Conservation in Pennsylvania’s Chesapeake Bay Watershed

All Bay Meeting

January 5, 2011

Overview of Today’s Presentation

• FY 2010 Accomplishments

• Federal Efforts in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

• PA NRCS Priorities

• Program Funding Levels

• What’s New in FY2011

• PA NRCS Activities and Initiatives

FY 2010 Accomplishments

In FY 2010, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service provided $ 16.9 million in direct funding to Pennsylvanians to implement conservation practices and preserve farmlands and wetlands in the Pennsylvania portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Forested riparian buffers were planted on the equivalent of 714 football fields to help keep soil from entering adjacent streams.

Cover crops were planted on more than 40 square miles of cropland.

That’s an area the size of Buffalo, New York!

More than 24 miles of terraces and diversions were installed to minimize erosion.

Laid end-to-end, they would stretch from Harrisburg to York, Pennsylvania!

Harrisburg

•York

New conservation tillage practices, such as mulch till, no-till, and ridge till, were implemented on more than 60 square miles of cropland.

That’s an area equivalent to the size of Washington DC!

Conservation crop rotation was implemented on more than 75 square miles.

That’s an area the size of Cleveland, Ohio!

More than 7 square miles of permanent vegetated borders and conservation cover were established at the edge or around the perimeter fields.

That’s an area the size of the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania!

Nutrient management was implemented on more than 46 square miles of farmland.

That’s an area the size of San Francisco, California!

More than 86 miles of fencing were installed to control animal access to streams.

That would be a fence equal to the length of Interstate 83 between Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Baltimore, Maryland!

Harrisburg

•Baltimore

• Comprehensive nutrient management plans were written for 95 livestock and poultry farmers.

• 79 stream crossings were installed to reduce erosion from animal crossings.

• Landowners preserved 4,365 acres of farmland, grazing land, and wetland to protect the environment for future generations.

Federal Efforts in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Executive Order 13508 of May 12, 2009

“The Chesapeake Bay is a national treasure constituting the largest estuary in the United States and one of the largest and most biologically productive estuaries in the world.”

Executive Order 13508• Shared Federal Leadership, Planning and Accountability• Restore Chesapeake Bay Water Quality• Agricultural Practices to Protect the Chesapeake Bay• Reduce Water Pollution from Federal Lands and

Facilities• Protect Chesapeake Bay as the Climate Changes• Expand Public Access to the Chesapeake Bay and

Conserve Landscapes and Ecosystems• Monitoring and Decision Support for Ecosystem

Management• Living Resources Protection and Restoration

Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay

Watershed, May 2010

Goal Areas• Restore Clean Water

• Recover Habitat

• Sustain Fish and Wildlife

• Conserve Land and Increase Public Access

Supporting Strategies

• Expand Citizen Stewardship

• Develop Environmental Markets

• Respond to Climate Change

• Strengthen Science

• Implementation and Accountability

Goal Area for Today’s Presentation: Restore Clean Water

Agricultural Outcome:

Work with producers to apply new conservation practices on four million acres of agricultural working lands in high priority watersheds by 2025 to improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

Agricultural Outcome Action Overview

• Focus Resources on priority watersheds and agricultural conservation practices to assist states in implementing their Watershed Implementation Plans.

• Accelerate agricultural conservation adoption by working with partners to leverage funding and simplify program participation.

• Accelerate development of new agricultural conservation technologies.

• Develop a system of accountability for tracking and reporting conservation practices.

How will Pennsylvania NRCS work toward this outcome?

Priority watersheds receive higher ranking (based on USGS Sparrow data)

• High Priority Watersheds

• Medium Priority Watersheds

PA Chesapeake Bay Watershed Priority Areas

NRCS has incorporated science into the ranking process

• Utilizing the results of a recent study entitled Assessment of the Effects of Conservation Practices on Cultivated Cropland in the Chesapeake Bay Region (CEAP)

• Areas with high leaching potential and/or poorly/somewhat poorly drained soils will receive higher ranking

Soil Leaching Potential on Crop, Pasture and Hayland

Poorly Drained and Somewhat Poorly Drained Soils on Crop, Hay and Pasture

What’s New for FY2011?

