NRCS Alaska News

February 17, 2006

In this Issue:

NRCS Listening Session Draws More than 100 Participants

Cassandra Stalzer, Public Affairs Specialist

More than 100 participants from the Alaska Village Initiative Small Business Conference gathered in the Sheraton ballroom in Anchorage for three hours yesterday to comment on natural resource issues, concerns and opportunities in rural Alaska.  The conference participants represented a broad array of private business owners, Alaska Native regional and village corporation staffs and representatives, and employees from both non-profit and for profit organizations.

A panel made up of Alaska District Conservationist Bob Jones, RC&D and Rural Lands Division Director Anne Dubey, NRCS Regional Assistant Chief Sara Braasch and USDA Assistant Secretary of Administration Andrea M. Hall listened as participants responded to three questions posed by NRCS:

1. What are your community’s greatest concerns with its soil, water, air, plants and/or animals?

2. What assistance do you require to address your soil, water, air, plant and/or animal concerns?

3. What suggestions do you have for increasing awareness of NRCS programs in rural Alaska?

Some of the most frequently cited natural resource concerns were decreases or changes in subsistence resources such as salmon, reindeer, moose and caribou; dust; climate change affects; the need for biomass/alternative energy development; and resource pressures related to mining development.

Suggestions for assistance that NRCS could provide included help with resource planning, inventories and analysis; increased financial assistance; and improved communication about opportunities provided by NRCS.

Many of the comments related to increasing awareness of NRCS focused on improving personal contact with villages, increased Alaska Native staff in outreach/liaison positions, and the establishment of tribal conservation districts.

The listening session was the culmination of the three-and-a-half day event that included the participation of several NRCS staff. Mark Kinney, Joe White, Brett Nelson, Carrie Supik and Tom Hedt led two workshops that provided an introduction to NRCS.  Tom Hedt hosted a session focused on cost-share programs, and Phil Naegele participated in a discussion about tribal conservation districts.

Bob Jones was a keynote speaker during lunch on Wednesday and used the opportunity to explain the importance of building relationships between landowners and field offices (a theme that was repeated throughout the event) and the opportunities provided by strengthening Alaska’s conservation partnership.

AVI will provide NRCS with a transcript of the listening session and DVD recording.

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Alaska Forum on the Environment Features Two Conservation Workshops

The Alaska Forum on the Environment is one of the largest annual conferences held in the state and features more than 80 breakout sessions and more than 1,200 registrants.  This year NRCS helped organize two sessions.

“Models of Community Led Conservation” helped explain how RC&Ds, tribal conservation districts and watershed councils work and what benefits each offers communities. Arlene Rosenkrans provided background on RC&Ds, while AVI’s Charles Parker and Anchorage Waterways Council Director Holly Kent explained the other community models.  The session was moderated by Shirley Schollenberg from the Homer Soil and Water Conservation District and the Alaska Association of Resource Conservation and Development Areas.  The session was well attended with overflow participants seated in the floor at the back of the room.

Joe Moore and Rick McClure led a session on soil and snow surveys that provided information about what each inventory could offer land managers.

NRCS will be participating in the planning committee for AFE again next year, so please forward ideas for sessions that would be relevant to this audience to me.

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Floodplain Acquisition Project at Salcha Reaches Milestone

Eight months following the voluntary sign up, NRCS has scheduled the first two property closings in the Floodplain Acquisition Project at Salcha. The closings are scheduled to take place February 7 and March 6. Closings on three additional properties to be acquired through the project are currently being scheduled.

The Project provided property owners in the most threatened areas of the flood-prone Pile Driver Slough with the opportunity to voluntarily sell their properties to the Fairbanks North Star Borough rather than risk continued threats from the annual flooding of the Tanana River.  More than 70 percent of property owners in the most threatened area applied for the program.

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Non-Structural Measures to Be Piloted in Mat River Erosion Abatement

For the past 25 years structural practices have consistently been used to combat erosion problems along the Matanuska River.  In fact, NRCS is currently providing technical and financial assistance to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough (MSB) on the construction of a spur-dike near the Circle View subdivision that is scheduled for completion this fall. An environmental assessment for this project should be available for public comment within the next month or two.  

In response to federal and state agencies urging the MSB to develop non-structural solutions to erosion, MSB and NRCS are initiating a pilot program to address the most critically endangered properties along the Matanuska River. The pilot project will work like this: once an environmental assessment and eligibility criteria are developed, MSB can acquire fee title to eligible property along the Matanuska River through a voluntary sign-up by interested landowners.   The project could be implemented by early summer, and it is hopeful this pilot project will became a land use planning tool for other rivers within the MSB. 

