Greetings! I had an

opportunity to participate

in a USDA Public Listening

Forum in February to hear

first-hand about the

programs and services

that we provide to our

clients. I commend the

USDA, CES, and SCWD

staffs for planning,

organizing and conducting

this important event.

Despite a small turnout, the individuals and

community representatives that were present

raised several concerns. During the forum, I

realized how important it is for us to ensure

that we are effectively addressing the needs

of our clients. There are a great number of

individuals and communities throughout the state

who need to be more aware of NRCS expertise

and assistance available. We have to make

sure that happens. Our client base has changed

over the years and we need to do everything

possible to assist all our clients by addressing

resource concerns within their communities.

We all have worked extra hard over the past

year addressing the needs of our valuable

clients. Many of you have made tremendous

accomplishments with your outreach efforts.

None of those efforts have gone unnoticed. I do

read through your quarterly reports before

forwarding them to our Regional Office. I certainly

appreciate everything that you have done.

I realize that we have achieved a lot, but

our job as a state is not done. I encourage you

to continue the efforts that you have been

diligently working on over that past year, and

also to pursue new opportunities. We must

become more creative, taking advantage of

opportunities that exist or arise with our

partners.

Despite our current budget situation, we must

continue to provide nothing less than the

outstanding service our clients have come to

expect.

Thank you and keep up the great work!

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service May 1999

Outreach Message: What is Outreach?

Outreach is a way of conducting business

that ensures underserved individuals and

groups throughout the United States and

its territories are made aware of,

understand, and have a working knowledge

of USDA programs and services. Outreach

will ensure that these programs and services

are equitable and made accessible to all.

Illinois State Conservationist

Bill Gradle

State Conservationist

Outreach

News, ideas, and information

on NRCS Outreach initiatives

and projects in Illinois Insider

Earth Team

Volunteering is a

Win-Win Situation

Partnering with area groups has

resulted in yet another Win-Win situation

for two organizations. In the latest case,

students at the Macoupin Center for the

Developmentally Disabled applied mailing

labels to some 3,500 Macoupin County

Soil and Water Conservation District

(SWCD) newsletters.

Eric Gerth, Soil Conservationist,

Carlinville, has been a volunteer at the

schools summer camps and at Special

Olympic events for a number of years.

Because of Erics friendship with the

students and teachers, he thought that

they would like to help out with the labeling

as a part of USDAs Earth Team Volunteer

Program.

That program gives members of the

community a chance to volunteer their

time to support the work of the USDA

and the Local SWCDs in conserving the

nations natural resources. In any case,

several towns newsletters were given to

the school so the students could apply

labels. They enjoyed the work so much

that their teacher, Debi Hart, requested

more newsletters from the District.

Things worked out well for those several

days in late January because, just as

Resource Conservationist Rhonda Koehne

was discovering that the governments

labeling machine was on the fritz, Harts

call for more newsletters came through.

The remaining newsletters were brought

over to the school.

Our students just loved the sense of

accomplishment they got from

successfully completing this job, Hart

said later. It was also a help that they

knew Eric Gerth and were aware of the

fact that they were helping him. They

really walked around proudly after doing

that work, Hart added. This is the task

that kept the students attention.

The school has let it be known that

they would like to continue helping out the

District in labeling newsletters. The

District was so pleased that several

weeks later Koehne, Gerth and Dan

McCandless returned to the school once

again to give them thanks and bring Tshirts and sweatshirts for the their help.

Source: Macoupin County Inquirer

Pembroke Township Project

Expands

Bob Gotkowski, DC, Kankakee County,

is in the process of planning another farm

demonstration project with producers in

Pembroke Township. The 1998 organic

soybean demonstration project went

exceptionally, considering problems that

arose during planting, and weed control

concerns after crop emergence. Unlike

conventional farming methods, organic

farming requires intensive management to

control weeds due to the inability to use

commercial chemicals for weed control. In

most instances weeds have to be

controlled using cultural methods such as

crop rotation, and intensive tillage.

Bob is planning to assist the Pembroke

producers with expanding the farm

demonstration project this year. A

$30,000 Sustainable Agricultural grant

was obtained from the Illinois Department

of Agricultural in February. The money will

be used to continue and expand the

organic corn/soybean plots and to

complete the installation of a drip

irrigation system for organic vegetable

production. A hoop-type greenhouse will

also be completed as a part of the project.

Mike Doherty, Cooperative Specialist,

RD, continues to work with producers to
More than 800 foreign scientists and

colleagues attended the conference,

sharing information on economic growth

research as it relates to the use of

natural resources. Participants of the

conference included the United Nations

Earth Council Advisor/Secretary General;

USDA representatives from the Forest

Service and NRCS; universities; natural

resource agencies; and businesses and

private industries.

