1. NCPP Perspective From Field Staff

2. Lincoln County NC

3. District Conservationist
1989
Soil Conservationist
Soil Conservation Service (SCS)
District Conservationist

4. 1992
District Conservationist (SCS)

5. 1994
Soil Conservation Service (SCS) became Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)

6. 2010
Lincoln County combined with Cleveland County (NRCS)

7. 2016
Lincoln County and Cleveland County combined with Gaston County, Rutherford County and Polk County.

9. National Conservation Planning Partnership (NCPP)
National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD)
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
National Association of State Conservation Agencies (NASCA)
National Conservation Districts Employees Association(NCDEA)
National Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils (NARC&DC)

10. 5 Action Teams Communications and Messaging
Performance, Outcomes and Accountability
Partnership and Leveraging Capacity, Organization and Planning
Technical Processes, Tools and Integration
Training

11. Performance, Outcome and Accountability Team (POA)
Conservation Planning Value Proposition
Landowners or operators, whether public or private, have access to quality
conservation planning that achieves their desired outcomes around
economic prosperity and healthy ecosystems and society’s broader needs
at the regional or landscape level for on farm and off site impacts.

12. Training Metric Inputs Outputs Outcomes
Activities
Participation
Short Term
Intermediate Term
Long-Term
Partners Inputs
Dollars
Staff Expertise; technical expertise from outside partners
Equipment
Time
Program Structures (any program)
Planning effectiveness
Partnership agreements
Certified Conservation Planners (#1 Accountability for quality planning in organization performance plans)
Client’s objectives whether financial, environmental, community, regulatory or combination
Areawide or Watershed objectives (targeting, regulatory and policy drivers at a scale above the client)
Sound BMPs; standards/specs
Supply Chain – input from other ag service providers – crop/livestock decisions based on current economic trends, etc. Input costs and effects on conservation practice selection.
Quality Conservation Planning, on-farm resource inventory, NEPA and CPA-52; 9 steps of conservation planning
Data sharing
 Training of planners
 Servicing of existing plans (follow up)
Marketing and Outreach
Farm Business Planning (outside activities but relevant to conservation planning as necessary to achieve economic objectives)
Landowners or operators have access to services and engagement with planner
Landowners or operators actual involvement in planning process;
evaluate resource concerns; having the conversation; relationship building.
Underserved clients are aware of access (#6 Planning with Underserved clients)
Farm Scale
Applied conservation practices
Farm operation changes
(e.g. rotational grazing)
On-site farm benefits – example, soil health, water quality, water quantity, animal health, plant health, air quality
Regulatory compliance
Economic benefits
Farm is sustainable economically, socially, and environmentally
Landscape/Regional Scale
Multiple clients applying high-priority conservation practices for a certain/like natural resource concern
Off-site benefits – example, reduced sediment in waterways, water quality improvements
Community trust
Landscape/Regional
Economic prosperity
Healthy Ecosystems
Social and intangible benefits
De-listing of 303d, endangered species, etc.

13. Goal Statements Training Availability Baseline capacity and Need
1. Determine training need of eligible NCPP partners. (POA/Training)
2. Determine skill gap based on certification completion rates at each CCP level and the necessary certification required based on employee job title. (POA/Training)
3. Determine if skill gap will be addressed based on employees working on higher certification levels (Training)
4. Determine capacity of available trainings to complete employee certification needs and address skill gap. (Training)
5. Find the geographical spread of training need and the magnitude of urgency. (POA)
6. Determine capacity, efficiency, and effectiveness of instructor cadre base to address training need. (Training – NEDC)
7. Determine need and capability for expanding instructor capacity. (Training – NEDC)

14. Goal Statements Continued
Training Access
Baseline Measures
13. Obtain baseline measures to compare time based progress and completion rates. (POA)
Potential causes of limited progress
14. Describe whether progress limitations described above are associated with cost, system access (ie eAuth), or system use (ie IDPS) (POA)
15. Describe what slows and speeds the process of system access. (Astor/Mike)

15. Soil
Conservationist
going over Farm Plan with
Landowner

16. “ I consider the Soil Conservation Districts movement one of the most important developments in the whole history of agriculture”.
Hugh Hammond Bennett