NRCS REPORT
VASWCD Board Meeting  September 23, 2015  Glen Allen, VA
EQIP, CSP, RCPP and Easement Programs
Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP)
 424 applications were contracted in the following fund pools: Forestry, Seasonal High Tunnel, Cropland,
Beginning Farmer, Socially Disadvantaged, GWW, livestock, Long Leaf Pine Initiative (LLPI), National Water
Quality Initiative (NWQI), and Wildlife.
Conservation Stewardship Program (CStP)
 For the 2015 Signup, 98 applications were evaluated and we were able to fund 37 new contracts.
Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP)
 RCPP-DOF project: $1.3 million awarded to DOF.
Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP)
 We closed 2 FRPP, 1 GRP and 2 WRP during FY15.
 7 other prior year easements are in the acquisition process.
 6 ACEP FY15 applications (2 WRE, 4 ALE) were funded in FY15 for $1.5 million.
Dam Rehabilitation Current Project Updates:
 Secured additional dam rehabilitation funding and obligated it in amendments to existing project agreements
($19.34 million) for construction of Upper North River 77, and design and construction of Mountain Run 11 and
50.
 Cherrystone Creek 1 and 2A, Town of Chatham – NRCS staff has begun gathering resource data for these two
dam rehabilitation plans.
 Johns Creek 1, Craig County - NRCS staff begun gathering resource data for this dam rehabilitation plan
 Mountain Run 11 and 50, Town of Culpeper – The Town has hired Schnabel Engineering to assist NRCS with
some of the engineering planning and design of these two projects. A Dwarf Wedge Mussel survey was
completed and no T&E species were found; therefore a Categorical Exclusion can be pursued and a PlanEnvironmental Evaluation can be developed for these two dams. The goal is to have the draft plans completed
by December 30, 2015 and final plans by April 1, 2016. The design will be completed in 2016 and construction
will begin in the spring of 2017.
 Pohick 8 – managed and coordinated Sponsor led completion of construction
 Upper North River 10, Augusta County - Todd Lake Dam: This project is under construction and should be
finished in late November. This is the 10th dam rehabilitation project that NRCS has assisted to construction.
The winning bid was $2,976,062.20 by Howdyshell Excavating, Inc. of Augusta County.
 Upper North River 77, Augusta County – Hearthstone Lake Dam: This plan has been completed, signed by the
Headwaters SWCD, Augusta County, and NRCS State Conservationist and submitted to NRCS headquarters
requesting the Chief’s authorization. The design is being done by NRCS engineers. Construction is expected to
begin in 2016.
Watershed
 We are in the process of officially closing out five land treatment watershed projects in Virginia. Additional
paperwork is being finalized for the Chestnut Creek Watershed in Grayson and Carroll Counties and for the Little
Reed Island Creek in Carroll, Pulaski and Wythe Counties. The final reports and close-out supplements have
been prepared and submitted to NHQ for these watershed projects:
o Three Creek, Washington County
o Sandy Creek, Halifax and Pittsylvania Counties
o Hays Creek, Augusta and Rockbridge Counties
 Smith Creek Showcase Watershed - NRCS continues to work actively with the Smith Creek Partnership as
together we work to improve water quality in this showcase watershed. In FY15, we had 9 contracts for
$403,759 in War Branch and Mountain Run in National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI). National Fish & Wildlife
NRCS REPORT
VASWCD Board Meeting  September 23, 2015  Glen Allen, VA
Foundation’s RCPP Project will focus on the Dry Fork sub-watershed in Smith Creek, beginning in FY16. Philip
Davis has been appointed as the new Smith Creek Showcase Watershed Coordinator.
NRCS Client Gateway Conservation Client Gateway (CCG), a public website that allows individual landowners the
secure ability to request technical and financial assistance from NRCS, opened up for nationwide use on April 14. CCG
allows clients to work with NRCS via the Internet as a supplement to in-person support.
Training
 In fiscal year 2015 NRCS led and/or helped organize 60 different training/outreach events and issued 127
Continuing Educational Units (CEUs) to further training of NRCS and partnership employees including recently
participating in the annual SWCD Graves Mountain Lodge training.
 Planned and led the Prescribed Burn Awareness training and the Cultural Resources Modules 7 & 8 training.
This training resulted in 15 SWCD and 7 NRCS employees being training and meeting these requirements for
becoming certified planners.
 Will hold the Virginia NRCS Conservation Planning “Boot Camp” week long course from September 28 through
October 2nd. Ten SWCD and 10 NRCS employees are currently registered to complete this course, which is the
final course to become a certified planner.
 In FY15, 6 SWCD New Planner certifications were issued and there were 9 SWCD re-certifications issued.
 Worked on an International Year of Soils presentations for the field.
 Assisted multiple customers with soils data on the Web Soil Survey.
 5 NRI training sessions for the 2015 Grazing land local data collection, for both equipment and software.
Soil Health
 In fiscal year 2015 NRCS held 30 different soil health events where NRCS organized with partners and was a keynote
presenter. This represented over 3200 agency staff, partner staff, industry and producers, a key feature of the VA
Soil Health Initiative.
 Since the 2013 Soil Health Kickoff event in Virginia, NRCS has helped organize and led 119 soil health events which
were attended by over 8300 participants.
Miscellaneous
 Created a buffer map of 35 ft around every stream on the National Hydrologic Dataset for the Chesapeake Bay
in Virginia.
 Working with MLRA office in Pennsylvania to get the towns of Staunton, Waynesboro, and Winchester mapped.
These independent cities were not included in the surrounding counties’ soil survey.
 NRI – All of Virginia’s 2013 Local Data NRI collection and review has been completed. The 2014 Local NRI Data
collection has begun during the 4th quarter. This data is not due to be completed until March of 2016. The
LDSI program is more user friendly than past NRI applications.
 NRI Grazing Lands: Data collection and quality assurance review are completed for all of VA sampling sites
 Installed 5 water table monitoring wells in Area 3 WRE easement this month. This will be a part of the
assessment of the wetland restoration efforts of the wetland.
VA NRCS Personnel Changes
New Hires - Loren Muldowney (District Conservationist, Mercer, PA) to Resource Soil Scientist, Farmville, 8/23/2015
Retirements/Resignations - Ron Wisniewski (District Conservationist, Fredericksburg) effective 9/2015
Transfers/Promotions (in and out of state)
 John Nicholson retired ACES (Resource Soil Scientist), Rustburg, 8/16/2015
 Kathy Holm (Resource Conservationist, Harrisonburg) to ASTC (FO), Harrisonburg, 7/26/2015
 Eric Capps (Soil Conservationist, Chatham) to District Conservationist in Rocky Mount, 9/6/2015
 Casey Dietzen (Soil Conservationist, Verona) to Soil Conservationist, Warrenton, 5/31/2015