. We’re all being stretched, and we need to be creative to be effective.

We need to be aware that a few hundred thousand farmers control the vast majority of the land in the U.S. They need information rapidly.

At the same time, as a federal agency, we need to make our programs available to everyone. We need to reach out to landowners who may not have participated in our programs before—small and limited resource farmers, Tribes, hobby farmers, absentee landowners—as well as those farmers who’ve been our traditional customers.

We can’t have a large farm or a small farm bias. But we can have different marketing strategies for different customers.

We need fair and unbiased allocation formulas. We need ranking tools based on natural resources that are efficient and consistent with program rules.

Today we have more financial assistance dollars. More programs. More complexity… and more scrutiny.

It’s critical to manage our workload—we can’t have all the deadlines in August and September. We got our program dollars earlier this year; we need to get the money moving toward farmers and ranchers as early as possible so they can put the conservation on the ground.

We need to avoid making all our EQIP decisions in June when the crops are in the ground.

We need to be mindful of the seasons in this in administering our programs.

We also need to coordinate our workloads for CRP with FSA and our technology needs with ITS.

High Expectations

Expectations for NRCS and conservation are high, and in turn, outside scrutiny has never been higher. We need to produce measurable results. We need to demonstrate that we can get the job done.

That may mean taking some risks. And we may make some mistakes.

I want you to know that I will defend those who take risks—those who step forward and act on the best information available using sound decisionmaking and sensible rationale.

What I cannot defend is indecision and inaction. That’s not an option in the current climate. We need to move ahead to get conservation on the ground.

We need to fully realize the investment of the 2002 farm bill. That’s what’s important.

For example, we’re going to be asked what we’ve done to improve water quality

• in the Chesapeake Bay,
• the Columbia Basin,
• the Mississippi Basin
• and the Klamath Basin.

Producers who operate regulated CAFOs face a 2006 deadline for Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans. If anyone misses that deadline, NRCS is going to hear about it!

What Really Counts

There a several areas in particular that I think are subject to close review. I believe that both our programs and our delivery of those programs are being judged by:

• how effective we are in getting farmers paid for the conservation they accomplish,
• how transparent and efficient we are,
• whether our funding allocations are based on natural resource needs, and
• whether we are reaching out to make programs available to everyone.

As we do our jobs, we need to bear these criteria in mind.

We want to not only DO a good job, but also have our partners, Congress, OMB and the taxpayers acknowledge that we’re good stewards and responsible public servants.

2005 National Priorities

In 2005, we’ve focused on four national priorities:

1. Streamlining and implementing conservation programs
2. Implementing the President’s management initiatives

• Strategic management of human capital
• Competitive sourcing
• Improved financial performance
• Expanding eGovernment, and
• Budget and program integration.

3. Increasing outreach activities and workforce diversity
4. Enabling conservation delivery by modernization and expansion of technical capacity

Conservation First

The environment in which we live in 2005 requires us as conservationists to manage programs and workloads, based on the priorities we’ve established. But there’s no question we are conservationists first and foremost.

Our first step is to assess the resource needs—in a county or a watershed. Then we can determine what course to pursue to best meet those needs.

We need to be conservation-driven and program-fueled!

We need to obligate the money—and the timeframe may be short—we’re working on that.

But as we make allocation decisions, we need to focus on the natural resource priorities.

Are we buying the best conservation? Are we developing conservation plans that meet the producer’s needs and expectations?

I don’t want to see any marginal contracts or easements—those that fit the minimum program parameters but don’t represent the highest and best use of the funds entrusted to us. Our goal is always to write contracts or easements that purchase the best possible conservation for the taxpayer’s money. Don’t be afraid to say no to low quality contracts to maximize our national effort.

Once the contracts are in place, we need to follow through to see that we get practices implemented and farmers paid.

Managing NRCS programs and workload isn’t simple today. Technical skills alone are no longer sufficient. We have to add leadership and management skills and capability with business tools to get conservation on the ground and be accountable for results.

