State Technical Committee Meeting

November 3, 2005

577 Federal Building

Des Moines, Iowa

1:00 p.m.

**MINUTES**

Present: Rick Van Klaveren, Chair; Robert Fenemore, EPA; John Walkowiak,
Ken Herring, and Lyle Asell, IDNR; Jim Munson, FWS; Rick Robinson and
Doug Gronau, Farm Bureau; Susan Heathcote, IEC; Francis Thicke, Dairy
Farmer; Kelly Tobin, Producer; Derryl McLaren, FSA; Lee Faris, Producer;

Dave Petty, Cattlemen's Association; Jerry Miller, ISUE; Ken Tow,
IDALS-DSC; Mark Ackelson, INHF; Dave Van Waus, Pheasants Forever; Brad
Riphagen for Shannon Ramsey, Trees Forever;

Leslee Spraggins, Nature Conservancy; Deb Ryun, CDI; Jim Sands, NASS;
Russ Brandes, Producer; Linda Kinman, Iowa Water Agencies Association;
John Glenn, Iowa Watersheds; Inger Lamb, Iowa Prairie Network; Bruce
Barnhart, LICA; Madeline Meyer and Jennifer Hoy, SSCC; and Cy McDonald,
Iowa League of RC&Ds. Others not members: Roger Wolfe, Iowa Soybean,
Mike Musel, FSA;

Bill Belden, Chariton Valley Biomass Chair; Dean Lemke, DSC; Duane Sand,
INHF; Kelly Smith and Paul Taulke, IDNR; Suzanne Hickie, Nature
Conservancy; Laura Greiner, Jeff Zimprich, Larry Beeler, Marty Adkins,
Jim Ayen, Mark Lindflott, Dora Guffey, and Shelly DuBay, NRCS.

[Welcome Comments -- Rick Van Klaveren]{.underline}

Rick thanked everyone for coming to the meeting. Rick shared that FSA
and NRCS are dealing with an issue on CRP on the national level. This is
in relation to the ability for NRCS to work on the Conservation Reserve
Program. FSA and NRCS are negotiating the cost of doing business between
the two agencies. Due to this issue, NRCS National Headquarters has
provided a letter to all State Conservationists that we do not have any
funding in CRP and no hours can be charged to this program. This is an
unfortunate circumstance since there has been perfect weather to get a
lot of work done on construction. There was some discussion from the
group. Rick stated that NRCS is being held accountable for direct charge
of our employees' time. This is effective for all our funding
allocations that Congress studies to set our budgets. NRCS has to have
funds in the account before we can charge time to a fund. We are hoping
the resolution will come quickly so we can get back to work on CRP.
There was some discussion.

Rick announced that since the last meeting, we now have an Assistant
State Conservationist for Program. Larry Beeler accepted the position.
The group congratulated Larry on his new position.

Rick stated that at the National Leadership Team Meeting in Fort Worth,
Texas, Chief Knight mentioned in 2004 the Conservation Security Program
nationally had 2,180 contracts with 18 watersheds. Iowa had
approximately 350 of those contracts. In 2005, there were12,700
contracts, Iowa had 1,972 of those contracts. In 2006, we are
anticipating 6,000-8,000 contracts nationally. The CSP budget had been
cut somewhat which will impact how we do business. National Headquarters
is working on a Water Quality Assessment Tool, which would be
implemented nationally, in lieu of using the 590 Nutrient Management
Standard.

The preliminary budget for Iowa NRCS shows that Technical Assistance
(TA) funding for Iowa was reduced by \$3.9 million. CTA funds are to pay
our employees, for technical service providers, and for agreements with
partners to get conservation on the ground was reduced. The budget is
going to be much tighter than before. There was some discussion.

> \- 2 -

Ken Herring presented an award to Mike Musel. It is a partnership award
from the Wildlife Bureau, Water Quality, and the Environmental
Protection Division of the IDNR. Mike has been involved with this group
on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) for over 10 years. Ken provided
details on the number of buffer, etc. with CRP since Mike has been
involved. Iowa has been a leader. Mike is being recognized for being the
leader of the Conservation Reserve Program in Iowa, to be able to work
with all the individuals, agencies, and organizations to make it the
success that it is. To be able to work with the three objectives of the
program this includes water quality, wildlife and soil erosion. This is
a challenging job with rules constantly changing. Ken provided
additional details. Everyone gave a round of applause and congratulated
Mike on his success. Mike shared that he didn't do this alone. He
appreciated the recognition.

