In NRCS we trust
I have been working for the Federal government now for 9 months and have heard many negative comments on government jobs/workers. Government employees are just a bunch of lazy asses, Government employees are the reason for economic failure, If I let you on my land my taxes will raise magically somehow, and the list goes on and on of the negativity that I have heard. Now you are saying to yourself well that’s what government jobs/workers do! I am here as a Federal employee to say that we are not ALL bad and when you see the dreaded government license plates pull into your driveway my goal is by the end of this post you will not go running for your shotgun immediately. Instead my hope is that you will check the side of the truck first to see that sticker which tells you that it is just your local NRCS Soil Scientist/Conservationist and run towards them with open arms and hug them! Ok, maybe give them a firm handshake to let them know you appreciate their work. Now why am I talking the Federal government up so much? I’m NOT, but I am bragging a little about the NRCS and what they do for this country.
To start off the NRCS or Natural Resource Conservation Services has been around for 80 years now! It all started with the 1930 Dust Bowl and the terrible wind erosion that occurred across the Great Plains. The NRCS Soil scientist started mapping soil the next year and the Conservationist started working with the farmers so that this tragedy would never happen again. Now with 80 years of service under our belts the information that NRCS provides to the public is not only for farmers but anybody that wants to break ground for any reason. The NRCS has made almost all of their information available for free to the public! WHAT! The government does something for the public for FREE! NO WAY! YES WAY I SAY! Using Websoilsurvey under the NRCS’s website anybody with a computer can see the type of soil that they are standing on by putting in their address. This FREE website also shows what the soil is good for and what if should not be used for. Try it out sometime it is easy to use and there are even directions for those of you that get lost easily.
Now I have been bragging a little about how the NRCS is so great and have shared some information that may already have you believing it. If not, I would like to bring up a project that I am currently working on here at Stevens Point that may catch your attention and make you think otherwise. I am currently part of a project that the NRCS is collaborating on nationally to study the effects soil can have on Carbon sequestration or in other words how soil can help lower Greenhouse gases. This project is being done in every state and like the Dust Bowl the soil scientists are stepping up and mapping out these different types of soil. The process includes sampling different soil types on different land uses across the nation. For an example we will use Wisconsin’s state soil, the Antigo Silt Loam. This soil will be sampled in pastureland, forestland, grassland, and cropland. A Rapid Carbon Assessment is done and data is entered into a larger database which in the end will compare all these soils and come out with a final list of what soil with what land use holds the most carbon. The Conservationist of the NRCS will then step in and when someone wants to put a part of their land into CRP or some type of program the Conservationist will be able to look at the soil on the land and be able to make a recommendation according to what will hold the most carbon. This overall cooperation between the public and the NRCS will not fix the Global warming but will help.
Like I said in the beginning, my hope for this blog is not to fix your relationship with the Federal government but to make you aware that we at NRCS are here to serve the public and are NOT lazy, are NOT going to magically raise your taxes, but instead HELP PEOPLE HELP THE LAND! That’s NRCS’s motto if you didn’t know.
3 comments:
Let me 1st say I agree with the fact MANY people have a very negative attitude toward government workers. When I worked for the Forest Service last summer I could not believe the negative encounters I had with people! First of all I was also working with soils, its not like we carry guns, or as you said raise their taxes, and yet many people disliked us only for that fact we worked for the government. I was/ I am an undergraduate going to school furthering my education getting work experience, and yet I heard the same types of comments. We were anything but lazy; we worked our butts off 10 hours a day! Sure many government policy’s many seem to take forever to be changed, processed and enacted, and that is true, but that is not our faults. It has to do with security issues sometimes, and in all other cases it is because everything is documented, checked, and gone through 10,000 steps, but that’s the government. Again, NOT OUR FAULT! Ahh.
Overall the NRCS and the Forest Service are doing a good job and trying to do what they can to help the public and the land. It’s a lot of work to map soil, pull cores, and test everything depending on exactly what needs to be accomplished. There is millions of acres out there, without road access let me add, which we have to hike and get to. I often feel most of the public, and even people in Natural Resources do not understand what soil scientists do in the field.
I do think the project you are working on will be a great tool when it’s done and will help implement other projects, data, and research surrounding this idea of carbon sequestration. We all know global warming is going to kill us, it snowed another what 3inches today! ☺
Anna Courtney
I also agree with Anna, public jobs get a really bad name. I work here for the city of Stevens Point and most peopel think I don't do much at all. After a while it gets really annoying. It is very nice to see a progam like this though working with land owners to help them with their land trying to get the best out of it. Is there a certain soil that gets the most carbon? What other inputs can you put into a soil to make it better? Is it things you can actually add into the soil or is it just like fertilizers?
This is a really interesting project; I'm glad I got to talk with you about it. The property on which I live was once a dusty bowl of outwash sand, but in those early days of the conservation service trees were planted on a sand dune--the only reason we were able to build out here.
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