2005 Accomplishments Report
2005 Accomplishments Report  

Contents

1 /Mission

3 /Introduction

4 /Guiding Principles

 4 / Service

 5 / Partnership

 5 / Technical Excellence

9 /Mission Goals to Reach Our Conservaton Objectives

10 / Foundation Goals

 10 / High Quality, Productive Soils

 12 / Clean and Abundant Water

 14 / Healthy Plant and Animal Communities

17 / Venture Goals

 17 / Clean Air

 18 / An Adequate Energy Supply

 19 /Working Farm and Ranch Lands

20/ NRCS Programs

 Conservation Operations

 Water Resources

 Farm Bill

 Resource Conservation and Development

22/ NRCS Business Lines

 Conservation Planning and Technical Consultations

 Conservation Implementation

 Natural Resources Inventory and Assessment

 Natural Resource Technology Transfer

 Financial Assistance

2005 Accomplishments Report  

Mission

Helping

People Help the Land
   2005 Accomplishments Report
2005 Accomplishments Report  

Modern American agriculture 

is diverse and dynamic, as are 

the sector’s natural resource 

information, technology, and 

assistance needs. Providing 

current and effective sciencebased conservation technology, 

technical assistance, and resource 

information fairly and equitably 

is essential to achieving the NRCS 

vision of Productive Lands-Healthy 

Environment.

Introduction

Privately owned cropland, 

grazing land, and forest 

land underpin a substantial 

and vibrant agricultural economy 

that delivers food and fiber for the 

Nation and the world. But these 

private lands also deliver much 

more. Through natural resource 

conservation, farmers, ranchers, 

and private forest owners also 

yield clean and abundant water, 

productive wildlife habitat, and 

healthy landscapes. 

The Natural Resources Conservation 

Service (NRCS), United States 

Department of Agriculture 

(USDA) is the lead Federal Agency 

providing conservation assistance 

to the owners and managers 

of non-Federal lands across the 

Nation. Since the 1930s, NRCS has 

partnered with farmers, ranchers, 

and forest landowners to plan 

and apply conservation systems 

that assist them in meeting their 

economic and environmental 

goals. NRCS helps communities 

protect their local environment and 

develop shared natural resources to 

improve their standard of living and 

quality of life. 
   2005 Accomplishments Report

Service 

Our customers are entitled to the 

best service we can provide. We 

respect the dignity and worth 

of every person we work with, 

treat all individuals fairly and 

equitably, listen to their views, and 

respond with assistance tailored 

to their needs. Private land users 

will make responsible resource 

management decisions when 

equipped with appropriate data, 

technical assistance, and incentives. 

We continually strive to anticipate 

the public need and improve our 

service, and we measure our efforts 

against the highest professional 

standards. In fiscal year (FY) 2005, 

NRCS employees provided one-onone technical assistance to 88,198 

owners/operators of the Nation’s 

farm and ranch lands. 

Three fundamental principles 

guide how NRCS conducts 

business:

Guiding Principles:
2005 Accomplishments Report  

Partnership 

Conservation can best be achieved 

by the cooperative effort of 

agencies, organizations, and 

individuals across the Nation. 

NRCS and its Tribal, State, and local 

partners are dedicated to natural 

resource conservation. Over 8,000 

employees of State and Tribal 

agencies and conservation districts 

work jointly with NRCS field staff 

to deliver a Federal, Tribal, State, 

and local cooperative conservation 

program. NRCS works closely with 

375 local Resource Conservation 

and Development (RC&D) Councils, 

non-profit entities whose members 

represent units of government 

and civic organizations within 

an identified geographic area. 

