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New Initiative to Bring Better Water to Every State and Puerto Rico

National Water Quality Initiative - Virginia farm. NRCS image.

NRCS delivers its new National Water Quality Initiative to 157 specially selected watersheds from Hawaii to Puerto Rico and every state in between. Farmers, ranchers and forest landowners, we’re making financial and technical assistance available to help you put conservation practices to work improving water quality on your operation and throughout your watershed. Is your watershed eligible? Find out here. Applications are due June 15.

In the News

Updated 2012 National Wetland Plant List is Available
Date: May 9, 2012
USDA Advances Water Quality Conservation Across the U.S.
Date: May 8, 2012
Final Applications for NRCS Organic Initiative Due June 1
Date: Apr 25, 2012

Features

NRCS Celebrates USDA's 150 Years

Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of Gettysburg Military Cemetery

On May 15, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed legislation to create the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Lincoln famously referred to our newly established department as the “People’s Department. Over the next two months - in the midst of the Civil War - he signed additional legislation that expanded and transformed American farming, including the Homestead Act, and the establishment of the Land Grant agricultural university system. Learn more about how NRCS is celebrating USDA's 150th.

What's Wrong with This Picture?

2011 Chesapeake Bay Report - Panora Acres.

The owners of this farm in the Chesapeake Bay watershed didn’t like what they saw and took action. With NRCS assistance, they installed fences to keep cattle out of the stream and planted grasses to prevent erosion of streambanks. See the way it looks today and download our latest report on conservation successes in the bay watershed.

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