In addition to the conference, Michele

was able to meet with Richard Blabey,

Agricultural Counselor at the U.S.

Embassy in Chile. Mr. Blabey expressed

his appreciation for USDA, and especially

NRCS for showing such an active interest

in global sustainability.

Michele also visited two family farms

to gain a better understanding of

sustainable agricultural methods and the

socio-economic and resource concerns of

farmers in Chile, as well as to establish

positive relationships. One of the farms

that Michele visited was that of Carlos

Crocetto, who lives in Chequen, which is

near Concepcion.

Carlos, who is an agronomist, has

maintained a relationship with NRCS since

the 1970s. You may remember him from

a no-till book that he wrote entitled

Stubble over the Soil, which was originally

written in Spanish but later translated

to English by an NRCS agronomist.

According to Michele, most of the

farms in Chile are very different than those

found in the U.S. Each farm is likely to

have many small size operations. For

example, one farm she visited had a

vineyard for wine production and table

grapes, walnut grove, lemon orchards, hog

production, and a laying hen operation.

Because their operations are very labor

intensive, farm workers are hired for

harvesting, packing as well as loading

products.

The region of Chile that Michele visited

is normally very droughty, with very little

rainfall. Most producers in the area rely

solely on irrigation water from snow melt

in the mountains. Chile has suffered from

a long-term drought causing hydroelectric

plant shut downs daily, 8 A.M. to 11:00

A.M. to conserve water. Even the

conference center where Michele met was

without power during that time.

Michele hopes to maintain the

relationship that she established with the

Chile producers. She plans to organize a

trip with a group of young farmers from

her area to visit Chile and share ideas

and information. She also thought that

it would be very beneficial for Carlos to

visit Gallatin and Hardin Counties to

personally deliver his no-till message to

Illinois farmers.

Shawnee Community College will serve as

the fiscal agent for the zone, providing a

support staff, office space, and technical

assistance. Each of the County Boards

has committed $10,000 annually to

support the zone. A Regional Planning

Commission will also provide computer

equipment.

A strategic plan has been developed

to address the concerns of the community.

The plan will primarily focus on the following:

 Infrastructure  clean drinking

water, safe sewage disposal

systems, 24-hour emergency service,

telecommunications, paved roads,

etc;

 Economic Development  business

expansion, recruitment and

entrepreneurship training;

 Tourism Development  300 jobs

will exist as a result of developing

tourist sites and services;

 Stronger Unity/Sense of

Community  300 people, reflecting

diversity of the community, will plan

or participate in new volunteer

community building activities;

 Life-long Learning and

Education  increase graduation

rates and raise test scores,

increase in the number of adults

receiving their GED;

 Housing  increase number of

residents in the zone who will have

decent, affordable place to live.

 Health Care  Increased number of

residents in the zone with access to

affordable health care services.

All of the partners are extremely

excited about the project and are looking

forward to its implementation. They hope

to create many changes within the

communities assisting with building a new

community spirit

Southern Illinois Receives

Empowerment Zone

Rural Development hosted a USDA

information meeting on February 26th to

update federal, state, and local employees

on the recently approved Southernmost

Illinois Delta Empowerment Zone. Parts

of Alexander, Pulaski, and Johnson

Counties received the Empowerment Zone

designation. The boundaries of the

Empowerment Zone are based on census

tract blocks, which typically follow physical

boundaries.

Approved Empowerment Zones are

established to stimulate economic growth

through tax incentives and other means

to benefit communities. The goal is to

create jobs, training opportunities,

improve infrastructure, and establish

businesses offering sustained growth for

the communities.

The Empowerment area is vastly

different from any other area in the state.

An inadequate infrastructure, low

education, minimal job opportunities and

other problems have plagued the entire

area. Below are few community

characteristics:

 11% Unemployment rate

 40% of the area population has less

than a high school education

 22% of the area population is on

some form of public assistance

 31% poverty rate

 Alexander and Pulaski are the two

poorest counties in Illinois

Numerous state and federal agencies

as well as community groups will partner

to assist in this monstrous effort.

International

Outreach in Chile

Michele Gidcumb, District

Conservationist, Gallatin/

Hardin Counties was featured in the

International Programs Divisions News

and Views newsletter in March 1999.

Micheles article tells of her trip to

Santiago, Chile to participate in a

conference sponsored by the

International Society for Ecological

Economics, November 15-19, 1998. The

purpose of the conference was to transfer

information from private and government

sectors, business and academia, to

economic efficiency in growth without

depleting global natural resources.

establish a farmer cooperative. The

cooperative will provide a structured

system whereby producers work together

to produce, and market produce and other

crops to markets in the Chicago area. The

cooperative will also serve as a vehicle to

purchase farm supplies and other material,

which could result in savings for

producers.