Program Allocations by Field Team:

• Chesapeake Bay Watershed Initiative (CBWI)

• Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)

• Chesapeake Bay Watershed Initiative and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (CBWI and EQIP)

• Environmental Quality Incentives Program –Air (EQIP – Air)

FY2011 Financial Assistance Program Allocations

Funding Levels by Program

Program

FY2010 Final

Obligated Funds

FY2011

Initial Allocation

Agriculture Management

Assistance (AMA)

$ 855,068 $ 201,298

Chesapeake Bay

Watershed Initiative

(CBWI)

$ 9,776,074 $ 15,571,958

Environmental Quality

Incentives Program

(EQIP)

$ 12,886,355 $ 13,287,248

Wildlife Habitat Incentives

Program (WHIP)

$ 822,168 $ 178,557

Total $ 24,329,665 $ 29,239,061

New Practices for FY2011

• 104 – Nutrient Management Plan Written (for non-livestock producers)

• 366 – Manure Digesters (new to CBWI)

Practices now available throughout PA

Chesapeake Bay watershed:

• 395 – Stream Habitat Improvement and Management

• 396 – Fish Passage

• 580 – Stream Bank and Shoreline Protection

PA NRCS Activities and Initiatives

• Feed Management Initiative

• Conservation Training

• Engaging Partners

• Plain Sect Outreach

• Wildlife Habitat Training

• Bog Turtle Initiative

• Conewago Showcase Watershed

Feed Management Initiative

• Through EQIP and CBWI

• Certified plan writers (members of the American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists) develop feed management plans

• Feed Management Plan Development and Implementation– Year 1 = $2,000 per group

– Year 2 = $1,500 per group

– Year 3 = $1,100 per group

Conservation Training

• Agriculture 101 (PSU)

• Introduction to Conservation Planning (PACD)

• Agriculture Conservation Training (Boot Camp) Level 1 (PACD)

• Agriculture Conservation Training (Boot Camp) Level 2 (PACD)

Engaging Partners

• Technical Assistance (Conservation Districts)

• Dam removals to restore migratory fish habitat (American Rivers)

• Stream restoration (PA Fish and Boat Commission)

• Outreach and expertise for bog turtle (US Fish and Wildlife Service)

Engaging Partners (cont.)

• Term biologists (Pheasants Forever)

• Conservation buffers (Chesapeake Bay Foundation)

• Outreach for organic and Know Your Farm/Know Your Food (Capital RC&D)

• Easement Monitoring and Invasive Species (Capital RC&D)

Plain Sect Outreach

• Agreement for Plain Sect outreach efforts with Lancaster Conservation District

• Met with Plain Sect leaders to identify impediments to conservation implementation

• Developing a contract to provide program assistance through a non-governmental entity

Wildlife Habitat Training

• Training for improving fish and wildlife habitat on private lands utilizing NRCS programs

• Held November 16, 2010

• More than 100 people attended from state agencies, conservation districts, federal agencies, and other non-government and non-profit organizations

Bog Turtle Initiative

• Listed as state endangered species since 1974

• Listed as federal endangered species since 1997

• Partnering with other groups to restore and permanently protect habitat for the bog turtle through Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP)

• Currently have 11 projects in process

Bog Turtle Initiative (cont.)• Permanent Easement – 100% of easement value

and restoration costs• 30-Year Easement – 75% of easement value and

restoration costs• Restoration Cost-Share – 10 year agreements and

75% restoration costs• Area will include eligible sites in: Adams, Berks,

Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Cumberland, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Schuylkill, and York counties

Conewago Showcase Watershed• Chesapeake Bay Strategy calls for Showcase

Watersheds

• PA NRCS is working with other partners in the Conewago Creek Conservation Initiative

• NRCS is focusing on agriculture and implementing conservation practices

• Allocated $500,000 funding from CBWI for conservation practices

• Supporting research projects including detailed soil survey and remote sensing of cover crops

THANK YOU!

• We know that conservation districts are facing difficult budget situations

• NRCS appreciates you as our partners

• We couldn’t do what we do without you

• Thank you for your efforts and all you do!

Denise Coleman,

NRCS State Conservationist

Denise.Coleman@pa.usda.gov

Phone: 717-237-2203