This growing partnership also 

includes Land Grant Universities; 

other Federal agencies; flood 

control, irrigation, and fire districts; 

Technical Service Providers (TSPs); 

private sector organizations, 

and many others. Our nonFederal partners contributed an 

estimated $862 million toward 

Federal conservation program 

efforts in FY 2005. The NRCS 

Earth Team Volunteer Program 

helps to significantly expand our 

outreach and technical assistance 

efforts nationwide. Over 34,000 

volunteers donated 938,600 hours 

in 62 percent of the NRCS offices 

throughout the country. The work 

contributed by volunteers in 

FY 2005 was valued at $16.4 million.

Technical 

Excellence 

Effective stewardship depends on 

having science-based information 

and technology that is up-to-date, 

easily accessible, and designed to 

meet user needs. NRCS provides 

a broad range of technology and 

information from conservation 

”how-to” for the landowner to 

technical standards and tools for 

conservation professionals. NRCS 

technical standards for soil science 

and soil surveys, conservation 

engineering, and other specialties 

are recognized and shared 

worldwide. Our National Resources 

Inventory and snow and soil survey 

databases help scientists and policy 

makers track natural resource 

conditions and trends, information 

that is essential to conservation 

policy and program development. 

In addition, the NRCS National 

Publication Distribution Center 

(888-LANDCARE) distributed over 

1 million publications in FY 2005. 
   2005 Accomplishments Report
2005 Accomplishments Report  

T

his document summarizes the Agency’s FY 2005 

accomplishments in relation to the conservation 

goals established in the NRCS Strategic Plan and 

the NRCS Performance Budget for FY 2005. The conservation

progress that has been made reflects the hard work and 

commitment of many people – those who work and care

for the land with assistance and support from NRCS, 

volunteers, local Conservation Districts, Resource Conservation 

and Development Councils, State Conservation Agencies, 

Tribal governments and the other conservation partners. 

The conservation practices and systems applied this year will 

protect natural resources and the environment for years to 

come. The charts, graphs, and maps in this report are based 

on performance reported in the NRCS Performance Results 

System (PRS) from October 1, 2004, to September 30, 2005. 
   2005 Accomplishments Report
2005 Accomplishments Report  

The Nation’s conservation effort on private land ensures a healthy and productive land 

that sustains food and fiber production, protects watersheds and ecosystems, and 

enhances the environment. 

In 2005, NRCS worked with farmers, ranchers, and many other partners 

to achieve progress toward the Agency’s Mission Goals:

Foundation Goals Venture Goals

High Quality, Productive Soils Clean Air

Clean and Abundant Water An Adequate Energy Supply

Healthy Plant and Animal Communities Working Farm and Ranch Lands

Mission Goals to Reach 

Our Conservation Objectives
 10  2005 Accomplishments Report

High quality soils that sustain 

plant and animal productivity, 

maintain or enhance water and 

air quality, and support human 

health and habitation are essential 

for long-term sustainability and 

environmental stewardship.

Developing site-specific 

conservation plans in consultation 

Foundation Goal: Goal: ttttttt

with the landowners, producers 

and managers of the Nation’s 

farms, ranches, and non-industrial, 

private forests is the first step in 

the process of enhancing natural 

resource productive capacity. The 

most important step is the full 

implementation of those plans to 

restore, improve, and protect the 

quality and productive capacity of 

the soil resource base. 

High Quality, ProductiveSoils

Foundation Goals

Foundation Goals include goals 

for the land uses and resource 

concerns that have always 

been the primary focus of our 

activities and continue to be 

the foundation of a healthy 

landscape.

Figure 1: Cropland Conservation 

Plans
2005 Accomplishments Report  11

In FY 2005, with NRCS technical 

and financial assistance, producers, 

landowners, and land managers:

• Developed over 141,000 

conservation plans on 

13.9 million acres of cropland; 

• Applied 130,000 conservation 

systems on nearly 11 million 

acres of cropland, including 

the application of conservation 

practices sufficient to reduce 

the acreage of cropland soils 

damaged by erosion by over 

5.5 million acres; and

• Reduced the annual soil loss 

from agricultural land by 

52 million tons. 

