Arkansas Conservation News -- Summer 2008

The staffs of the Jonesboro and Walnut Ridge construction offices spent most of May cutting through vines and briers to survey 35 acres for a dam and auxiliary spillway on Departee Creek.

The three-man crew, Ken Ziegler, Joe Lawson and Brian Gawf, cut and surveyed 25 lanes (left and right of the centerline of the dam) measuring 150 feet on the abutments to 500 feet in the lower area of the valley where the fill will be highest.

They also cut and surveyed eight lanes with an average length of 770 feet where the auxiliary spillway will be installed.

"The trees, brush, vines, briers and topography made for a very difficult survey," said Ziegler, project engineer at the Jonesboro Construction Office. "At the end of the day, we were spent."

"The survey work is used by the design engineer (Todd Stringer in the state office) to design the dam and spillway. The data is also used to come up with the estimated quantities for all the work requirements and materials involved in the advertising the contract for construction of the structures," Ziegler said.

Once built, the dam will prevent flood damage to approximately 12,600 acres of cropland along the creek in Independence and Jackson counties. Flood damage in the area costs farmers an estimated $328,337 annually.

"The project will help the flooding problem along Departee Creek and take advantage of existing opportunities to protect and improve environmental values in the watershed and improve fish and wildlife habitat," said Kalven Trice, state conservationist.

"Structural and nonstructural measures will be installed in the watershed. Flood damage to roads and bridges will be reduced as will sediment damage," he said.

"Water will also be stored in a flood-water retarding structure for low-flow release into Departee Creek during dry periods," Trice said.

The structure will also create a 178-surface-acre lake.

John Riggs, state archeologist, along with Chris King, geologist, and Diana Angelo, cartographic technician, tested four of eight sites found during a preliminary cultural resources survey in 2006.

"We didn’t find anything significant," said Riggs. "The sites we checked had shallow soils and only simple flakes on the surface."

According to Riggs, the 2006 survey report will be sent to the State Historic Preservation Office along with an addendum, detailing what was found at the four sites. The four remaining sites will be tested this winter and a follow-up report will be filed with the state agency if needed.
 

The Civilian Conservation Corps played a critical role in the history of the Soil Conservation Service, predecessor to the Natural Resources Conservation Service. March 31, 2008, marked the 75th anniversary of President Franklin Roosevelt’s signing of the law authorizing the Emergency Conservation Work, the earlier official name of the CCC.

In Arkansas, the CCC erected 446 buildings, constructed 6,500 miles of road, built eight dams, laid 250 miles of fence, erected 86 lookout towers in forests, planted 19.4 million trees and strung 8,600 miles of telephone line. They also built cabins, pavilions, bridges and trails in Arkansas’ state parks -- many of the facilities are still in use throughout the state.

One project, Lake Bennett, was the first in the United States built to scientifically study the effects of water run-off, silt and erosion control from a specific watershed. The experiment included building the lake and erosion control structures within the watershed (located north of Greenbrier) to test if erosion could be controlled.

As a result of the studies near Lake Bennett, a new philosophy of land management was born. Strip cropping, terracing, crop rotation and planting soil-retaining vegetation are now common soil protection methods.

After four years of construction, Lake Bennett opened May 23, 1939. The lake was an immediate fishing and swimming attraction.

At least five other projects in Arkansas can still be seen. The CCC cabin and Mather Lodge at Petit Jean State Park; CCC pavilions at Crowley’s Ridge State Park and Devil’s Den State Park; and numerous buildings and a lake at the former Ouachita Girl Scout Camp in Perry County.

As Governor of New York, FDR had hired unemployed youth to reforest abandoned farmland. In 1932, one-fourth of America’s men between the ages of 15 and 24 could not find work. Another 29 percent worked only part-time. As incoming president, Roosevelt proposed on March 21, 1933, that Congress create "a civilian conservation corps to be used in simple work, not interfering with normal employment, and confining itself to forestry, the prevention of soil erosion, flood control, and similar projects."

Later that year on September 19, a soil scientist in the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, Hugh Hammond Bennett was selected to direct a new agency -- the Soil Erosion Service (SES) in the Department of the Interior.

Bennett had been supervising a group of soil conservation experiment stations in soil erosion problem areas. He proposed to establish watershed-based demonstration projects near the research stations where the new agency could utilize the information from the stations to demonstrate the practicability of using soil and water conservation methods. He knew that the work of CCC enrollees could be invaluable in convincing the cash-strapped farmers during the Depression to try new methods that required some labor to install. The CCC allotted 22 camps, far fewer than had been requested, to the Soil Erosion Service.

