NRCS Alaska News

March 7, 2008

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In This Issue

Wood Energy Conference Creates Momentum

The effects of the Alaska Wood Energy Conference held November 14 to 16, 2007 at the Chena River Convention Center in Fairbanks continue to ripple around the Mat-Su RC&D.

Last week the Mat-Su Section of the Anchorage Daily News featured an article on a developing plan to construct a wood pellet plant in the City of Houston.  This is an outgrowth of my report on the conference to the Mat-Su RC&D Council in December.  RC&D Vice-president, Houston Assembly Member and Houston Chamber of Commerce President Roger Purcell ran with the concept and approached NPI representatives to also consider a plant in the City of Houston. http://www.adn.com/matsu/story/335364.html

At the conference in Fairbanks we learned of NPI’s plan to partner with Fulghum Fibre Fuels to construct a wood pellet plant in the Fairbanks area.  NPI’s presentation by Chad Schumacher contains good information on manufacturing wood pellets – it is found at this link:

http://www.tananachiefs.org/natural/forestry/AWEC/Day2/New%20markets%20and%20technologies/Chad_Schumacher.pdf

The Alaska Wood Energy Conference was put together by the Alaska Wood Energy Task Group with the assistance of many partners.  I serve as the NRCS representative to the Alaska Wood Energy Task Group.  The Conference was attended by about 180 people that included a wide cross-section of Alaskans.  Most of the presentations made at the meeting were captured for future use and are included in this link from the Tanana Chiefs website: http://www.tananachiefs.org/natural/AWEC2007.shtml

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Ekwok on the Web

The Nushagak Mulchatna Soil Survey webpage was updated recently to include a draft copy of the soil map for Ekwok, a village on the Nushagak River.  This was the first area field work was completed for the survey. Photos of soils and vegetation were posted on the website shortly after the field work was completed in 2006. The site now displays the soil map with map unit names and composition below. The user can “click” on the component name for a written description and pictures of that soil. 

This project is part of a recent effort to make interim projects available to our soil survey users. These projects may be soil maps, landscape diagrams, or pictures of the soil components. The Ekwok soil map on the NRCS web site is a draft copy and will be replaced by the official map on Web Soil Survey when the entire survey is completed in several years. 

Photo: An aerial view of Ekwok. Photo by Stephanie Schmit.

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Update to the Wetland Plant List: 20 Years Later

In December 2006, the administration of the “National List of Plant Species that Occur in Wetlands” (List) was transferred from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE).  The List, renamed “The National Wetland Plant List,” will continue to be an interagency product, among the COE, FWS, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and NRCS.  Representatives from each of the four agencies have been chosen to direct the further development of the list as Members of the National Panel. 

The most recent approved version of the List is dated 1988 and uses indicator regions based largely on FWS agency regional boundaries.  Since 1988, the nomenclatural indicator status for many species has changed as well as taxonomic changes.  It is estimated that there are approximately 1500 indicator status changes as a result of taxonomic changes in the past 20 years.  In addition, more field knowledge and scientific information has been published for many species.

Since 2002, the COE has developed several regional supplements to the 1987 COE manual to account for regional variability of wetland types.  The list will be updated using the new regional supplement boundaries to allow for more accurate wetland ratings based on natural phytogeographic and physiographic boundaries.  Alaska has the first of these supplements to be finalized.

The specific operating protocols for updating and maintaining the List include agency nominees for reconfiguring the interagency Regional Panels.  The Regional Panels are composed of agency representatives with botanical and wetland expertise.  They will evaluate and assign draft wetland indicator statuses for plants within their respective regions, with the National Panel as the oversight group.  The entire process will be evaluated independently by a scientific peer review process.  The protocols are intended to ensure that updates to the List will continue to follow scientifically acceptable procedures.  The updating process will provide guidelines established by the National Panel for testing and for future recommended changes or additions to the List.   The process will be supported by an interactive website where all procedures and supportive information will be posted. 

The National Panel considers an indicator status as an index of wetland fidelity that is based on the species frequency and abundance in wetlands versus uplands, while taking into account the landscape component.  Wetland indicator designations such as No Indicator (NI), No Occurrence (NO), and No Agreement (NA) will not be used in the updated List. 

The Alaska Regional Panel will be developing a first draft of the updated Alaska plant list within the next two months once the web-based system is up and running.  The indicator status will be based on review of most recent indicator status information, botanical literature, and relevant studies. As a member of the Regional Panel for Alaska representing NRCS if someone would like to propose an indicator status review for a plant species, please contact me for more information on this process.

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Premapping - Preseason Preparation for Soil Survey

One of the many things that keep soil scientists busy this time of year is preparing a “premap” of the area to be surveyed in the coming season. This premapping delineates areas that the soil scientist interprets as sharing common groups of soil forming properties. These include but are not limited to parent material, topography (slope, aspect, elevation), glacial history, and vegetation. Premapping like this allows the soil scientist to plan a transect layout that samples the area effectively. When the soil scientist transects the area each premapped unit is split into soil map units representing different sets of soil forming processes that result in the soil landscape. Premapping creates a context for extrapolation of the observed soil pattern to other similar, premapped units. 

