This annual report highlights the work

that NRCS Missouri, our conservation

partners and our customers accomplished in 2002. These accomplishments

reflect conservation work on private

land that provide benefits to all

Missouri’s residents.

The result of these efforts to get conservation on the land is that Missouri

residents have cleaner water, more

wildlife, less soil erosion, and improved 

pastures and woodlots.

What lies ahead? The 2002 Farm Bill 

provides even greater opportunities to

expand our efforts and accelerate our

conservation accomplishments. These

opportunities can only be realized

through the dedication and hard work of

NRCS employees, our partners, and the

people we serve.

Roger A. Hansen

Missouri State Conservationist

Landowners Find Incentives in 

the Wetlands Reserve Program

Three years ago Richard Mauzey grimaced 

each time he bounced over a gully while 

attempting to harvest corn from marginal

cropland on his Chariton County farm. Now

Mauzey smiles as he literally floats across the same

tract of hard-to-farm land sandwiched between railroad tracks and a nearby creek. 

Thanks to the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP),

Mauzey is just a short boat ride away from a duck

blind on his own private waterfowl refuge. More and

more landowners, like Mauzey, are discovering the

benefits of retiring marginal sections of their agricultural land to WRP. Through WRP, they improve the

makeup of their farms, provide habitat for wildlife,

and profit financially. 

WRP pays landowners to protect, restore, and

enhance wetlands on their property. The USDA

Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) aids

landowners in their restoration efforts by providing

them with technical and financial support. 

“WRP places a value on land that farmers think is

worthless or that they can’t afford to maintain,” says

Mick Hawkins, NRCS conservation technician in

Mick Hawkins, NRCS conservation 

technician (right) and Richard Mauzey 

review Mauzey’s conservation plan 

during a tour of the Mauzey family 

wetland in Chariton County.

cover photo - Henry County, Missouri
Chariton County. “It basically gives a value to notso-valuable ground, and it has changed the way 

farmers look at wetlands. They know this program 

is there to help them.” 

A landowner participating in WRP either enters into

a cost-share restoration agreement with USDA or

signs an easement in exchange for a cash payment.

Many participants earn additional income by leasing

hunting rights, Hawkins says.

“What some of these lands were worth 20 years ago,

they’re worth 20 times more now with the WRP,”

says Hawkins.

Mauzey says he just enjoys having his own family

wetland. Richard, his father Kenneth, and Richard’s

sons enjoy the time they can spend together in the

duck blind. Richard says he is most appreciative of

his wetland when he invites children to visit his duck

blind. “I get more out of seeing the looks on kids

faces when they come out here during duck season,”

he says. “They are really enjoying themselves.”

by Cassie Piercey, EarthTeam volunteer

NRCSin Missouri is designed for customer 

service and field office support.

We have 100 field offices serving 

114 counties employing over 400 employees. In addition to field offices, NRCS also has other technical

offices. These offices support soil survey, watershed

projects, water quality, outreach, resource conservation

and development and plant materials.

Our field offices are co-located with the USDA Farm

Service Agency, Rural Development and local soil

and water conservation district staffs. The state is

divided into five areas led by area conservationists.

Those five areas are further divided into one-to-three

county field office service areas (FOSAs) led by district

conservationists.

The State Office, located in Columbia, provides 

technical and administrative support for all other 

offices and is made up of nine separate teams.

They are Engineering, Water Resources, Information

Resources Management, Resource Inventory and

Assessment, Field Technical Services, Public Information

and Marketing, Administration and Finance, Human

Resources and the State Conservationist's staff.

This annual report covers one fiscal year - from 

October 1, 2001, to September 30, 2002. In 

a few cases, to show trends, data from other

years have been included. The information in this

publication highlights a number of our annual activities in fiscal year 2002.

Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP)

WRP helps landowners restore wetlands on agricultural

and non-agricultural lands. Restored wetlands provide

wildlife habitat for migratory birds, threatened and

endangered species and other wetland wildlife. WRP

started as a pilot in Missouri in 1992. To date, 664

applications have been funded statewide encompassing

83,141 acres. In 2002, NRCS accepted 40 applications

covering 6,024 acres.

About NRCS

Programs Summary
Conservation Technical Assistance

Technical assistance is simply about helping people.

NRCS employees provide conservation options, 

recommendations, planning, or application assistance 

to individual farmers, ranchers, local governments, and

even individual homeowners.

During Fiscal Year 2002, NRCS and its

partners in Missouri provided technical

assistance to 129,608 customers, including

49,218 first-time customers. They helped

land users apply conservation systems

on 883,923 acres and plan conservation

measures that, when applied, would

protect another 727,622 acres. 

They helped establish irrigation management systems on 61,449 acres in

southeastern Missouri, helped establish

prescribed grazing systems on 123,445

acres in the state’s grassland areas, and

helped landowners improve wildlife habitat

on 190,173 aces throughout the state.

Missouri’s natural resources conservation team also provided technical assistance to install 117 animal waste management systems.

Environmental Quality 

Incentives Program (EQIP)

EQIP promotes agricultural production and environmental

quality as compatible goals. EQIP provides financial and

technical help to install or implement structural and 

management conservation practices on agricultural land.

In 2002, Missouri farmers requested more than $83 million

in EQIP financial assistance. The $8.2 million available

funded 146 of the 2,344 Missouri EQIP applications.

This financial assistance will help install conservation

practices that will reduce soil erosion, use water more 

efficiently, and improve grazing land and wildlife habitat.

Farmland Protection Program (FPP)

Missouri NRCS signed a cooperative agreement in 

2002 that will permanently protect 102 acres of farmland 

adjacent to Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield near

Springfield. Portions of an early Civil War battle occurred

on this land. The FPP conservation easement protects the

site’s rural, agricultural character and ensures that the

view from the battlefield will remain similar to what it

was during the battle in 1861.

Plant Materials Program

The Elsberry Plant Materials Center (PMC) primarily

serves Missouri, Illinois and Iowa. Its mission is to develop

and transfer plant materials and technology for the conservation of natural resources. During 2002, nine of 29 plants

released nationally through the Plant Materials Program

were from the Elsberry PMC.

Soil Survey

The Missouri Cooperative Soil Survey

Program continues to be one of the

strongest in the country. In April, the

milestone of completing the initial

soils inventory for the state of Missouri

was celebrated in Jefferson City.

Federal, state and local agencies and

organizations are committed to the

next phase, refining the initial soils

data and delivering current soils information and interpretations to the citizens of Missouri.

Watershed Program (PL-566)

The Watershed Protection and Flood

Prevention Act authorizes NRCS to provide assistance to

local organizations in planning and implementing watershed projects.

In 2002, Missouri’s $5.5 million allotment of PL-566

watershed implementation funds was used to award 

10 contracts in seven watersheds. The contracts are for

constructing 43 floodwater retarding structures, installing

an ADA-designed walking/jogging trail and fishing platform

along the McKenzie Creek in Piedmont, and for acquiring

floodprone property and buildings in the Hickory Creek

floodplain at Neosho.

Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP)

WHIP is designed to maintain ecosystem diversity by

improving habitats of reduced or declining wildlife 

populations within agricultural systems. Missouri obligated

more than $455,000 with 71 contracts during 2002. 

601 Business Loop 70 West, Suite 250 • Columbia, MO 65203

(573) 876-0901 • www.mo.nrcs.usda.gov

An Equal Opportunity Employer and Provider