The successful demonstration between September 1933 and April 1935 increased the support for a national soil conservation program. When the act of April 27, 1935, created the Soil Conservation Service in the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Congress provided more funds and the service expanded its operations nationwide. In 1937, SCS supervised the work of an average 70,000 enrollees occupying 440 camps.

In 1937, when local communities began organizing soil conservation districts and signing cooperative agreements with USDA, SCS began supplying a CCC camp to further each district’s conservation program.

With the start of World War II, the program ceased in 1943, but not before 3 million men experienced changes in their lives and provided valuable work throughout the country.

Tiffany Wood, district conservationist at Ashdown, Robin Stacy, water quality technician (WQT) at DeQueen and Kim Hopper, WQT at Texarkana, partnered with Director Jennifer Cowling from the Agriculture Learning Center to promote learning about agriculture and conservation for 100 pre-K and first grade students from Nash, Ark.

Students learned about food groups and the significance of agriculture on what they eat, the clothes they wear, the car their parents drive, and even their television sets -- all made with plant and animal products or by-products made possible by agriculture.

To promote soil conservation, Stacy used a visual of an apple to teach students only 1/32 of the Earth’s surface is usable farm land capable of producing food to feed the billions of people on Earth. Wood talked to the students about what makes up soil, helped them brainstorm ways to take care of soil and water, and led them in a hands-on activity with worms to learned the worms’ role in building soil.

The Ag Learning Center educates youths in the four-state area of Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.

Less than two percent of Americans are actively involved in farming, and each generation is removed farther from agriculture. With the removal of people from farming, also removed is the knowledge of food and fiber sources.
 

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer announced the White River Irrigation District will receive a $513,833 Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) for a Pumping Plant Energy Audit and Reporting System project.

The irrigation district will provide matching funds to CIG bringing the total value of the approved project to more than $1.39 million. Chief Engineer and Director for the White River Irrigation District, Dennis Carman, said this project is about "bringing technology to the Grand Prairie and Bayou Meto regions, as well as the 45,000 wells throughout Arkansas, to increase energy efficiency in irrigation. Studies show pumping plants operate at 50 percent efficiency and with a little easy maintenance, they could be at 70 percent. This reporting system will measure flow rate, pumping water depth, operating pressure and fuel used. A report of the information will be sent over the internet with an alert if maintenance is necessary. We are improving energy efficiency, the dollars and cents, of irrigation," Carman said.

"Conservation Innovation Grants foster the development of new technologies and approaches to natural resource management and conservation," Schafer said. "The grants will ultimately result in placing innovative solutions in the hands of our producers, which benefits agriculture and the environment."

Nationwide, $14 million in Conservation Innovation Grants were awarded to fund 45 projects in 40 states to develop and refine cutting-edge technologies and approaches that will help farmers conserve and sustain natural resources on their operations.

CIG targets innovative, on-the-ground conservation, including pilot projects and field demonstrations. Grants go to state and local governments, tribes, non-governmental organizations and individuals.

Natural Resources Conservation Service administers CIG, which is part of the Agency’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). NRCS provides technical oversight for each project. Grantees provide technical assistance required to successfully complete their projects.

Additional information about CIG, including summaries of approved projects, is available at: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/cig. A listing of all fiscal year 2008 CIG projects can be found at: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/news/cig_fy2008_14_million.html.
 

By October 27, 2008, almost all USDA employees will be issued new USDA employee ID cards, called the "LincPass."

The USDA version of this government wide "smart card," with its variety of new features, is called "LincPass" in honor of President Abraham Lincoln, who founded the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1862.

The multicolored cards will be 2" x 3.5", include the employee’s name, photo and ID them as a USDA employee. The card will also include the employees height, hair color, and eye color, the card’s expiration date and the official USDA logo.

In addition, a contact computer chip will be imbedded in the card that contains a fingerprint ‘algorithm;’ a digital head shot of the cardholder; the cardholder’s unique ID -- which is not the cardholder’s Social Security number -- and information called "PKI Certificates" which provide authentication, encryption, and a digital signature, all of which are unique to that employee.

USDA employees will eventually use their LincPass to access their office computer and enter their USDA facility.

USDA’s plan is to complete implementation of LincPass access to USDA laptops by September 2008. All other USDA employees will be required to use their LincPass, to access their office desktop computers, by October 2009. Finally, by October 2011 all USDA employees will be required to use their LincPass to enter USDA facilities.