USDA Climate Change Capabilities and Responsibilities

1. USDA Climate Change Capabilities and Responsibilities William Hohenstein Director USDA Global Change Program Office

2. Overview of USDA Climate Change Responsibilities • Research • US Global Change Research Program/Climate Change Science Program • Climate Change Technology Program • Inventory and assessment • Contributions to national inventories • Site and project-level accounting • Action • Conservation programs • Renewable energy programs • International • Support for Department of State and WH • Bi-lateral actions

3. Summary of USDA Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Assessment Capabilities and Responsibilities National GHG Inventory • Periodic US Agriculture and Forestry Greenhouse Gas Inventory (2005, 2008) • Provides GHG estimates for land use, land use change, and forestry chapter of the Official EPA GHG Inventory (annually) • Provides underlying statistics for the agriculture chapter of the EPA Inventory (annually) Project/entity GHG inventories • Provided agriculture and forestry methods for DOE Voluntary GHG Reporting Registry 1605(b). Created estimation tools and reporting framework • Developing “stand alone” GHG inventory methods for entities and projects Analysis/Assessment • FASOM Model – Forest Service part of team developed only integrated forest/agriculture economic model of the U.S. • ERS analyses: Biomass Feedstock Report (2008), Economics of Sequestering Carbon in the U.S. Agricultural Sector (2004) • Assessments of legislative approaches Observation systems • The U.S. Forest Inventory -- Forest Service • Forest Health Monitoring Network – Forest Service • National Burn Severity Monitoring Project – Forest Service • Natural Resources Inventory – NRCS • Snowpack Telemetry Network (SNOTEL) – NRCS • Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) – NRCS • National Agricultural Statistics Survey – Agriculture Census, statistics reports

4. USDA Implements $4.7 Billion in Farm Bill Conservation Programs • Farm Services Agency and the Natural Resources Conservation Service administer portfolios of incentive programs that require annual reporting. • NRCS and FSA verify the implementation of conservation practices, adherence to contract specifications, and audit a sub-set of contracts periodically to ensure compliance with contracts. • NRCS and FSA manage networks of private sector technical service providers that assist landowners in implementing actions supported by USDA’s conservation programs.

5. USDA maintains records of cropping practices and management • NASS maintains the agriculture census that could be used to collect information on aggregate levels of implementation of nutrient management, soil conservation, and manure management systems. • USDA Surveys track crop management: • Conservation Effects Assessment Program (CEAP) • Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) • FSA maintains 10+ years of official crop history for crop lands; GIS records will replace paper records and aerial photos by 2011; • FSA utilizes GIS Common Land Units (CLUs) to delineate tract, farm, and field level data. • FSA maintains official land records for 5 million active farms and routinely updates name/address records and reconstitute farms due to frequent change in control of land.