Wisconsin State Technical Committee Meeting

**Minutes of May 25, 2006**

**Present**

[State Technical Committee Members]{.underline}: Keith Foye, Richard
Gorder, Pat Leavenworth, Bob Micheel, Keri Retallick, Steve Richter, Don
Roberts, Jim Ruwaldt, Kevin Shelley

[Others]{.underline}: Don Baloun, Miles Benson, Joe Bragger, Susan
Butler, Katie Crawley, Mike Dreischmeier, Dennis Frame, Regina Hirsch,
Jim Kaap, Tom Lochner, Tim Poppel, Patrick Scallon, Mandy Spearstra, Jan
Whitcomb

**Opening Remarks --** Pat Leavenworth

-   It was a very successful "Year of Soil" event at the Capitol. The
    NRCS Chief attended the event and also toured the Coon Creek
    watershed along with the Aldo Leopold shack.

-   As the soils database was loaded, we found that the most common soil
    type in Wisconsin is Pence, which is a northern forest soil, with
    941,000 acres.

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-   No word yet about CSP. We submitted 500 contracts combined from both
    watersheds. This is the most successful sign-up so far. We should
    have information soon on which contracts have been accepted.

-   Rebecca Baumann has resigned from her position at WLWCA.

-   Our Strategic Plan has been delivered. This is the roadmap for NRCS
    for the next 10 to 15 years. Our vision statement is "Productive
    Lands -- Healthy Environment." Our mission statement is "Helping
    people help the land." There are several goals: legacy goals
    (high-quality productive soils, clean and abundant water, healthy
    plant and animal communities), venture goals (clean air, adequate
    energy supply, working farm and ranch lands). There are three over
    arching strategies: cooperative conservation, watershed approach,
    and a market-based approach. The strategic plan is on the NRCS
    website at: <http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/about/strategicplan>.

-   The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters has a two-year
    initiative called the "Future of Farming and Rural Life in
    Wisconsin." Tom Lyon and Stan Gruzinski are co-chairs of the overall
    committee. There are five subcommittees -- Pat is co-chairing the
    Natural Resources Committee with Linda Bochert. There will be five
    forums in the next six months. One was held yesterday in Menomonie
    on food systems. The next forum is on June 16 in Oconomowoc. The
    topic is "Healthy Farms, Healthy Cities" and will include a luncheon
    prepared with locally-grown foods. Anita Zurbrugg from the American
    Famland Trust will discuss agriculture and development on the urban
    fringe. There will also be speakers talking about development
    rights. Tom Barrett will speak in the afternoon on how healthy
    cities are dependent upon healthy farms. More information on the
    forums can be found at:
    <http://www.wisconsinacademy.org/idea/index.html>.

**DATCP Update 2005 CIG** -- Keith Foye

The 2005 grant round was announced in early January 2005 and due at the
end of March 2005. In late August, DATCP got word that they were
successful in the grant they submitted related to air emissions and
odors. The application looked at the idea of odor from livestock
operations. Additionally, the DNR is very interested in air emissions.
The DNR Administrative Code (NR 445) doesn't directly involve air
emissions from livestock operations. In about 2007, the DNR will have to
start an administrative rule activity that will bring air emissions from
livestock operations into that code. According to the grant application,
DATCP will look at 6-8 livestock operations and do some sampling before
the best management practice is installed, and then again after to
verify any improvements. The air emissions they are primarily interested
in are ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. The steering committee requested
proposals in early March. Fifteen applications were received back from
around the state representing various sizes and types of operations.
They hope to begin the sampling this summer, but want to obtain samples
in multiple seasons. Questions and discussion followed.

**CRP Update General Sign-up 33 & Sign-up 32 REX** -- Susan Butler

General sign-up 33 was held from March 27 to April 28 and extended for
another two weeks. No information is available from the sign-up at this
time. Indications are that sign-ups were low nationally. Sign-up 29 was
not as successful as hoped either nationally. The reasons CRP is not as
desirable include low rental rates, people not being interested in tying
up their land for years, payments not being indexed for inflation, and
the management requirements (people who got out of farming or urban
landowners don't own the equipment). In 2002, the Farm Bill froze
eligibility -- if a landowner was not eligible from 1996 to 2001, then
they are not eligible now. The environmental benefits index for Sign-up
33 are the same as Sign-up 29.