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Tyonek District Starts Its Seven Generation Plan

The newly established Tyonek Tribal Conservation District (TTCD) began its formation, structuring, and planning process with a meeting held February 10 in Anchorage. Four TTCD board members flew in from Tyonek to join guests Ted Kroto (Tyonek Native Corporation), Dick Gooby (Indian Nations Conservation Alliance), and Bill Wall (Alaska Village Initiates Private Lands Wildlife Management Division). I participated as the NRCS representative to TTCD.  The purpose of the meeting was to establish a Seven Generations Plan. 

A Seven Generations Plan is a long range plan that defines shared visions, identifies local conservation needs, and sets corresponding goals and plans. The process began with board members envisioning what they want Mother Earth, or their area, to look like seven generations from now.  TTCD envisioned everything from clean water, to a healthy relationship with commercial developers, to partnerships with a variety of private and public entities.  From this they developed five clearly stated visions. 

Then it was time for them to describe the benchmark conditions – or what is on the ground today.  Turning themselves into eagles, they flew over the land, describing in vivid detail what they saw.  Just some of these details were creek and road wash-outs where all-terrain vehicles have created quagmires, logging operations, pipelines, and an impending coal mine.  The tides now come in further than any elder can remember.  They have clean, good-tasting ground water to drink in the village. 

The next step was to list actions to get from where they are now to where they want to be seven generations from now. 

The process of creating and implementing their Seven Generations Plan has just begun.  From here, TTCD will create a five year plan and an annual work plan.  They would like to begin forming partnerships and working agreements with key players like NRCS, AVI, and AACD. 

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Sleetmute Dedicates Mellick Center

Norm Stadem attended the dedication ceremony of the Mellick Center, the newly constructed multi-purpose building at Sleetmute. Sleetmute is a village of about 100 people located on the upper Kuskokwim River near its confluence with the Holitna River. 

Tuesday, January 27th, was a bright sunny day with the mercury stuck at -42°F.  But turnout for the dedication, which was followed by a potluck lunch prepared by local women, was well attended. 

Under the supervision of Council Vice President Jack Egnaty and senior school teachers James and Ellen Rush, the Youth Leadership Forum program at the school gave short speeches welcoming visiting dignitaries and guests.

I gave a short presentation regarding NRCS and the RC&D program and had the opportunity to be involved with discussions regarding the Sleetmute Traditional Council selection of their ANCSA 14c-3 municipal village lands from The Kuskokwim Corporation (TKC).  TKC is the consortium of 10 ANCSA village corporations which owns the surface estate on behalf of the village corporations.  The TKC is obligated by ANCSA to deed 1280 acres for a village site.  Since Sleetmute is an unincorporated village, the land will be held in trust by the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development.

The Mellick Center was a locally managed Force Account project administered by the Sleetmute Tribal Council.  With the exception of the project manager, all construction was done by the village labor force.  Force Account construction is a powerful social and economic engine for capacity development and empowerment.  Local residents get on-the-job experience or training and the wages stay in the village. 

The Sleetmute Tribal Council plans to request assistance from USDA-NRCS Soils Scientists to prepare a detailed soils map for the village.

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Mat-Su RC&D Attacks Peleliu Project

Mat-Su RC&D goes on the offensive to protect a historically rich part of paradise. On Sept. 15, 1944, the island of Peleliu in the Republic of Palau became a living hell for the members of the 1st Marine Division and the US Army’s 81st Wildcat Division.

The battle raged for over two months with staggering losses to the entrenched Japanese defenders who used the island’s 500 plus caves to help them withstand the U.S. assault.

Once the smoke cleared the U.S. had captured the island. The Japanese had suffered a 97 percent casualty rate loosing 10,695 of the estimated 11,000 island defenders. Only 202 Japanese remained to surrender on November 25th. US losses were 2,336 with 8,450 wounded.

In addition to the heroic deeds accomplished on both sides of any battle of this magnitude, the island of Peleliu holds other historically significant accomplishments. Prior to the invasion, George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States, was serving as a torpedo bomber pilot in the skies surrounding the island fortress. During these pre-invasion missions he was responsible for the sinking of an armed Japanese trawler.

What you may ask does this tiny coral island in the south pacific have to do with our RC&D here in Alaska. The Mat-Su RC&D is leading the charge in an attempt to get Congress to appropriate $650,000 to construct a visitor’s center at the Peleliu Battlefield National Battlefield Historic Landmark.  The funds would also be used for improvements to the Peleliu Museum which houses many battlefield artifacts. These improvements will insure the protection and preservation of these artifacts.

