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NRCS Alaska NewsJune 30, 2006 
This owl photographed at the field office in Delta Junction seems to display the patriotic Fourth of July spirit. Photo by Jeff Knutson.In this Issue:Insanity Acres Wins 2005 Salcha-Delta SWCD Cooperator of the Year Palmer SWCD Receives National Award to Foster Conservation Innovation NRCS Rewards Four Conservation-Minded Farmers Global Climate Change, Part One Duck Creek Habitat Improved NRCS Engineer Places Third in Winter Ultra-Race New Publications Promoting Wildlife-Friendly Spaces Available New Conservation Resource Briefs Available Guide Provides Aid in Writing KSAs New NRCS Letterhead Template Available to Staff Personnel ActionsInsanity Acres Wins 2005 Salcha-Delta SWCD Cooperator of the YearCatherine Hadley, District Conservationist
Insanity Acres was awarded the 2005 Salcha-Delta SWCD Cooperator of the Year Award at the 2006 Delta Farm Forum. Insanity Acres consists of 3,400 acres of cropland growing barley, oats and hay. Insanity Acres participates in many conservation programs including CRP, GRP and EQIP. Insanity Acres is truly a family farm, being owned and operated by Bobby and Brenda Peterson and Randy and Becky Peterson. A third generation of Petersons is quickly learning to become good stewards of the land. Kasey, a high school senior, has been actively farming next to her parents and grandparents for years. Dustin (3) and Craig (1) spend as much time as possible riding and tractors and combines. Like many farmers in Alaska’s Interior, the Petersons were concerned about rising fuel costs and moisture conservation. In 2005 a Great Plains no-till drill was purchased and the first large scale no-till farming operation in the Delta area was born. Over 200 acres of barley and oats were no-tilled in 2005. The Petersons were thrilled with the first year of no-till. The crops yielded just as well as the conventional till fields and they estimated that up to $9,000 was saved in fuel, equipment maintenance and hired labor by reducing the trips across the fields. Within the next few years, virtually all the grain fields will be no-till. As the soil tilth continues to improve and increasing organic matter holds the much needed moisture, we expect to see continued yield increases. In addition to residue management, the Petersons began following NRCS nutrient and pest management recommendations. In years past the typical blend of fertilizer for each crop was applied. The first soil tests in several years were taken in the fall of 2004. By following his nutrient management plan, Randy was able to apply significantly less fertilizer and did not see a loss in yield. In working with NRCS and CES, Randy was able to follow a pest management plan designed specifically for each field. While the no-till did result in a slightly higher chemical bill, we are confident that within a few years the major weed problems on the farm will be under control. Other conservation practices on the Insanity Acres farms include conservation cover, forage harvest management, upland wildlife habitat management, shallow water area for wildlife, restoration and management for declining habitats, conservation crop rotation, and brush management. In addition to farming, the Petersons are very active in other aspects of the agricultural community. Becky is currently District Manager for the Salcha-Delta Soil and Water Conservation District (SDSWCD). Randy is a SDSWCD board supervisor, a member of the Delta County FSA County Committee, and active in the Delta Farm Bureau. Kasey has been the SDSWCD speech contest award winner several times. It was nine years ago that the two Peterson families drove the long road to Delta Junction. After many trips hauling farm equipment up the Alaska Highway and experiencing temperature extremes and harsh weather that most people can only fathom, the Petersons have proven that farming in Alaska’s Interior might not be so insane after all. Photo: Randy Peterson accepts the Cooperator of the Year sign from SDSWCD Chair Rex Wrigley. Photo by Becky Peterson.
Palmer SWCD Receives National Award to Foster Conservation InnovationThe Palmer Soil and Water Conservation District has received the first Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) awarded in Alaska to innovate conservation tillage, crop residue and crop rotation management guidelines suited to Southcentral Alaska. The expected outcomes of the project include the establishment of a cover crop demonstration site in Palmer; promoting the long-term benefits of conservation tillage and crop rotation; and improving eight EQIP practice guidelines for conservation tillage, residue management and crop rotation. Nearly $20 million in CIG funds were awarded to 38 states to fund 66 projects. This fiscal year's grantees include 3 resource conservation and development councils, 7 conservation districts, 4 state and local governments, 13 non-governmental organizations, 22 colleges and universities, 2 tribes, 12 business entities and 3 individuals.
