conservation

Satellites orbiting the Earth help us in countless ways. For example, they allow the GPS in our smartphones to tell us where we are located and they help us watch football games on weekends. And now a new NASA satellite scheduled for launch in 2014—the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) instrument—will help USDA better predict agricultural productivity and forecast drought conditions.

There are three things of utmost importance to farmers—soil, sun and water. SMAP will serve at the junction of two of these variables, helping USDA and others improve its knowledge and understanding of soil moisture. Measuring soil moisture helps scientists, farmers, water managers and others understand how much water will be available at any given time, which influences the key decisions they make about managing and using water supplies.

Like the mythical phoenix, the very real longleaf pine is rising from the ashes of near-extinction to reclaim its native range in Virginia with the help of committed partners and landowners like Bill Owen.

A musician by profession, Owen is a conservationist at heart who still lives in the family home in Yale, Va. By working with a team of six agencies, including USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, he hopes to realize his dream of planting 1,000 contiguous acres of longleaf pine in his lifetime.

A USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) project designed to alleviate crop losses from flooding and restore wetlands along the Arkansas and Petit Jean Rivers is also protecting a significant archeological site in Yell County, Arkansas.

South Dakota is in the middle of the Great Plains, a vast prairie ecosystem stretching across much of North America that two hundred years ago was covered in native grasses and wildflowers. Today, visitors can get a glimpse of the prairie of the past, with the help of NRCS’ Conservation Technical Assistance Program.

Roel Guerra, of Rio Grande City, Texas, was recently recognized by the Harlingen Region of the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services/Division for Blind Services (DARS/DBS).

Guerra was singled out for his commitment and hard work with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in helping landowners with conservation planning during a ceremony that honored NRCS as its 2011 Business of the Year.

Guerra, a 24-year NRCS employee who is legally blind and hearing impaired due to a hereditary eye condition that affects peripheral vision and hearing, was presented with a resolution from the State House of Representatives. The resolution, read by Starr County Judge Eloy Vera, recognized Guerra’s career as a soil conservation technician and planner, which has earned him an outstanding reputation among landowners in Starr County and Guerra’s peers.

The Maple Guys, a two-family agricultural business in New Hampshire, was recently awarded a Conservation Innovation Grant by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

The Maple Guys produces and sells maple syrup and other maple products, as well as the equipment needed to make them.

Only a month after spring floods ravaged the Huntley Irrigation Canal near Huntley, Montana, and temporarily halted irrigation, over 30,000 acres of crops are receiving water.

The flooding from this year’s spring rain storms caused millions of dollars worth of damage to homes, businesses and crops in Arkansas.

But some flooding was reduced or minimized, thanks to 207 small and medium-sized dams built by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), in partnership with local watershed districts.

Cowboys are known for being good story tellers, and Roy and Steve Breuklander are no exceptions.

Roy might tell you how his grandparents homesteaded in Cherry County back in the 1880s. Roy’s son, Steve, might share how his family started one of the first canoe outfitters in Niobrara Valley.

Cindy Ayers Elliott once worked on Wall Street—but has since traded in her high heels for a pair of work boots. The former CEO and investment banker has made a life-changing move to her Jackson home-turned-farm, where she rears goats for meat and grows organic vegetables.