U.S. Agricultural Terminology
A glossary of agricultural terms, programs and laws from the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, at the request of the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture.

Coon Creek Revisited
Saint Mary's University of Minnesota Depeartment of Resource Analysis graduate student and biologist, Martha Roldan, recently completed her major degree project, a GIS (geographic information system) assessment of the change in agricultural woodlots in western Wisconisn's Coon Creek watershed. In 1935 Aldo Leopold called the original Coon Creek project (the first Soil Erosion Service effort), "an adventure in cooperative conservation."

Ms. Roldan found an overall increase in wooded acreage, particularly on steeps and floodplain, in the 63 years since Leopold himself climbed the 700-foot slopes of the Coon Creek watershed. The spirit of Leopold conservation, and even a few people who met him, dwell in the watershed today.
CoonCreekSuccess.pdf (950K PDF)

Sny Magill Creek Watershed Project 1991-1999The multi-agency project, which involves NRCS, Iowa State University Extension and many other partners, provides technical assistance, information and education, and cost-share assistance to help producers implement their conservation plans and makes additional voluntary changes in farm management practices to protect water quality.  A 10-year US EPA 319 water quality monitoring program is being conducted under the leadership of the DNR-GSB in association with the Sny Magill HUA project.  The adjacent Bloody Run Creek serves as the paired watershed for the monitoring protocol.
Sny Magill Creek Watershed Project 1991.htm

Land Management System 
The Land Management System (LMS) is an effort of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC) to design, develop, support, and apply an integrated capability for modeling and decision support technologies relevant to DOD (and other agency) management of lands, seas, and airspace. The concept for LMS is derived from extensive experience of the USACE laboratories in providing numerical models and decision support systems to land and water resource managers at military (Tri-Service) installations, and Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works, Districts, and Divisions.
Lms.pdf (This file is in Adobe Acrobat. Download from our Home page if you do not have it on your computer.)

Featured Topics: Monthly topics that affect the Basin or informative articles that will lead to a better knowledge of items and actions that effect you and 'your' Basin.

TMDLs - What are TMDLs, how are they measured, and how do they effect you? Click here for information and websites to get a handle on this topic.

T-Factor - This is a commonly referred to item relating to erosion, but what is it exactly. Look here to get a grasp on this topic.

2001 Farm Bill UMBSN Listserver Discussion Summaries
Grassland Summary (Jan 4-8)
Wetland Loss (Jan 17)
Breaking Permanent Easements (Jan 23)
Shooting Preserves on CRP (Jan 24)
Incentives for a walk-in program - Shooting Preserves (Jan 28)
CRP and the 15-year limit (Feb 2)
RP Management Of Noxious Weeds (Feb 6)
Brome Fields (Feb 6)
EBI, Brome Fields, Managed Use of CRP (Feb 6)
EBI, CRP Cover (Feb 7)

Worldwatch Institute State of the World Discussions
The publishers of the annual State of the World Report are offering transcripts of live online chat discussions based on the intitute's latest report:  Go to the archive section at: http://www.worldwatch.org/live These include:
The Challenge for Johannesburg: Creating a More Secure World
Moving the Climate Change Agenda Forward
Farming in the Public Interest
Redirecting International Tourism
Reducing Our Toxic Burden
Breaking the Link Between Resources and Repression
Rethinking Population, Improving Lives
Reshaping Global Governance

If your company, group, or agency has a project it would like to show, contact Barry Drazkowski to get it in the Technical Issues page. Shared knowledge is good knowledge!