Re-enrollment and Extension (REX) is the agency's attempt to flatten out
the large amount of acres expiring in years 2007 through 2010. Another
ranking was done based on the EBI at the time of the original offer --
the top 20% ranking in the nation are offered re-enrollment at today's
rental rates. Participants ranking in the top one-fifth are offered a
10-year contract; if a wetland restoration is included, a 15-year
contract will be offered. The next 20% will be offered a 5-year
extension; the next one-fifth a 4-year, the next one-fifth a 3-year; and
the remaining contracts a 2-year extension. The landowner will be
required to pay a compliance check fee of \$45. As a result, FSA is
checking compliance on every one of these acres. About 50% are expected
to re‑enroll.

**EQIP Subcommittee Report, Statewide Signup Policy 2007** -- Don
Baloun/Jan Whitcomb

A subcommittee was formed to look at the policy regarding EQIP statewide
programs. Animal waste was always a statewide sign-up and was tied to
two things. The first was the amount of dollars it would take to do
animal waste on a statewide basis. Individual Local Work Group (LWG)
allocations would be overwhelmed by the cost share associated with a
waste storage application and would make it difficult to guess where the
sign-up would be in order to generate a consistent statewide sign-up for
animal waste. Therefore, it was left as statewide. Second, there was a
national policy that we try to target 65% of the EQIP dollars towards
livestock-related practices. Wisconsin has always exceeded the 65%.

The subcommittee put together a draft policy for EQIP statewide
sign-ups. The criteria was written so any request goes to the LWG level
first. The criteria from 2001 and 2002 wasn't changed significantly.
Some points were clarified. Item 2 had a statement deleted that required
all new proposals to compare themselves to the existing statewide
sign-up and the overall comparison of relative environmental impact from
the new proposal. Item 4 clarifies the contracts would be prohibitively
expensive whether they are a taken as a whole contract with no practices
split out; or, if they are split out, the cost share requested is still
equal to one-third or more of the typical county's allocation that would
be participating in the sign-up.

The recommendation from the Committee was to accept the draft policy for
EQIP statewide sign-ups.

**CNMP Pilot Progress** -- Dennis Frame/Joe Bragger

The goal of the CNMP pilot project was to help NRCS develop a good
format for CNMPs. They took NRCS standards and applied it to the
checklist, which didn't work. The process was revamped entirely,
changing the format several times. They took recommendations from all
the sections and wrote the action agenda, involving the landowner. Joe
Bragger talked about how it's working on his farm and the parts of the
CNMP that are important to him as a landowner.

**Forestry Subcommittee** -- Miles Benson

The Forestry Subcommittee was formed to bring recommendations to the
WSTC regarding better allocation of funding from Farm Bill programs.
They reviewed current forestland ownership and management patterns that
are going through significant changes that will impact how NRCS programs
relate to the needs of forestland. They reviewed the current programs
pertaining to forests. The subcommittee determined that EQIP and CRP
programs provide the best match of program goals and eligible practices
for appropriate management on forestland. Other programs (CSP, WHIP, and
WRP) also have some impact. The subcommittee estimates that \$1.6
million per year of farm bill cost sharing could be used to address
forestry-related resource concerns. A list of recommendations was
presented to the Committee:

1.  Emphasize implementation of CRP tree planting practices as an
    alternative to grass cover types.

2.  Encourage participation of DNR Private Lands Foresters and woodland
    owners on the LWGs.

3.  Identify unmet financial assistance needs for forestland that can be
    address by the farm bill, Department of Energy initiatives, and US
    Forest Service programs, and pursue additional funding.

4.  Evaluate the applicability of agriforestry and silvipasture
    practices in Wisconsin and get practice standards in the FOTG.

5.  Continue to pursue the hiring of a Wisconsin NRCS forester to
    provide additional professional expertise for development of
    technical materials and training.

**Next Meeting**

The June 29 WSTC meeting has been cancelled.

The next scheduled WSTC meeting is July 27.