In addition to the farm demonstration

and coop venture, Merrill Marxman, CED,

is providing leadership with a free-range

organic chicken project. Merle secured a

$10,000 Sustainable Agricultural

Research and Education (SARE) grant

to establish a demonstration project. The

demonstration project will be coordinated

with one producer from the community.

There are, however, several producers in

the community interested in the freerange chicken enterprise if the project is

a success.
The Underground exhibit, which opened to the public on March 27, received nearly 38,000 visitors

over the first four days of the opening.

Welcome to

The Underground

The Field Museum in Chicago unveiled

The Underground soils exhibit on Tuesday,

March 25, 1999. Nearly 38,000 visitors

attended over the first four days. The

District Conservationist Assist

with Teaching English

In addition to corn and soybeans,

Gallatin County has quite a bit of

vegetable farming. In the past, migrant

workers came to Gallatin County during

the summer harvest to find work. With

the growth of vegetable production, so

grew the population of Spanish speaking

people in the county. Gallatin County now

has some permanent Spanish-speaking

residents. The Mexican families attend

the county schools and churches, and have

become part of the community.

Through a state language grant, a bilingual teacher was hired to teach English

to the migrant workers and their families.

display, which cost more than $10 million

dollars, will be used as a permanent exhibit

focusing on educating visitors about

prairie soils. Horace Smith, National Soil

Survey Director, NRCS, provided his

perspective on soils and where we need

to go in the next millennium during the

ceremony.

The Illinois NRCS played a significant

role in collaborating with the Field Museum

to development the exhibit. Bob McCleese,

Don Fehrenbacher, Mark Bramstedt, and

others provided soils information as well

as pictures that were utilized in displays.

Illinois Soils Scientists Mack Hodges and

Don Fehrenbacher both have their

pictures prominently displayed as a part

of the exhibit. The exhibit will enlighten

residents of the Chicago area and visitors

from around the world to the importance

of soils and what we must do to conserve

this valuable resource. The display will

certainly acquaint nontraditional clients

with NRCS and what we do as an agency.

If you visit the Chicago area, you will not

regret a trip to view the exhibit.

Resource Planning Guidebook

Coming Soon

The importance of resource planning can

not be overstated when working with our

customers, especially underserved groups/

communities who we havent work much

with before. As any group planning activity

progresses, there will inevitably be a need

to organize thoughts, document what

needs to be done and identify what

resources are available to complete the

tasks. The Resource Planning Team has

developed a guidebook to assist with

planning efforts.

The Resource Planning Guidebook

(RPG) is a source book for NRCS and

SWCD and other conservation partners

in Illinois to use when facilitating locallyled planning. Locally-led resource planning,

or Area-wide Planning, as its called in

the NRCS National Planning Procedures

Handbook, is the problem-solving and

management process NRCS uses to help

clients develop resource plans that meet

locally-identified objectives.

With the resource planning process, we

help citizens develop productive

partnerships, resolve conflicts, make

decisions, and obtain financial and

technical resources to carry out their

ideas. This demands that we draw upon

our many talents in facilitating, leading,

and partnering, and of course, our

expertise in the natural resource

sciences. The reward of resource planning

is the enhanced ability of communities to

manage their natural resources to meet

their goals. The Resource Planning

Guidebook can help staff and citizens alike

meet these challenges. The purpose of

the Resource Planning Guidebook is to:

 Supplement the National Planning

Procedures Guidebook.

 Empower Conservation Partners to

carry out resource planning.

 Enhance communication between

Conservation Partners and the public

about the planning process.

The RPG compliments the National

Planning Procedures Handbook. The

National Planning Procedures Handbook

describes the policy and procedures

pertaining to the resource planning

process. To supplement this processoriented material, the RPG gives detailed

insider tips for carrying out resource

planning at the local level.

The RPG will show you step by step

what to do. It also explains why a

particular step is important and suggests

how to do it. The Guidebook has practical

ideas for implementing locally-led planning,

gleaned from our experience working with

Illinois communities.

Refer to the RPG throughout the

planning effort for help with identifying

stakeholders, running effective meetings,

involving the public, determining inventory

needs, analyzing data, building local

ownership of plans, implementing plans,

and much more.

To help stakeholders understand the

planning process, material in the RPG is

also suitable for distribution to the public.

For example, share Organizing the Planning

Committee when your locally-led

committee needs to decide how they will

make decisions. Working with the Media

will give the Planning Committee ideas for

communicating their activities to the

public. Use Developing and Evaluating

Alternatives to help the Committee to

understand this critical step in developing

their resource plan.

These and other factsheets are

protected in plastic sleeves in the RPG

to ensure clean copies are available for

you to duplicate. The RPG has also been

formatted in a 3-ring binder to encourage

you to insert updated information or

other material you find helpful.