NRCS Rewards Four Conservation-Minded FarmersThe Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has announced the award of $197,989 in Conservation Security Program (CSP) contracts payable over the next ten years to four Alaska farmers who rank as among the best conservationists in select watersheds across the nation. “While the agricultural community in Alaska might be smaller than in other states, we are fortunate to have producers who pay extra attention to taking care of the land,” said Bob Jones, NRCS state conservationist for Alaska. “The voluntary conservation that these producers undertake each day increases the quality of our natural resources.” CSP is a voluntary conservation program that rewards private landowners for their ongoing stewardship of natural resources. The 2006 contracts encourage them to further conserve and improve soil, water, air, energy, plant and animal life, and other conservation purposes on their operations. At the same time, the program creates incentives for other producers to meet those same standards of conservation performance. This is the second year that CSP has been available in Alaska, and the program was open to producers in the Upper Kenai Peninsula watershed. CSP will be available each year on a rotational basis in as many watersheds as funding allows. Nationally, more than 8,570 applications were received during the 2006 CSP sign-up. Alaska watersheds eligible for the 2007 CSP signup will be announced later this summer.
Global Climate Change, Part OneMitch Michaud, State Forester(This is the first of two articles for NRCS Alaska News. Part one highlights interesting facts on climate change. Part two will follow up with NRCS’ goals in addressing one factor involved with global warming, green house gases. If you want to read ahead, look at the NRCS Strategic Plan 2005-2010, page 47.) A new temperature record for south central Alaska was set during the Memorial Day weekend. Ten years ago this would have made headlines in the local newspaper, but today temperature record-setting is all too common. Changes in global climate have been documented as far back as three million years using ice coring research in Greenland and Antarctica. Unlike the Memorial Day temperature records, the three million year trend indicates a gradual cooling of the earth’s temperature. In the past three million years the earth has experienced 40 to 50 ice ages. The last ice age, the Wisconsin, occurred 10,000 to 15,000 years ago. For reference, we have ended the warmest period and begun a downward cooling trend that should last for the next 50,000 years. These ice age cycles are thought to be caused by physical changes in the earth driven by three independent, planetary cycles: ellipticity, obliquity and precession. Ellipticity is the change in the earth’s orbit; sometimes we have a more elliptical orbit than we do at other times. Obliquity is the change in the tilting of the earth’s axis; it changes due to a slight wobble as the earth spins, plus or minus three degrees. Precession is the directional change of the tilt of the earth’s axis. Precession or the direction of the tilt makes a complete revolution every 19,000 to 23,000 years. When you superimpose these three physical changes you can approximately match the coldest and warmest periods of the earth’s climate history as told by the ice core research. Based on this theory, we should now be 8,000 years into the next cooling period. What also occurred approximately 8,000 years ago? The answer will bring you back to NRCS and its mission. Also in the global climate story are shorter cycles not impacted by planetary physics such as Heinrich cycles which, at 3,000 – 13,000 years, vary based on global ocean currents which are, in turn, effected by solar radiation and sunspots. Short term events known as Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles are local ocean events that can be attributed to ice melts due to physical actions like earthquakes or ice calving physics. The final pieces of the puzzle are the immediate changes we know and mistakenly attribute to global warming. These are the fast moving events that we have witnessed in our own lifetimes. We have named them El Nino and La Niña and used them to predict long term weather forecasts. Longer cycles such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation have been observed to cycle on an approximate 60-year basis, and the Atlantic Hurricane Intensity Oscillation, which we are currently in a high activity period, all indicate something is amiss with our weather. These smaller cycles with high human impact may not be caused by global warming, but they may be affected or even intensified by it. The answer to the question above is that civilization is thought to have begun agriculture 8,000 years ago. So why are we 8,000 years into the next cooling period according to planetary physics but are showing record temperature and glacial melt? This provides the segue into part two: global warming in NRCS’ purview, i.e. agriculture/forestry and carbon sequestration.