[Tree Planting Requirements in Riparian Buffers -- Inger
Lamb]{.underline}

Inger shared that practice CP-29 used for CRP has been very popular for
landowner to plant grasses in pastureland. The rules have changed to
allow tree planting. This has caused some complaints from several groups
to bring up as a discussion item. CRP is administered from the Farm
Service Agency and Derryl McLaren shared that there may be some options
to use. Inger proposed having a sub-committee be put together to look
into options that we may be able to use for this practice on prairie
remnants in permanent pastures. There was a detailed discussion from the
group. There was a consensus of the group to put together a
sub-committee with the charge of making recommendations for CRP land to
clarify what is a native prairie remnant in marginal/permanent pasture.
The individuals on the sub-committee include the following:

Jim Munson, Chair Inger Lamb Jim Wooley

Paul Taulke Todd Bogenschultz Ken Herring/Lyle Asell

Deb Ryun Mike Musel Kelly Smith

> Suzanne Hickie Dave Petty Mark Lindflott/Larry Beeler
>
> Jennifer Anderson-Cruz

At this time, there is approximately 62,000 acres enrolled in CP-22 and
in CP-29, which has been around for three years, approximately 5,900
acres enrolled.

[RC&D Negotiations with Councils -- Marty Adkins]{.underline}

Marty wanted to share changes that are occurring nationally and within
state with the RC&D program. The RC&D program participated in a Program
Assessment Rating Tool process with the Administration. There was also a
program evaluation done on the RC&D Program that was mandated under the
2002 Farm Bill. Marty provided additional details of the program
evaluation. There has been a lot of analysis of this program completed
over the last few years. The President's 2006 budget proposal cut the
RC&D funding in half. In order get this accomplished, the Administration
proposed to graduate councils (ending USDA assistance) that are 20 years
old. Two things that Iowa has done over the years is 1) NRCS has
provided full time office assistance/secretary support. We are one of
only two states providing this level of assistance. The other state is
Georgia. The second thing Iowa has done within recent years has been
co-located the RC&D offices in Service Centers. At this time half of the
RC&D offices are located within the Service Centers.

\- 3 -

The national allocation of funds for RC&D is changing this year. There
will be an allocation formula that is based on standardized information
on resource issues, poverty, and employment/unemployment. Iowa will be
experiencing a five percent decrease in our budget due to this new
formula. The last several years, Iowa has not received enough TA to
cover the support in each office. Looking into future, we made the
follow decisions: as vacancies come up for the secretarial position in
the RC&D offices, we will not be filling them. At this time Iowa has
three vacancies out of 16 that we will not be filling. This is coming
from the change of national policy. Marty provided additional details.
Iowa is looking at 2006 as the transition year. There are some policy
questions that need to be worked through. There was some discussion from
the group. Marty proposed a sub-committee be put together to discuss
these details. The following individuals on the sub-committee include:

John Walkowiak Cy McDonald Lee Faris

[Chariton Valley Biomass Project -- Dora Guffy/Bill Belden]{.underline}

Dora Guffy is the Chariton Valley RC&D Coordinator, located in
Centerville which covers Wayne, Appanoose, Monroe, and Lucas Counties.
Dora provided several handouts/brochures that included an issue paper
titled USDA State Technical Committee Meeting-Discussion on Energy
Issues; a map showing a 70 mile radius from the Alliant Energy Power
Plant near Ottumwa; in the counties this project is involved in;
pictures showing the process/stages that are involved within the Biomass
Project; a brochure titled "Developing Feedstock Preparation and
Handling Systems for Emerging Biomass Markets;" and a brochure that
provides a brief overview of the Biomass Project and the sponsors. Dora
shared that the RC&D has been working on this project for several years.
The basic concept in this project is taking switch grass and converting
it to energy with the cooperation of Alliant Energy. This is a very big
and significant project that not only involved the four counties, but
southern Iowa as a whole. Dora introduced Bill Bolden who is the Biomass
Project Manager.