Some years ago, people used to say if you couldn’t do anything else, you could be a farmer.

We know that was never true, and it’s certainly not true today. If you aren’t a good manager, you won’t be a farmer for long.

Just as farmers need business and management skills, so do we. And this meeting will give you an opportunity to learn more about changing roles and expectations.

Using Business Tools

Over the past several years, we’ve rolled out a number of new business tools. These tools are designed to help you with your planning and analysis as well as with organizing data so we can more readily account for how we’ve spent the taxpayers’ money.

We won’t be introducing any major new tools in 2006, with the exception of piloting our cost-share program application evaluation and ranking tool. Instead we will focus on refining the tools we have—to make them easier to use and more dependable. We still have a lot to do to get our supporting IT infrastructure “hardened” and our automated tools such as Toolkit, ProTracts, PRS and others operating to expectations.

At this meeting, you’ll have a chance to delve into how these tools can help you manage your workload when you work in a small group to produce a performance plan and a business plan. These tools will reach their full potential when you use them to manage your portfolio.

We’re going to be working with you to help you become more efficient. We want to help you plan work, monitor progress and evaluate results.

Program Changes and Accomplishments

I want to touch just briefly on some of the changes and accomplishments in our programs.

FRPP—we have a draft Interim Final rule for the Farm and Ranchlands Protection Program—it will be ready for public comment soon. We held an easement programs workshop; we’ve updated two manuals; and the third will follow shortly—the focus is on streamlining procedures to better coordinate efforts with state and local partners.

WRP—we’re developing a transparent funding allocation process for WRP, and Don Gohmert and his team have been creating a more efficient way to use our limited technical assistance, including the possibility of remote monitoring of WRP easements.

GRP—we’ve modified the easement deed to make it more user friendly, and we’ve completed the final rule for GRP.

CRP—we’re continuing to work with FSA to streamline CRP and partner with TSPs so the demands for technical assistance will be lessened on NRCS.

CSP—through CSP we’re beginning to quantify true environmental outcomes from conservation programs—like carbon sequestration and reductions in nutrients and pesticides in water. Superior conservationists will be conducting producer-based studies and assessment activities that will further advance the cause of conservation—and provide guidance for others.

For all the programs, we’re working on program management performance incentive formulas to reward states for their program efficiency, like we’ve done in EQIP for three years. We want to employ these incentive formulas in most other programs in FY 2006.

Other Changes

There are other changes as well. As you know, just last week Secretary Johanns announced our Web Soil Survey. Soil maps and data are now available online 24/7 from personal computers. Users can select an area of interest, view maps and data and sort by geographic areas.

Putting the soil survey online will make it available to a much wider audience to help more people use this resource to make land use decisions. Obviously this is a key accomplishment in transparency and in E-government.

We’re looking at possible changes in the RC&D program to make it more effective in achieving conservation objectives. OMB’s Program Assessment Rating Tool evaluation found “results not demonstrated” for RC&D. Our own evaluation noted that most of the time, funds and benefits for this program were in community development, only one aspect of the charge for this program—the other three being land conservation, water management and land management.

In addition, we’re looking at ways to involve more diverse groups in NRCS programs. We analyzed participation in NRCS programs by American Indians and Alaska Natives on Tribal Lands, and you’ll be hearing more about that later this week. We want to increase the opportunity for Tribes to participate in our programs. This is an example of how you all will be able to use ProTracts data for your portfolio management.

On Wednesday, we’ll be announcing the National and Chesapeake Bay components of the 2005 Conservation Innovation Grants—54 grants in 40 states for a total of more than $19 million. Twelve States and the Pacific Basin also piloted their own separate CIG competitions—for nearly $3 million to 51 awardees. These are smaller projects, capped at $75,000 per project.
Conservation Innovation Grants is an exciting aspect of EQIP that will enable us to foster innovative approaches to private lands conservation.

