McKenzie Creek flows through 

Lon Sanders Canyon near piedmont.
It is my privilege to present the 2003 annual report for the USDA Natural

Resources Conservation Service in Missouri.

This report highlights the natural resource accomplishments on private land.

These accomplishments benefit all Missouri residents by improving water

quality, reducing soil erosion, increasing wildlife habitat and improving the

management of cropland, grassland and other land uses.

I congratulate Missouri’s farmers, ranchers and others for being good stewards

of the natural resources on their property. I appreciate the excellent assistance

provided by NRCS employees, the soil and water conservation district staff,

and other members of our Missouri conservation partnership in obtaining

conservation on the land.

This has been a record year for conservation of natural resources in Missouri!

Roger A. Hansen

Missouri State Conservationist

NRCS in Missouri is designed

for customer service and field

office support. We have 100 field

offices with over 400 employees,

serving 114 counties. 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 eight

separate teams. They are

Engineering, Water Resources,

Resource Inventory and

Assessment, Field Technical

Services, Public Information and

Marketing, Administration and

Finance, Human Resources and

the State Conservationist's staff.

About NRCS
Floodplain Buyout Provides Park,

Pride in Piedmont

Unable to control the creek’s

flow, planners on the Missouri

NRCS water resources staff suggested a voluntary floodplain

buyout to control the damage.

In July 1998, NRCS, the

Wayne County Soil and Water

Conservation District and the

City of Piedmont signed the

McKenzie Creek Watershed

Plan and Environmental

Assessment.

As of February 1, the city had

purchased and removed three

commercial buildings and 101

M

Even at high flow, McKenzie Creek resembles poetry in motion

as it flows through the Lon Sanders Canyon shut-ins about

one mile upstream from Piedmont. Inside the city limits,

however, many residents of the small Wayne County community

view the creek with skepticism, remembering all too well 

the times when it became an uncontrollable monster.

cKenzie Creek floodwaters have invaded homes and businesses in Piedmont many times over the years, causing an 

average of $584,000 in damages each year. In 1992, the 

creek flooded for the fourth time in 10 years, encouraging 

Piedmont Mayor Galon Watson to seek a solution following 

his election in 1993.

“One day I got the idea to bring all of the agencies together

that had some jurisdiction,” Watson says. Based upon information from that meeting, the city requested a study by the

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

Initial NRCS studies concentrated on flood control using

small, floodwater-retarding structures. However, too few suitable dam sites were available to adequately control storm

runoff in the 21,330 acre McKenzie Creek watershed.

Boys view rain-swollen McKenzie Creek

from a new handicap-accessible pier 

in the buyout area.
mostly low-income residences.

Residents were relocated to

flood-free areas.

In place of the 104 residences

and businesses, about 50 acres

of open space was added along

the creek. The city built two

new parks, including playground equipment, two pavilions, two restrooms, a little

league baseball field, a youth

soccer field, benches, picnic

shelters and horseshoe pits. 

The centerpiece of the improvments is a paved trail that winds

for almost a mile along McKenzie

Creek. It includes a handicapaccessible pier at a popular

swimming and fishing hole. 

Environmental improvements

included planting more than

500 trees within the stream 

corridor and stabilizing and

restoring 800 feet of the

stream’s bank.

The cost of the project thus far

is about $4 million. NRCS and

the State Emergency

Management Agency 

contributed about $1.5 million

each. The remaining funds

came from community development grants, the Missouri

Department of Conservation

and the USDA Forest Service,

as well as cash and in-kind contributions from the city, local

businesses, groups and individuals.

Watson says a few people have

chosen not to sell their property

in the floodplain, but most

people appreciated the opportunity to move to areas where

they don’t have to worry about

flooding.

“It’s a win-win situation,”

Watson says. “Sellers win by

getting fair market value for

their property, renters win by

getting better places to live, and

the city wins because we are

able to get people out of harm’s

way and get rid of some blight.

The federal government also

wins because they don’t have to

keep paying on flood-insurance

claims.”

