Conservation Planning: What’s New?

1. Conservation Planning:What’s New?

2. Topics for Today’s Webinar Revised NPPH Proposed NRCS Land Uses Resource Concerns Planning criteria

3. Conservation Delivery Streamlining Initiative (CDSI) Simplify conservation delivery: Easier for employees and customers Increase staff time in the field with clients Streamline business processes Ensure science-based conservation assistance Enhance financial management and accountability More Conservation on the ground!

4. NPPH Amendment 5

5. The conservation planning process has not changed!

6. CDSI Land Use Changes

7. CDSI Land Use changes Unclear or competing land use designations have been removed. Introduces Land Use “modifiers” to more accurately define the land’s actual use and management. (adverbs)

8. Modifiers • Modifiers provide a level of specificity and help describe how the land is actually managed. • Irrigated – applied when an operational system is present and managed to supply water • Wildlife – applied when the client is actively managing for wildlife, and management is reflected in the conservation plan through the application of practices beneficial to wildlife • Grazed – applied when grazing animals impact how land is managed and influence the conservation plan

9. CDSI Change: Resource Concerns and Planning Criteria

10. What are Resource Concerns? “An expected degradation of the soil, water, air, plant, or animal resource base to the extent that the sustainability or intended use the resource is impaired” Note: human and energy resources are components of the resource base NRCS’ National Planning Procedures Handbook (NPPH)

11. Why Revise the NRCS Resource Concerns List? Enhance the technical credibility of NRCS conservation planning Support the more integrated delivery of technical and financial assistance Facilitate a more efficient, streamlined conservation assistance business model.

12. Each of the resource concerns are described in the NPPH

13. What are Quality Criteria? “ a descriptive statement of desired resource condition and management, representing a level of use that is sustainable over the long term” NRCS’ National Planning Procedures Handbook (NPPH)

14. Why are we not using QC? • Resource concerns and associated quality criteria do not meet the needs of NRCS planners in the field, and do not facilitate the desired science-based planning process as intended. • Planners cannot objectively determine when quality criteria are met. • The establishment of quality criteria for all resource concerns is an elusive goal

15. Planning Criteria • “A quantitative or qualitative statement of a treatment level required to achieve a minimum level of treatment for a given resource concern” • 2 Levels – Screening & Assessment

16. Screening Simple true-false statements of easily observable conditions planners can use to identify sites that have little or no probability of needing additional treatment.

17. Assessment • The assessment criteria are used when a site does not pass the screening question(s), or when no screening criteria are defined. • Where possible, assessment tools are provided • In some cases Screening/Assessment of designated Resource Concerns will be required.

18. Assessment Methods Procedural: planners use well-defined procedures to acquire data used to determine the resource condition (Pasture Condition Score) Predictive: planners use models to predict the probability of an outcome. (RUSLE2 or WEPS) Observation: planners rely on direct observation or information provided by the client through an interview (Classic gully) Deduction: planners rely on reason to deduce the status of a resource. The deductive approach is often related to treatment standards. (Dissolved nutrients in ground water: If a client utilizes all reasonable nutrient management techniques and has significantly modified the rate, timing, or both of nutrients applied to a field, the planner may deduce that the field in question is no longer a significant source of nutrients entering the groundwater.)

19. Resource Concern Checklists Checklists available for: Cropland Pasture Range Farmstead/Other Forest Landscape

21. Cropland

22. Wildlife, Air Quality and Energy: Use Landscape Checklist

23. Questions? email me! bonda.habets@wa.usda.gov