Today the heroes of Peleliu may very well be the men and women of the Mat-Su RC&D Board of Directors for their efforts to protect the historical integrity of the battlefield. Their efforts, if successful, will provide not only an opportunity to honor the veterans to whom we owe so much, but an opportunity to educate future generations on the consequence of war. 

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Bob Jones to Deliver Welcome Address at March 4 Delta Farm Forum

Producers and professionals from Delta and around the State will be presenting information on a variety of agricultural related topics at the 33rd Delta Farm Forum. This annual gathering will be at the Delta High School small gymnasium on Saturday, March 4th beginning at 9:00 a.m. and adjourning at 4:00 p.m.

Coffee and doughnuts will be served during the morning session as we begin with State Conservationist Bob Jones delivering the “Welcome” address.

Later in the program UAF Plant Animal and Soil Sciences Associate Professor Pat Holloway will discuss the “Nutritive Value of Alaska’s Wild Berries” and unveil copies of the joint NRCS-UAF publication “Managing Wild Bog Blueberry, Lingonberry, Cloudberry and Crowberry Stands in Alaska” that is currently in production.

The 2006 Delta Farm Forum is co-sponsored by the Cooperative Extension Service (CES), Delta District @ 895-4215 and the Salcha-Delta Soil and Water Conservation District (SDSWCD) @ 895-2679 both are located in the Jarvis Office Center in Delta Junction.

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Soils Education at Wasilla High

Dennis Moore made his annual pilgrimage to Wasilla High School where he worked to educate three classes of Cheryl Abbott’s advanced students about soils, environment, and water quality. Dennis once again challenged the students to think of something that they use in everyday life that doesn’t come directly or indirectly from soil - with the exception of moon, sun, stars, and heavenly bodies. He offered free food and a “get out of class free” card to anyone who can answer the question. After sixteen years the eminence still stands: “Everything we use in everyday life comes directly or indirectly from soil.”

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ERS Report Looks at Why Farmers Adopt Conservation Practices

The USDA Economic Research Service published a report in this month titled Conservation-Compatible Practices and Programs: Who Participates? The report examines financial and environmental incentives by taking a by studying characteristics of farms, households and operators that have adopted a variety of conservation practices, with or without federal assistance. The report offers some basic insight into the role of conservation in agriculture.

ERS found, for instance, that hobby farmers are less likely to use conservation practices than farmers whose main occupation and enterprise is farming.  In contrast, the study found that farms of all sizes generally utilize conservation practices, but only those practices that do not have high costs such as conservation tillage or crop rotation. Attention in the report is focused on the Conservation Reserve Program and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. ERS researchers examined who joins the conservation programs and found that the majority of farmers are focused on increasing revenue or decreasing costs. Due to the diversity of farm households nationwide, the enrollment variation parallels the diversity of farms. Research found that land-retirement and working lands are generally used by different types of farms, due to the diversity of the operation, lifestyle and future goals. This report can be found at: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/err14/.

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Check Your E&L Statement

February is an excellent time to carefully review your E&L Statement. It's early in the calendar year and your cost-of-living pay increase has just been processed.  It's also the time of year when you're getting together your documents in preparation for filing your income taxes. By reviewing your statement, you can make sure all of your withholdings and payments are correct.  Errors do sometimes happen, and it's much easier and less painful to correct them sooner rather than later.

Here are some things to look for: 

• Is all of your personal info, including SSN, correct?

• Is your Service Computation Date (SCD) listed correctly?

• Is the number of exemptions correct for Federal and state tax?

• Is the correct state indicated on the state tax line?

• Is the correct amount being withheld for Thrift Savings (TSP), including catch-up contributions, if any?

• Are life insurance (FEGLI) and health insurance (FEHBA) being withheld?

• Is the enrollment code for your FEHBA plan listed correctly?

• Are other deductions, such as savings bonds or charitable contributions correct?

Of course, the quickest and easiest way to access your statement is through the Employee Personal Page on NFC's home page at www.nfc.usda.gov.

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New Banner Available for Field Office Use

A new 8’x3’ vinyl banner featuring NRCS’ new mission statement has been created and is available for field office use.  Please contact public affairs to have this banner – or other exhibits – shipped out for  your next event.

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Personnel Actions

Promotion

• Kristi Hicks to Human Resource Officer, Palmer.

Transfer

• Jonathan Gottschalk, Database Manager, Palmer.  Jonathan comes from NRCS Montana. He worked on a soil survey in Alaska during the summer of 2002.  

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