Duck Creek Habitat ImprovedSamia Savell, Juneau District Conservationist
In March Juneau field office staff, Glacier View Condominium Association members and volunteers from the Mendenhall Watershed Partnership collected approximately 2,300 willow cuttings for the project. Installation of soil wraps and willow layers followed removal of a deteriorating plastic and wood sheetpile wall that had been constructed for streambank stabilization in the mid-1990s. With only 18 feet between the buildings and the creek,
removing the sheetpile wall proved to be difficult. During excavation, a second
retaining wall was discovered behind the exposed one. This second wall
primarily consisted of creosote-treated timbers, making excavation slow and
disposal
The slight channel constriction planned in the design phase appears to be increasing streamflow velocity in this section of creek and flushing accumulated fine sediment out of the substrate. The willow cuttings and native grass seed vegetative components sprouted early in the spring and are growing well. The project site will be monitored periodically, but thus far seems to be successful. Photos: The WHIP Duck Creek project site on March 28 (top), then post-construction on June 28 (below). Photos by Samia Savell.
NRCS Engineer Places Third in Winter Ultra-RaceCassandra Stalzer, Public Affairs Specialist
First off, there’s the chance to see some of the country’s most remote, frozen terrain. Secondly, there’s the personal satisfaction of having traversed the Alaska Range (the Northern end of the Rockies where Mt. McKinley is located) using only human power. And if that’s not enough, you can rest easy knowing you will always be one of only a handful of people who will ever complete a race that some say makes the Eco Challenge look merely, well, challenging. Jeff didn’t just finish the race on March 2 – he came in third after having led the pack for at least half of the way. The top three finishers, who ran neck-in neck for the first three and a half days, all lost their way in fresh snow that obscured the trail during the last 50 miles. Jeff doesn’t carrying a GPS or a compass. He chooses instead to rely on backcountry ingenuity and experience to navigate his way to the finish line – which was crossed by only ten bikes this year. Jeff says he slept about seven hours total during the five days it took to complete the course. Race organizers say the trail conditions this year were some of the worst in memory. Jeff reports pushing his bike for 140 miles, slogging through fresh snow as his group broke trail up and over Rainy Pass (elevation 3,600 ft). The weather conditions only seemed to heighten Jeff’s excitement about the race. “We encountered some dangerous weather conditions – the temperatures were dipping close to the -40F range - and we were at a point in the trail where nobody in the world knew where we were,” said Jeff. “Most people don’t get the opportunity to get through a single day without someone knowing where they are.” Photo: Jeff Oatley at the start of the Iditarod Trail Invitational in Knik.
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When
the Peterson family announced they were going to leave their farm in Missouri
and move to Delta Junction to farm, the response received from their friends and
family was, “You must be insane!” Thus Insanity Acres was born. 
Financial
and technical assistance provided through NRCS’ WHIP program is helping improve
riparian and in-stream habitat in a section of Juneau’s Duck Creek located
behind the Glacier View Condominiums property. 
expensive.
The project proceeded in stages, with the contractor excavating material and
debris, then installing soil wraps and willow cuttings before moving to the next
section.
Expending
11,000 calories a day alternately pushing and riding a bicycle across 350 miles
of some of the country’s most remote, frozen terrain isn’t an idea that appeals
to everyone. But to Fairbanks civil engineer Jeff Oatley, the rewards of
competing in the "Iditarod Trail Invitational,” billed as the “world’s longest
human-powered winter ultra-race,” are many. 
Last
month the National Audubon Society announced the launch of a new campaign
providing information on how individuals can manage their personal landscapes
for birds, bats, and butterflies. The information was created in collaboration
with NRCS. 
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