Bill thanked Derryl McLaren, Rick Van Klaveren, and Mike Musel, and
others for the opportunity to discuss some visions they have for the
project in the future and the for support over the last 10 years to get
this project running at full force. Bill shared that the project started
in 1996 around the Rathbun Lake area. This was developed for the purpose
of not wanting CRP land to come out of contracts and going directly back
to row cropping and to preserve water quality. Bill provided additional
details to the group on the process of this project, where it is at
today, and where they are heading. The group discussed issues related to
switchgrass monocultures, including concerns about wildlife impacts and
environmental benefits of using a renewable energy source.

[EQIP Sub-Committee Update -- Deb Ryun]{.underline}

Deb provided minutes from the sub-committee meeting that was held on
November 2. The purpose of the sub-committee was to review the FY05
funds that had been utilized, review the allocation formula and amount
to be held out for any special projects or other current state
priorities. Deb also provided a copy of the practices with dollar amount
for FY2005 contracts. Deb shared some back ground discussions from the
sub-committee. The recommendations from the sub-committee are as
follows: 1) use the same formula for allocation as been used in prior
years, adjusting the livestock numbers to not include those livestock
operations who received priority last year to meet national and state
environmental regulations. The entire group concurred. 2) Reserve up to
\$2 million for special projects. There was some discussion. The entire
group concurred. 3) A better evaluation tool should be created to
document the use of funds and its effects on the environment. ISU had
been working on something comparable to get a start on a macro. There
was a discussion. The entire group concurred. 4) The need to address
wildlife objectives that the local level can set aside funds for --
having wildlife applications ranked against other wildlife applications.
There was a discussion. The entire group concurred.

\- 4 -

Regarding the evaluation tool to measure the effects of EQIP,
sub-committee of the EQIP sub-committee would be formed to look further
at documentation that is being developed at Iowa State University. Jerry
Miller will Chair this committee.

[WRP Sub-Committee Update -- Derryl McLaren]{.underline}

Marty provided several handouts to the group, one titled "Iowa WRP
Application Unfunded -- November 2005" that shows the counties with the
number of applications and acres. The total shows 71 counties with 294
applications covering 24,121.9 acres. Another titled "Iowa EWP
Applications Unfunded -- November 2005" that shows the counties with the
number of applications and acres. The total shows 68 counties with 407
applications covering 38,731.5 acres. The third handout is a state map
showing by county the unfunded requests for WRP in November 2005.

Derryl stated that at the last meeting information was shared that the
appraisal values are changing on applications for WRP. The sub-committee
reviewed the final changes made in the NRCS policy from their National
Headquarters. These changes are not as far-reaching as they appear they
might at the September meeting. There are 274 unfunded applications with
the approximate amount of \$70 million at this time. The allocation for
FY06 is \$9.7 million. The appraisal will focus on the entire continuous
land holdings by the landowner, not just the portion of what is being
offered into the WRP. Marty Adkins provided additional details on
reasons for the changes. There was a discussion. Technical reviews will
be done on the first appraisal from a particular appraiser and 10
percent afterwards. Administrative reviews will be done on all
appraisals. All offers will be subjective to geographic/monetary caps
that will be based on land values for each county recorded in the 2002
Census of Agriculture. There was some discussion.

The sub-committee's recommendations are to immediately go through the
274 applications to score and let the landowners know the cost of
appraisals to see if they still want to keep the application. The entire
group concurred. The sub-committee will still like to continue to meet
and see how things are working with the new appraisal system and review
the ranking system and see if there should be funds set aside. The
entire group concurred.

[WHIP Sub-Committee Update -- Jim Munson]{.underline}

Jim provided a copy of the 2005 contracts selected for WHIP with
allocations within the contracts. Jim shared details from the document.
There was \$440,181 for WHIP in FY2005 which as obligated. There was
some discussion.