Very shortly, we’ll be rolling out a new technical oversight infrastructure incorporating changes that State Conservationists have suggested. States will be more involved in both the technical oversight and technology transfer components of the program.

Role of TSPs

As you all know, we expect that Technical Service Providers will assist with our increased workload—especially in areas beyond our traditional expertise. So far, that’s proving to be the case. To date, about 53 percent of practices for which TSPs provided technical services were for nutrient management.

Today we have nearly 2,400 TSPs. Since late 2003, they’ve helped with 5,700 practices under about 3,800 contracts. In FY 2003 and 2004, we obligated just over $73 million to TSPs. We expect to obligate another $45 million this year.

Boot Camp Revival

One of the exciting new ventures we’re putting in place is a revived Boot Camp. Thanks to Kathy and Larry, we held a pilot last year, and this summer we have three sessions. In fact, I’ll be speaking to the group in Corvallis, Oregon, tomorrow.

We all want NRCS to be the employer of choice in conservation. We want to hire outstanding people, and we want them to share our commitment to helping people help the land.

We need to develop them and give them the practical skills and experience they need to serve our customers effectively. And once we have them—we want to keep them.

Boot Camp provides that basic shared understanding of conservation and the value of conservation planning. It also offers new employees the opportunity to get the application and operations management skills they will need to help deliver and track conservation programs and accomplishments.

Charles Adams, director of the National Employee Development Center, will be expanding Boot Camp to 18 sessions next year at perhaps six locations. We estimate that 450 of the 1,000 people we are hiring each year need this field training—all of our new technical employees.

Training of our own new and existing employees is vitally important. Many of you in this room will be making end-of-the-year purchase decisions in the next 45 days. Keep this in mind—I would rather see you contract for training than to buy pickups or laptops with those funds!

Goal for the Workshop

Our goal at this workshop is to help us do our jobs more effectively. When it comes to NRCS programs, the keywords are priorities, natural resource-based, transparency and efficiency.
Anyone should be able to figure out:

• our policies and procedures,
• our priorities,
• our application evaluation and ranking processes
• and other key aspects of our programs
• as well as the formulas for allocations.

FY 2005 Wrap Up

When you return to your offices next week, we’ll have just five weeks left in Fiscal Year 2005. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of wrapping up our work for this year.

Our primary focus must be getting conservation on the ground. We need to reach or exceed our goals.

We must fully realize the wonderful and groundbreaking investments we have through the 2002 farm bill programs, and our discretionary programs. Program funds give us the fuel to stoke the engine for voluntary private lands conservation.

And I can’t encourage you too strongly to stress this point—and keep on stressing it—with your folks. We need to be able to demonstrate results—for our customers and our partners and for the taxpayers and policymakers who want to know what we’re doing with the funds entrusted to us for conservation.

As I’ve said before, completing the work we’ve begun under the 2002 farm bill is Job 1 for our employees. It’s easy to get caught up in obligating money—but we need to get contracts implemented. Until the terraces or the fences are built, conservation hasn’t happened.

Follow-through is critical. Doing a good job—and finishing it—is the best way to get ready for the challenges ahead.

We still have a lot of work to do. And we need to do that as effectively, efficiently and prudently as possible. That’s the most important way for all of us to prepare the ground—literally and figuratively—for the next farm bill.

Conclusion

Pop artists Andy Warhol once said—maybe it was during his 15 minutes of fame—“They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”

This conference provides an opportunity for us to make changes. We can explore and experiment with techniques to improve your program and time management techniques. We can delve into the new business tools and find ways to better analyze what’s really going on in field offices. We can take advantage of this time to network with others and share your challenges and successes.

We want to help you do the best job possible for NRCS and for our customers. Your success in helping our field offices get conservation on the ground will make the difference for the agency when our programs are evaluated and our budget determined.

I know we can count on you.

<Back to 2005 Speeches