NRCS Alaska News

August 11, 2006

In this Issue:

 Employee Associations Hold Joint Conference Next Week

 The American Indian Alaska Native Employee Association (AIANEA) has joined with the Asian Pacific Islander Organization (APIO) to jointly hold their annual training conference in Anchorage August 14 – 18 at the Sheraton Anchorage Hotel.

Scheduled to attend are Acting NRCS Chief Dana York, Acting Associate Chief Sara Braasch, Associate Deputy Chief for Management Kevin Brown, National Tribal Relations Manger Edith Morigeau, several state conservationists, and more than 150 NRCS employees from around the country.

About the conference, AIANEA President Crystal Leonetti said, “This is a wonderful opportunity to showcase Alaska's conservation work.  We want to show leadership and employees that conservation in Alaska and on Alaska Native lands is on the forefront of technology and we have deep rooted relationships and partnerships.  On the flip-side, the employee associations want to show Alaska NRCS the quality of training that is provided each year and the camaraderie of NRCS employees from around the nation.  We want to invite more Alaskans to join our associations."

(back to top)

Cooperative Conservation Listening Session Scheduled for Alaska

The Secretaries of Interior, Commerce and Agriculture, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality have announced that a listening session on cooperative conservation and environmental partnerships is scheduled for Fairbanks at 10 a.m., August 28, 2006, in the Carlson Center. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne will attend.

The listening sessions will give citizens an opportunity to exchange ideas on incentives, partnership programs, and regulations that can improve results and promote cooperative conservation and environmental partnerships.

The meetings are the latest in a series of discussions the Administration has hosted since the President’s Conference on Cooperative Conservation in August 2005. The conference identified three broad approaches to improving conservation results: promoting cooperation within the federal government, promoting cooperation between the federal government and others, and eliminating barriers to cooperation in existing policy. Some aspects of these ideas are reflected in a recently released summary of new legislation. Other aspects will be explored in the listening sessions.

The meetings will focus on issues, programs, and policies mentioned frequently at the White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation. Discussion topics will include:

• How can the federal government enhance wildlife habitat, species protection, and other conservation outcomes through regulatory and voluntary conservation programs?

• How can the federal government enhance cooperation among federal agencies and with states, tribes, and local communities in the application of environmental protection and conservation laws?

• How can the federal government work with states, tribes, and other public- and private-sector partners to improve science used in environmental protection and conservation?

• How can the federal government work cooperatively with businesses and landowners to protect the environment and promote conservation?

• How can the federal government better respect the interests of people with ownership in land, water, and other natural resources?

(back to top)

EQIP Helps Conserve Island Range

South and West of the Kenai Peninsula lies the second largest Island in the United states known for being home to the largest brown bears in the world; the emerald island of Kodiak.  South of Kodiak is another group of small islands collectively referred to as the Trinity Islands.  The eastern-most and largest at 64,000 acres is Sitkinak.  It is here that NRCS conservationists spent a week in July conducting a range utilization survey to assess the condition of the island’s vegetation resources which are grazed upon by 550 head of resident cattle, ancestors of hardy Russian stock brought to the island in the late 1800’s for whaling crews to utilize. 

Current state grazing lease holder Bob Mudd and his son Nathan are utilizing EQIP to get a range conservation plan into place.  Sitkinak is treeless and covered by tall forbs and grasses.  Its steep and rugged terrain provides the cattle and Sitka Black-Tailed Deer of the island plenty of shelter during the frequent “big wind” events that hit this part of the world in all seasons.  Both the storms and the steep terrain make it easy for the cattle to use the low elevation areas of the island year round.  This practice has caused some resource concerns in the valleys and along the beaches where the sand dunes have the potential to support stands of nutritious and stout beach wild rye. 

Additionally, the Mudds worry about the quantity of winter forage available to the cattle.  The lower elevations of Sitkinak stay relatively snow- free, but if little forage there remains, and the uplands are snow-covered, the cattle’s survival can be at risk.  For all of these reasons, EQIP is a great fit.  The Mudds are busy building miles of fence to exclude their cattle from these lowland areas in the summer, saving the forage for winter, and allowing the grasses to stabilize the sand dunes and stream banks.  They also plan to replace some poorly functioning culverts to allow salmon to pass through and spawn in upper stream reaches.

The magnitude of effort to be put forth is incredible when one ponders it for too long, but the amount of work that has already been done by these ranchers is impressive and the results are beginning to show.  After just one year of summer exclusion, young Beach Wild Rye plants can be seen expanding over the sandy beaches.  We are all looking forward to see the long term results and benefits to the island’s resources and the cattle that graze there. 

(back to top)

Record Breaking Recycling Days

During the last few years, USDA employees Sherry Kimmons and Dennis Moore have teamed up for recycling the USDA Palmer State Office recycling materials. The recyclable materials are taken to Valley Community Recycling Solutions (VCRS) about every week or as needed. RD and NRCS administrative staff have facilitated recycling by purchasing portable containers for office paper, miscellaneous paper, out-dated technical guides, administrative manuals, supply catalogs, phone books, plastic bottles, aluminum cans, packaging peanuts, printer cartridges, and shredded paper.

VCRS has estimated that about three hundred pounds are recycled every trip. There were two trips in 2006 where about six hundred pounds were recycled. The Palmer USDA office has been actively recycling since VCRS opened it doors three and half years ago. VCRS estimated the Palmer USDA office has recycled about 27,300 pounds or 13.7 tons of recyclable materials. For more information about recycling at the USDA State Office Service Center please contact Sherry Kimmons at 761-7774, email sherry.kimmons@ak.usda.gov or Dennis Moore at 761-7766 email dennis.moore@ak.usda.gov

(back to top)

Personnel Actions:

With the swearing in of former Chief Bruce I. Knight as Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, Dana York will serve as Acting Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Sara Braasch will serve as Acting Associate Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Merlin Bartz will serve as Acting Regional Assistant Chief for the West. 

 (back to top)