To inform natural resource decision 

making, in FY 2005, NRCS:

• Published or released to the 

public 132 new or updated soil 

surveys, covering 81.1 million 

acres; 

• Mapped or updated 32 million 

acres of soil surveys; and 

• Digitized and made available 

to the public 366 Soil Survey 

Figure 2: Available Soil Survey 

Data. Updated soil survey 

information is available in 

digitized form for many areas 

of the Nation. All published soil 

surveys will be available in this 

form by October 2008.

Geospatial Databases (SSURGO) 

covering 213 million acres. 

This brings the total number of 

digitized soil surveys to 2,379 or 

approximately 80 percent of the 

completed soil surveys. 
 12 2005 Accomplishments Report

Foundation Goal: 

Clean and AbundantWater 

In FY 2005, with NRCS technical 

and financial assistance, producers, 

landowners, and land managers: 

• Applied conservation buffers 

on nearly 275,000 acres; 

• Developed nearly 6,000 

comprehensive nutrient 

management plans and applied 

over 4,500 plans; 

• Applied nutrient management 

on 4.1 million acres; 

• Applied pest management on 

3.9 million acres; and 

• Improved irrigation water 

management on more than 

1.2 million acres, conserving 

over 900,000 acre-feet of water. 

In FY 2005, local sponsors, with 

NRCS technical and financial 

assistance:

• Completed 232 assessments 

on the condition of watershed 

dams to determine the 

potential threat to public health 

and safety; 

• Rehabilitated or removed 

11 unsafe dams; 

• Installed 149 flood prevention 

or mitigation measures, 

including structures, 

easements, and other 

measures; 

• Completed 162 watershed 

or area-wide resource plans, 

studies, or inventories for flood 

prevention or mitigation; 

Well-cared-for watersheds are 

fundamental to ensuring clean and 

abundant water resources. Each 

year, droughts and floods adversely 

affect public health and safety, 

causing extensive and expensive 

damage to farms, ranches, and 

communities. Sound water and 

land management helps conserve 

and protect the quantity and 

quality of the Nation’s finite surface 

and groundwater resources to 

ensure an abundant and reliable 

supply to the Nation.

Figure 3: Irrigation Water 

Management Applied
2005 Accomplishments Report  13

NRCS also worked with 

communities to develop 

819 watershed or area-wide 

conservation plans on 71 million 

acres to improve or enhance water 

or air quality.

• Authorized watershed 

rehabilitation plans for 

31 dams; 

• Installed one multi-purpose 

water supply reservoir; and 

• Developed 126 watershed 

or area-wide resource plans, 

studies or inventories for water 

conservation or water supply. 

To assist in management of 

limited western water supplies, 

NRCS issued 15,356 water supply 

forecasts for Federal, State, and 

local water resource planning 

purposes. Western water users and 

managers accessed the National 

Water and Climate Center Website 

23.5 million times for snow survey, 

water supply forecasts, and soil 

moisture data. 

Figure 4: Nutrient Management 

Applied

Figure 3-a Figure 4-a
 14 2005 Accomplishments Report

Foundation Goal: 

Healthy Plant and Animal Communities

Figure 5-a

Productive use of natural resources 

and protection of the environment 

are compatible and mutually 

supportive objectives. NRCS 

helps farmers, ranchers, and other 

landowners and managers, plus 

State and local planning entities, 

plan and apply conservation 

measures to develop and protect 

their natural resources and retain 

a healthy environment, as well as 

economic and aesthetic benefits 

essential to people’s quality of life. 

Figure 5: Grazing Land 

Conservation Applied
2005 Accomplishments Report  15

Full implementation of a 

conservation plan, developed to 

protect the soil resource base, 

provides secondary benefits, such 

as enhanced upland and wetland 

wildlife habitat. Increasingly, 

conservation plans are developed 

and implemented where wildlife 

habitat restoration or enhancement 

is the landowner/manager’s 

primary or secondary objective. 