[CRP Acres Coming Out of Contract -- Larry Beeler/Jeff
Zimprich]{.underline}

Larry Beeler provided information that NRCS is addressing with CRP land
coming out of a contract. The media has been saying that in 2007 there
will be a tremendous amount of land coming out of CRP. The Farm Service
Agency is providing early re-enrollment of that land if the landowners
request. With the prices and the economy, NRCS feels that a lot of this
land will not be re-enrolled. NRCS wants to assist landowners in making
good decisions to keep the land in proper land use. Jeff Zimprich,
Assistant State Conservationist for Field Operations located in
Atlantic, has been working with several different individuals to get
ideas/action to take. Jeff provided a power point presentation that
provided back ground information on the Conservation Reserve Program,
where the majority of the land is located, when the land will come out
of contract, etc. In 2009 there will be 254,000 acres of land in Iowa
will expire in CRP contracts. Jeff stated that he wanted to get people
to start thinking about options that landowners can have when their land
does come out of contract.

\- 5 -

Jeff then stated some steps that NRCS is taking are as follows: 1)
working with partners in surveys to get a feel of their objectives to
help prepare a sells package to them; 2) developing strategies to
prepare the NRCS staff -- there has been a lot of staff that hasn't been
on CRP land as much as we wish to sell conservation and land use; 3)
developing a public education campaign on proper land use. There was a
detailed discussion.

[CRP CP-33 Practice Seeding Guidelines -- Mike Musel]{.underline}

Mike provided a brochure titled "Open the Door to Bobwhite Quail &
Songbirds." Mike shared that a recommendation was proposed to open the
entire state to be eligible for the quail practices. At this time, the
only counties eligible are the four southern tier counties plus
Woodbury, Monroe, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque, Jones, Jackson, Cedar,
Clinton, and Scott Counties. Iowa has only 3,000 out of 20,000 acres
enrolled. The Farm Service Agency is willing to request that the entire
state be eligible for this practice. There was a detailed discussion.
The Committee concurred with the recommendation of having the entire
state be eligible for this practice. Since this has been recommended,
the Farm Service Agency will send a memo to their National Office
requesting this change, which at time Iowa will be eligible for the
entire state.

Another portion on CP-33 is the modification to the seeding
requirements. There has been a concern expressed by wildlife biologists
from several organizations that the current seeding requirements for
CP-33 sites may produce too dense a cover to be optimum quail habitat.
The proposal is that for CP-33 only, that the State Technical Committee
recommend to the State Conservationist to approve an exemption to the
Conservation Cover Standard (327) and allow these sites to be seeded at
a lower rate (1/2 the amount) of seed than that required by the 327
Standard. There was a detailed discussion. Rick Van Klaveren stated this
is a big concern since NRCS does not make exceptions to practice
standards for a particular reason. Rick would like to hear the voices of
the State Technical Committee on their thoughts on this issue. There was
a discussion. The State Technical Committee asked NRCS to review the
Conservation Cover Standard (327) to see if there is a need to change
the seeding rate. Rick stated that NRCS would not make an exception to
the 327 Standard but would take a look at the Standard to see if there
needs to be revision made.

[Watershed Improvement Review Board -- Deb Ryun]{.underline}

Deb provided a handout on the Iowa Watershed Improvements Review Board.
This document lists the individual members of the board, eligibility of
funds, program explanation, what information is required in the project
application, project assessment factors, and application acceptance or
rejection. Deb stated that the Iowa State Legislation provided \$5
million to this board. Deb provided details to group on the handout.
Applications are due November 30, 2005.

[Standards and Specifications Review -- Jim Ayen]{.underline}

Jim provided copies of the following standards and specifications:
Residue and Tillage Management -- Ridge Till (346), Residue and Tillage
Management -- Mulch Till (345), and Residue and Tillage Management --
No-till/Strip Till/Direct Seed (329). Jim shared some of the changes
that occurred in the standards. There was some discussion. Jim asked the
group to review and provide any comments back to him within two weeks.

The next State Technical Committee Meeting will be held on February 16,
2006, at 1:00 p.m. in

Room 577 Federal Building.