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Staff Training Rated Positively

The staff training event held last month in Palmer was – for the most part - a positive and productive experience that met its established objectives, according to a survey completed by more than half of NRCS staff. Survey rated most of the session topics as “Good” or “Excellent” with the highest ratings going to George Cannelos’ presentation on the Denali Commission and the Plants Materials Center update. Even the usually dreaded Management Updates scored a “Good” rating.  The lowest ratings were earned by the Employee Open Forum which many said should have been held earlier in the training.

According to the survey, meeting in Palmer was OK but the facility was uncomfortable. And results on the food were split equally down the middle.

The planning committee reviewed the survey and came up with some recommendations for next year that incorporate comments and feedback from staff. It’s not to early to provide some suggestions for the next staff training – if there are sessions you would like to see offered, please email your ideas to Cassandra.stalzer@ak.usda.gov.

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Conservation Photo Contest Entries Now Online

Judging by the number of entries and the quality of the work, taking photos has become a bit more competitive within the NRCS Alaska ranks. The 2007 Conservation Photo Contest garnered 240 entries – a record for the event.

For the first time, all the photos entered into the contest are available for staff to view at the Alaska NRCS Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nrcsalaska/ . By signing up for a free Flickr membership, you can comment on, download and print the photos. Unfortunately, the photographers names did not upload to the site – I hope to rectify that in the near future.

The Top Photos in the 2007 Conservation Photo Contest are:

WHIP                 

• Bill Wood, First Place, Cold Creek Lower Falls
• Chet Fitzgerald, Second Place, Hooper Bay Trail
• Daniel Fisher, Third Place, WHIP2

EQIP                 

• Daniel Fisher - First, Second and Third Place for EQIP 2, EQIP3, and EQIP 1

Partners            

• Norm Stadem, First Place, Aniak Farm
• Brant Dallas, Second Place (tie), Delta Farm
• Daniel Fisher, Second Place (tie), Partners

Field Work            

• Bill Wood - First Place - Afognak Survey Crew
• Bill Wood - Second Place - Trudy-Meghan
• Chet Fitzgerald - Third Place (tie) - Jeff Rypka
• Karin Sonnen - Third Place (tie) - Field Work 1

Animal                 

• Brant Dallas - First Place (tie) - Swan
• Bill Wood - First Place (tie) - Salmon
• Karin Sonnen - Second Place - Bee

Water                 

• Helen Denniston - First Place - Braided River
• Chet Fitzgerald - Second Place - Sunset on Greyling Lake
• Brant Dallas - Third Place - Beaver Dam 

Plants                       

• Karin Sonnen - First Place - Plant Mint Valley
• Daniel Fisher - Second Place (tie) - Plants 4
• Meghan Lene -  Second Place (tie) - Cotton Grass
• Brant Dallas - Second Place (tie) - Afognak Witches Hair
• Karin Sonnen - Second Place (tie)  - Forget Me Not

Soils                 

• Chet Fitzgerald - First Place - Hydric Alaska Soils
• Karin Sonnen - Second Place - Soil2
• Karin Sonnen - Third Place - Soil1

Air                     

• Meghan Lene - First Place - Donnelly Dome
• Brant Dallas - Second Place - Aurora Lake
• Bill Wood - Third Place - Epiphyte

Photos were judged by 14 state office staff representing soils, engineering, operations, and administration.

Guidelines for the 2008 Photo Contest will be issued prior to the start of this year's field season to get everyone thinking about taking next year’s winning shot.

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Top Five Things I Have Learned Since Moving To Alaska

These are the top five things I have learned:

5) The Mounties at the border are hard-of-hearing. (For the THIRD TIME, NO we DON’T have any handguns!

4) Just plugging your truck in is not enough to keep all the lubricants from freezing when it is -65F.

3) Never go to Tok in the winter -- refer to #2

2) Just because the ferry stops swaying doesn’t mean that you do.

And the number one thing I’ve learned since moving to Alaska:

1) Never park under the street lamps in Kodiak-eagles poop big!

I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to all those who helped make my transfer from Idaho to Alaska go smoothly. I miss my Idaho NRCS family but have been welcomed with open arms to the Alaska family and am settling in nicely. Kodiak is a beautiful island and the people are very friendly. I am looking forward to working with all of you in the years to come.

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Personnel Actions

Job Opening (Partner Agency)

• District Manager, Palmer Soil and Water Conservation District, Palmer AK
  Send resume with cover letter and application form to:  District Manager, PSWCD, 259 S. Alaska St., Palmer, Alaska, 99645. Applications due March 31, 2008.

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