NRCS

Two years ago, the Nisqually Shellfish Farm south of Belfair, Wash. didn’t have a chance. Runoff from surrounding homes and dairy farms polluted Henderson Inlet, and the state declared the water unfit for raising shellfish for human consumption. Worsening the problem, the place was overrun with an...

For the past 3 years, I have worked with a team of experts and scores of reviewers on a report published today, Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Agriculture and Forestry: Methods for Entity-Scale Inventory. If you are a landowner, scientist, or conservationist looking for new tools to estimate...

Windows XP was recently retired along with the iconic photo of a verdant green field on rolling hills that was the operating system’s default wallpaper. This photo, called “Bliss,” had puzzled me for some time as it looked so familiar.

The Molokai Land Trust (MLT) is a partner of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in its efforts to restore native landscapes on the Island of Molokai in Hawaii. MLT and NRCS have partnered together on many projects, including the one highlighted in this post. Justin Fritscher, NRCS. The...

In deep East Texas, pine trees are king. Towering pines line the roads and blanket the rolling countryside and national forests. Loblolly and slash pine dominate the landscape in contrast to the area’s historic longleaf pine trees that once reigned. The reduced number of longleaf pines has not gone...

Tim and Harriette Allen have focused their golden years on a shared passion that has set them on a path to conservation. The Georgia couple’s love of nature and a desire to help the environment spurred them to become part of a national effort to conserve and restore longleaf pine forests throughout...

They tried year after year for four years at county-level competitions. And as they watched other teams take top honors, they kept at it. This year their hard work paid off, and those five students from Jupiter High School in Palm Beach County, Florida, made it to the state-level competition and won...

I have a few decorative items on my desk at work, and some of those are longleaf pine cones. Even though I only learned of the rare longleaf pine forest – and the large pine cones that fall in them each year – a few years ago, it was love at first sight. Longleaf pine forests once covered the...

To Chisago County, Minn. farmer Keith Johnson, triathlons, swimming in clean water and conservation have a lot in common. They’re his passions, and he’s in constant pursuit of information on these topics. Years ago, when printed publications and brochures were the norm, Johnson would find himself...

Hallie Robinson farms a small piece of land with an enormous amount of energy and excitement. She and her husband, William Robinson, farm three acres of vegetables and raise ducks, geese, goats and cows in Lee County, S.C. They moved to the farm in 1979, and much of her farm knowledge comes from her...