In FY 2005, with NRCS technical 

and financial assistance, producers, 

landowners, and land managers:

• Developed conservation plans 

on 28.1 million acres and 

applied conservation systems 

on 23.4 million acres of grazing 

land to protect the resource 

base;

• Created, restored, or enhanced 

nearly 300,000 acres of 

wetlands; 

Figure 6: Wetlands Created, 

Restored, or Enhanced

Figure 6-a
 16 2005 Accomplishments Report

• Protected over 131,000 acres 

of wetlands with 30-year or 

permanent easements; 

• Applied upland and wetland 

wildlife habitat management 

to 10.2 million acres of 

agricultural lands; 

• Managed 2 million acres of 

agricultural lands for the 

protection and enhancement 

of habitat for species with 

declining populations; 

• Installed 107,205 acres of 

riparian forest buffer; and

• Reestablished or improved 

292,755 acres of forest land.

Figure 7: Agricultural Land 

Treated to Improve Wildlife 

Habitat. 

Figure 7a
2005 Accomplishments Report  17

Venture Goal: 

 CleanAir

Although agriculture has a 

relatively small role in air quality 

nationally, at the local level the 

impacts from wind erosion, 

prescribed burns, animal 

confinement and chemical drift 

can be significant. In addition, 

agriculture is uniquely positioned 

to improve air quality by mitigating 

the emissions from other sources. 

In FY 2005, with NRCS technical 

and financial assistance, producers, 

landowners, and land managers:

• Applied carbon-building, 

residue management practices 

on 5,948,630 acres of cropland;

• Established or renovated 

11,944,531 feet of shelterbelts 

and windbreaks;

• Planted cover crops on 478,690 

acres of cropland; and 

• Established 847,283 acres of 

conservation cover.

Venture Goals

Venture Goals describe areas 

where NRCS anticipates the 

need for greatly expanded 

activity in the future. 
 18 2005 Accomplishments Report

The use of energy and energybased products, from tractor 

use to commercial nitrogen 

fertilizers, significantly impacts the 

cost of agricultural production. 

Managing energy use will lower 

production costs as well as help 

reduce the Nation’s dependence 

on foreign sources of fossil fuel. In 

addition, through the production 

of energy from renewable sources 

and biofuels, agriculture can 

contribute significantly to the 

Nation’s energy supply.

In FY 2005, with NRCS technical 

and financial assistance, 

producers, landowners, and land 

managers:

• Reduced tillage and fuel use 

on nearly 6 million acres of 

cropland; and

• Developed nearly 6,000 

and applied over 4,500 

comprehensive nutrient 

management plans.

Venture Goal: 

 An Adequate Energy Supply
2005 Accomplishments Report  19

Venture Goal:

 Working Farm and Ranch Lands 

Viable, sustainable farms and 

ranches are able to maintain 

connected landscapes where 

agricultural and forest uses, water 

management, wildlife habitat and 

open space coexist and thrive.

In FY 2005, local communities 

with NRCS technical and financial 

assistance:

• Protected nearly 400,000 acres 

of farm and ranch land from 

conversion to non-agricultural 

uses, including over 200,000 

acres of prime, unique, or 

important farmland; and

• Completed over 4,600 Resource 

Conservation and Development 

projects that improve the 

quality of life, including social, 

economic, and environmental 

concerns, in rural communities 

resulting in the creation of 

1,155 local businesses and 

8,236 jobs.
 20  2005 Accomplishments Report

In FY 2005, NRCS activities were funded through 19 programs, each with its own authorizing legislation and annual 

funding. Competitive grants, important stand-alone components within several program areas, focus a portion of 

program funds on special initiatives. Agency programs include:

Conservation Operations

Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) 

Cooperative Conservation Partnership 

 Initiative Grants (CTA-CCPI)

Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative 

 Grants (CTA-GLCI)

