United States

Department of

Agriculture

Natural

Resources

Conservation

Service

December 2000

Natural Resources

Conservation Service

Accomplishments Report

FY 2000
What We Do

The Natural Resources Conservation

Service (NRCS) is the primary Federal

agency that works with private

landowners to help them protect their

natural resources. The agency emphasizes voluntary, science-based conservation technical assistance; partnerships;

incentive-based programs; and

cooperative problem solving at the

community level. The strength of

NRCS is its workforce—some 12,000

individuals—working side by side with

many partners to help set conservation

goals, work with people on the land,

and provide services. These partners

include conservation districts, state

conservation agencies, resource

conservation and development

councils, and tribes. Local conservation districts—about 3,000 in all—are

an important part of the conservation

delivery system and natural resource

accomplishments that benefit all

Americans.

Strategic Goals

In fiscal year 2000, the agency

continued its commitment to help

individuals, communities, units of

government, and tribes make decisions

about managing their lands and

resources for productivity and longterm use. NRCS helped rural and

urban communities curb erosion,

conserve and protect water, enhance

fish and wildlife habitat, and solve

other natural resource problems.

Conservation accomplishments were

achieved under four strategic goals:

• Enhance natural resource productivity to enable a strong agricultural

and natural resource sector.

• Reduce unintended adverse effects

of natural resource development

and use to ensure a high quality

environment.

• Reduce risks from drought and

flooding to protect individual and

community health and safety.

• Deliver high quality services to the

public to enable natural resource

stewardship.

NRCS identified objectives and

performance measurements for each

goal. The work of the agency is

accomplished through conservation

planning, technical and financial

assistance, resource assessment, and

technology development and transfer.

What We Achieved

Highlights of the accomplishments for

fiscal year 2000 illustrate that conservation is the work of many—no one

person or group can do it alone. The

Nation’s conservation efforts on

private land ensure a healthy and

productive land—sustaining food and

fiber production, protecting watersheds and natural systems, enhancing

the environment, and improving

urban and rural landscapes.

Goal 1: Enhance natural resource

productivity.

NRCS identified four objectives to

address resource concerns that challenge continued productivity of

privately owned agricultural lands:

— Maintain, restore, and enhance

cropland productivity.

— Maintain, restore, and enhance

irrigated land.

— Maintain, restore, and enhance

grazing land productivity.

— Maintain, restore, and enhance

forest land productivity.

We said we would:

• Help landowners plan and apply

resource management systems on 6

million acres of cropland.

Accomplishment—10.2 million

acres

• Help landowners apply resource

management systems on 5.8 million

acres of grazing land.

Accomplishment—10.7 million

acres

• Protect 4 million acres of cropland

from excessive wind and water

erosion. Accomplishment—

4.1 million acres

Conservation systems

are designed to meet

the needs of the land

and landowners.
• Help landowners apply irrigation

water management systems that

result in an estimated 7.2 million

acre-inches of water savings.

Accomplishment—9 million acreinches

• Help farmers and ranchers use

prescribed grazing on 10 million

acres. Accomplishment—19.6

million acres

• Help landowners apply forest stand

improvement (weeding and

thinning) on 270,000 acres.

Accomplishment—390,000 acres

• Help landowners establish trees and

shrubs on 308,000 acres.

Accomplishment—640,000 acres

Goal 2: Reduce unintended adverse

effects of natural resource development

and use.

NRCS identified five objectives to

address the most pressing concerns

affecting environmental quality of the

rural and urban landscapes:

—Protect farmland from conversion to

nonagricultural uses.

—Promote sound urban and rural

community development.

—Protect water and air resources from

agricultural nonpoint sources of

impairment.

—Enhance animal feeding operations

to protect the environment.

—Maintain, restore, or enhance

wetland ecosystems and fish and

wildlife habitat.

Goal 3: Reduce risks from drought

and flooding.

NRCS identified two objectives to

help landowners and land managers

apply conservation systems to address

the impacts of water shortages and

flooding.

— Protect upstream watersheds from

flood risk.

— Protect watersheds from the effects

of chronic water shortages and risks

from drought.

We said we would:

• Provide a total of $914 million

worth of onsite and offsite benefits

from local watershed protection

projects. Accomplishment—$1.24

billion

• Issue 6,470 water supply forecasts

for Federal, state, and local water

resource planning purposes.

Accomplishment—7,580 forecasts

We said we would:

• Help landowners put conservation

buffers on 804,000 acres to protect

water quality and provide wildlife

habitat. Accomplishment—1

million acres

• Create, restore, or enhance wetlands

on 200,000 acres.

Accomplishment—290,000 acres

• Help landowners apply wildlife

habitat management plans—for

wetlands or upland areas—on 3.8

million acres. Accomplishment—

12.3 million acres

• Plan or apply 9,300 waste management systems, including waste

storage structures, treatment

lagoons, composting facilities, and

roof runoff management.

Accomplishment—11,000 systems

• Help agricultural producers apply

nutrient management systems on

2.9 million acres.

Accomplishment—4.3 million

acres

• Help producers apply pest management systems on 3.2 million acres.

Accomplishment—4.3 million

acres

Much of the Nation’s most valuable and

productive farmland is located near urban and

suburban areas.

Conservation buffers reduce soil erosion, improve

air and water quality, reduce flooding, and enhance

fish and wildlife habitat.
The U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of

race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family

status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for

communication or program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at

202- 720-2600 (voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326W, Whitten Building, 14th

and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (2020) 720-5964 (voice or TDD). USDA is an equal

opportunity provider and employer.

Goal 4: Deliver high quality services to

the public.

NRCS identified three objectives to

address the delivery of conservation

services that lead to good natural

resource stewardship.

—Deliver services fairly and equitably.

—Strengthen the conservation delivery

system.

—Ensure timely, science-based

information and technologies.

We said we would:

• Map or update 23.4 million acres of

soils. Accomplishment—24.4

million acres

• Provide 884 soil surveys in digital

format. Accomplishment—941

surveys (cumulative total)

• Generate 3,000 downloads from the

web or compact disk requests for

digital soils data.

Accomplishment—10,510 requests

• Release 16 new conservation plants

for commercial or private use.

Accomplishment—24 plants

• Generate 16 million hits on the

PLANTS database website.

Accomplishment—17.5 million

hits

In addition, we provided assistance to

3 million individuals, including

340,000 minority customers.

Wetlands improve water

quality, enhance wildlife

habitat, reduce soil

erosion, reduce flooding,

and improve water

supply.

More Information

Additional information on the agency’s

programs and services can be found in

the NRCS Strategic Plan for 2000-

2005. It is a comprehensive roadmap

that describes goals, objectives, guiding

principles, baselines, and performance

targets. The Strategic Plan is available

on the web at:

www.nhq.nrcs.usda.gov/SPA.