Resource planning is driven by local

needs, local people, and local action. The

Resource Planning Guidebook can help you

facilitate resource planning so that local

people develop and implement plans that

protect, conserve and enhance natural

resources within their social and economic

interests.

The RPG will be available to field offices

later this summer.
Whats Happening

in Illinois?

Producers Pool Resources for

Produce Project

Roscoe Allen, Outreach Team Leader,

is assisting a group of small and limited

resource producers in southern Illinois to

coordinate a six-acre vegetable project.

The producers have pooled their resources

to produce fresh vegetables to be sold in

Mt. Vernon and East St. Louis open-air

markets. The producers plan to work with

NRCS and the University of Illinois

Extension to produce a multitude of

organic vegetables. Their goal for this year

is to simply experiment with producing

various vegetable crops and to establish

viable markets for the produce.

Roscoe and Mike Doherty, Cooperative

Specialist, RD, recently met with the

producers to explain how a farmer

cooperative operates and what the

benefits are for establishing such an

enterprise.

Outreach

Reporting

Elsberry Plant Material Center

Supporting East St. Louis

The Elsberry Plant Material Center is

supporting an urban beautification effort

in the East St. Louis metro area by

providing seedlings to the East St. Louis

Park District. The Park District built a

greenhouse in 1996 as part of an Urban

Resource Partnership (URP) project. The

greenhouse was established to produce

flowers, shrubs and other plants for

beautification projects in the East St.

Louis area.

Since the greenhouse was built, the

Park District has successfully worked with

residents to clean-up vacant lots and

other areas to beautify the area.

Make A

Connection!

Get NRCS products and

services into the hands of

ALL who need them!

Who Do I Call With

Outreach Questions?

John Glover

State Outreach Coordinator

309-452-0830 Ext. 112

Bruce Bennett

Asst. State Conservationist (FOD 1)

618-993-5396 Ext. 110

Steve Mozley

Asst. State Conservationist (FOD 2)

217-492-5045

Jim Martin

Asst. State Conservationist (FOD 3)

815-937-3233 x114

Bob Dean

Asst. State Conservationist (FOD 4)

309-342-5138 x115

Lue Walters

Asst. State Conservationist

(Community Assistance)

309-452-0830 x111

Jody Rendziak

Community Planner & Sociologist

217-398-5280

Internet Connections

Outreach Website

An Illinois outreach website has been establish to provide resource information. The site

provides general outreach information on developing an outreach strategy and it has links

to other agencies, possible funding sources, and other valuable information. The Illinois

NRCS outreach website can be accessed at:

www.il.nrcs.usda.gov/outreach/Outreach.html

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

A complete listing of funding sources are available through the USEPA Region 5 website

located at:

www.epa.gov/seahome/resources/funding_sources.htm

Grant Info On-Line

Grant News, a grant listing newsletter produced by the Illinois State University Applied

Social Research Unit is now available on-line. The newsletter lists grant opportunities

available from various private and public sources. Grant News can be accessed at:

www.socialresearch.ilstu.edu/asru/publications.htm

Demographic Information

The U.S. Census Bureau has a very useful site for obtaining census data. The site

permits users to develop demographic tables and maps by selecting various characteristics

of states, counties, areas or communities. The site can be assessed at:

www.census.gov (then click on) Data Access Tools, The American FactFinder.

This information is very helpful in providing demographic information for outreach or

resource planning efforts.

United States 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 of 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 DC 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD).

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

If you have an outreach related

article, story idea, or success story to

share, please send it to:

John Glover, USDA-NRCS

402 North Kays Drive

Bloomington, IL 61761

Email address:

John.Glover@il.usda.gov

Macoupin County SWCD

Conduct Clothing Drive

The Macoupin County Soil and Water

Conservation District (SWCD) collected

more than 168 pounds of clothing for

needy children on the White Earth Indian

Reservation in Minnesota. The District

placed an advertisement in the SWCD

newsletter and received an overwhelming

response from Macoupin County residents.

Because of the success of the clothing

drive, the District is considering another

drive later this year

The tribe was extremely appreciative

of the generous gift from the District, and

to show their appreciation the office staff

and the community of the White Earth

Reservation sent the District a cheMiigwech (BIG THANK YOU).

The class meets for eight weeks on

Saturday nights. Michele Gidcumb,

District Conservationist of Gallatin/Hardin

Counties, and her husband take time out

of their weekend to attend the classes.

Michele and her husband enjoy working

with the families. By doing the exercises

in groups, the Mexican families are learning

conversational English. Michele speaks

limited Spanish, but hopes to learn more

so she can communicate with the migrant

workers in their own language while in the

field.