By utilizing authority provided

by the Watershed Protection

and Flood Protect-ion Act,

NRCS and its partners were

able to help the City of

Piedmont live in harmony with

the McKenzie Creek monster.

Piedmont Mayor Gaylon Watson,

right, City Clerk Carolyn Lovelace,

left, and Tammy Thurman, assistant

to the mayor, in Handy Park.

The park replaced low-income,

frequently flooded homes
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 2003, NRCS and

its partners in Missouri provided

technical assistance to 91,799 customers, including 34,151 first-time

customers. They helped land users

apply conservation systems on

805,522 acres and plan conservation

measures that, when applied, would

protect another 746,873 acres.

They helped establish irrigation

management systems on 120,844

acres in southeastern Missouri,

helped establish prescribed grazing

systems on 123,524 acres in the

state’s grassland areas, assisted

with pest management on 126,112

acres, and helped landowners

improve wildlife habitat on 176,519

acres throughout the state.

Missouri’s natural resources conservation team also provided technical

assistance to install 95 animal

waste management systems.

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, 695 applications have been funded

statewide encompassing 98,630

acres. In 2003, NRCS accepted 222

applications covering 18,306 acres.

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 2003, Missouri farmers requested

more than $50 million in EQIP

financial assistance. The $14.2 million available funded 514 of the

2,995 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.

Farm and Ranch Lands

Protection Program (FRPP)

The Farm and Ranch Lands

Protection Program provides an

opportunity for USDA to purchase

development rights from private

landowners, thereby keeping productive farmland in agricultural use

and protecting historical sites on

agricultural land. USDA provides

matching funds to organizations

with existing farmland protection

procedures to help them acquire

permanent conservation easements from landowners interested

in maintaining their current farming enterprise.

Program Summary

This annual report covers one fiscal year - from October 1, 2002, to September

30, 2003. 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 2003.
In 2003, Missouri completed its first

FRPP contract, which will prevent

development on 102 historically

significant acres of pastureland bordering Wilson’s Creek National

Battlefield. Missouri NRCS also

received funding to help organizations protect nearly 460 acres of

privately owned land in four counties from further development to

non-agricultural use.

Grassland Reserve Program

(GRP)

The Grassland Reserve Program is a

new program that offers landowners an opportunity to restore and

protect grassland and pastureland

rather than converting it to cropland or other uses. Last year $1.8

million was available in Missouri,

which was used to protect and

enhance more than 12,000 acres.

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 2003, Missouri’s $4.3 million allotment of PL-566 watershed implementation funds was used to award

16 contracts in 11 watersheds. The

contracts are for constructing 67

floodwater retarding structures,

improving the Neosho city park

along Hickory Creek, and for acquiring flood-prone property and

buildings along McKenzie Creek in

Piedmont.

Watershed Rehabilitation funds

totaling $520,000 were obligated

to rehabilitate a dam in the

Williams Creek Watershed.

Cooperative Soil Survey

Program

The mission of the Missouri

Cooperative Soil Survey Program is

to continue developing sciencebased, soil-system information that

is customized to meet natural

resource management needs. The

emphasis of the program in 2003

was to develop soil survey manuscripts and soil maps for all counties without available publications.

An evaluation of the initial soils

inventory also was conducted.

Future activities will include continuing the refinement effort and

developing interpretations and ratings for specific uses of the soil

resources in Missouri. Additional

emphasis has been placed on the

delivery of soils information to

Missouri citizens via paper copy,

compact disk and the Internet.

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 $350,000 with 54 contracts during 2003.

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 2003, the Elsberry Plant

Materials Center released eight of

the 20 plants released nationally

through the Plant Materials Program.

The commercial value of Elsberry

PMC releases was $2.9 million.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service provides leadership 

in a partnership eff ort to help people conserve, maintain,

and improve our natural resources and environment.

601 Business Loop 70 West, Suite 250

Columbia, Missouri 65203

(573) 876-0901 

www.mo.nrcs.usda.gov

An Equal Opportunity Employer and Provider