Soil Survey

Snow Survey and Water Supply 

Forecasting

Plant Materials

Water Resources

Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP)

Flood Prevention Operations

Small Watershed Operations

Watershed Planning

Watershed Rehabilitation

NRCS Programs

Farm Bill

Conservation Security Program (CSP)

Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)

Conservation Innovation Grants (EQIP-CIG)

Klamath Basin (EQIP-Klamath)

Ground and Surface Water Conservation (EQIP-GSWC)

Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP)

Grassland Reserve Program (GRP)

Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP)

Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) 

Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program (WRP-WREP)

Agricultural Management Assistance Program (AMA) 

Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D)
2005 Accomplishments Report  21

• Conservation Operations 

Conservation Operations 

provides the infrastructure 

through which NRCS assists 

conservation districts, develops 

technical standards and 

technical guides, conducts 

resources inventories, and 

provides the conservation 

technical assistance to 

individuals and communities to 

plan and manage their natural 

resources.

• Water Resources - The water 

resource programs focus 

on restoring the health 

of watersheds through a 

comprehensive planning 

approach. These programs 

assist communities in protecting 

watersheds from damage 

caused by erosion, flood water, 

and sediment, and in conserving 

and developing water and land 

resources.

• Farm Bill Programs - These 

mandatory programs provide 

technical, financial, and 

educational assistance to help 

participants plan and apply 

conservation to address single 

or multiple natural resource 

concerns identified at the local 

level. Grant programs provide 

financial support to foster 

conservation innovation and 

watershed-scale approaches.

Distribution of NRCS FY 2005 staff years across major program 

areas. Calculated from 2007 President’s Budget Summary.

• The Resource Conservation 

and Development Program 

provides technical assistance 

to Resource Conservation and 

Development Councils to plan, 

develop, and carry out projects 

that address land conservation, 

water management, community 

development, and land 

management.

Figure 8

 - 
 22 2005 Accomplishments Report

Business Line Description

Conservation Planning and NRCS provides data, information, or technical expertise that 

Technical Consultation helps people collect and analyze information to identify 

 natural resource problems and opportunities, clarify their 

objectives, and formulate and evaluate alternatives. 

Conservation Implementation NRCS helps customers install conservation practices and systems on 

 their land that meet established technical standards and specifications, 

and result in improved treatment of the resources.

Natural Resources Inventory NRCS assesses, acquires, develops, interprets, analyzes, and delivers 

and Assessment natural resource data and information to enable knowledge-based 

 natural resource planning and decision making at all landscape scales. 

Natural Resource Technology NRCS develops, documents, and distributes a wide array of technology 

Transfer pertaining to resource assessment, conservation planning, and 

 conservation system installation and evaluation, including computer 

 applications, standards and guidance documents, criteria, and 

 plant materials.

Financial Assistance NRCS provides financial assistance to encourage the adoption of land 

 treatment practices that have been proven to provide significant public 

benefits. Financial assistance is awarded to participants who voluntarily 

enter into contracts, easements, and agreements to conserve natural 

resources. 

In FY 2005, NRCS employees spent the majority of their time in Conservation Planning and Technical 

Consultation (32 percent) and Conservation Implementation (30 percent). NRCS employees also spent time 

on Financial Assistance (15 percent), Natural Resource Technology Transfer (14 percent), and Natural 

Resources Inventory and Assessment (9 percent) activities. See Figure 9. 

NRCS Business Lines

NRCS provides technical and financial assistance to landowners and managers through five business lines. Business 

lines are groups of similar products and services that Agency employees deliver to external customers. The five 

business lines are:
2005 Accomplishments Report  23

Distribution of NRCS FY 2005 staff time by Business Line. Data reflect 

the percent of NRCS FY 2005 staff years devoted to each of the Agency 

business lines. The primary services provided by staff in NRCS field 

offices are assistance in developing conservation plans, and applying and 

maintaining the conservation practices called for in those plans. 

Figure 9
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