MLRA REGION 10 NEWSLETTER--OCTOBER 1, 1998 CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOIL SURVEY PROJECT OFFICES USDA and the Natural Resources Conservation Service leaders have made Civil Rights program delivery as well as Equal Employment Opportunity a priority for everyone that works for NRCS. Following is a list of some simple ways to have a positive impact in the area of Civil Rights. These are just a few ideas, many more exist. If you have any other ideas or successes relating to Civil Rights forward them to us and we will include them in the newsletter. 1. Recruit a minority and/or female to be a standing member on a MLRA Soil Survey Steering Committee or any other soil survey technical committee. (An interested party from a local school, college, county board or farm group could be recruited to serve. This would not only increase diversity in the committee, but would also serve as input for fresh ideas). 2. Bring your ideas for increasing diversity or any other related topics to the State Civil Rights Steering Committees. 3. Volunteer to be part of the Civil Rights Committee or sub-committees. 4. Write a letter or give a report detailing a positive event in regard to Civil Rights (does not necessarily have to be from a work related situation). 5. In your contact with schools, colleges and universities, make an effort to emphasize opportunities in NRCS and our efforts to increase diversity(make a special effort to contact the placement office). 6. Request attendance for training sessions involving Civil Rights (make training in this area a part of your employee training plan). 7. Share your ideas in this area with your colleagues or those that you may supervise. 8. Volunteer to be a mentor. 9. Take an interest in or become a member of one of the NRCS National Organizations for minority employees. The National Organization of Professional Black Natural Resources Conservation Service Employees(NOPBNRCSE) is one example of such an organization 10. Request assistance from the Special Emphasis Program Managers 11. Include diversity and Civil Rights topics at staff meetings to increase awareness. 12. Network to learn about minorities willing to work in your state or area, refer qualified people to personnel. 11. Don't be worried about devoting some time to this area, your supervisor will support you. It doesn't take a lot from any one individual to make a difference, if everyone does just a little bit, the overall affect may surprise us. By getting involved you not only help others, but you help yourself as well and you'll be doing what is right. ######################################################################### NEW PUBLICATIONS "Estimating Soil Moisture by Feel and Appearance" Pocket Guide Distributed to States - States should now be receiving their copies of Program Aid no. 1619, "Estimating Soil Moisture by Feel and Appearance," for distribution to field offices. States can order additional copies from the GSA Forms Center in Fort Worth, TX. A Spanish version of the publication is planned. "Keys to Soil Taxonomy, Eighth Edition, 1998." Includes the new soil order Gelisols, changes in "Bor" suborders, and "Boro" great groups of Histosols. Available from the Superintendent of Documents, US Government Print Office, PO Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954; phone 1-202-512-1800; FAX 1-202-512-2250. Stock Number: 001-000-04658-6 Price: $28.00 "Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils." In a pocket six ring binder format that has methods and codes (PEDON and NASIS) for these major topics: 1) Site Description (24 pages) 2) Profile/Pedon Description (68 pages) 3) Geomorphic Description (26 pages) 4) Soil Taxonomy (9 pages) 5) Geology (10 pages) 6) Location (5 pages) 7) Field Sampling (4 pages) Subtopics are separated by labeled tabs. Produced by the National Soil Survey Center, NRCS, USDA, Lincoln, NE by P. J. Schoeneberger, D. A. Wysocki, E. C. Benham, and W. D. Broderson. ######################################################################### ORGANIZATIONS EXPRESS INTEREST IN BECOMING THIRD PARTY VENDORS Three professional organizations from the American Society of Agronomy have expressed interest in providing technical assistance to farmers and ranchers by certifying their members as third party vendors. These organizations are the Certified Professional Agronomists, Certified Professional Crop Scientists, and Certified Professional Soil Scientists. The Certified Professional Agronomists and the Certified Professional Crop Scientists will assist in nutrient, pest, and residue management. The Certified Professional Soil Scientists will assist in erosion control, wetland management, and nutrient management. NRCS plans to develop memorandums of understanding with these organizations by late summer. From: NRCS This Week for July 3, 1998 ######################################################################### CHANGED ADDRESSES AND PHONE NUMBERS 1. All phones in the MLRA Region 10 office are now located in Area Code 651, no longer 612. ######################################################################### WEB SITES OF INTEREST http://www.statlab.iastate.edu/soils/soildiv/personnel/perscont.html Email amd surface mail addresses; phone, FAX, and Voice mail numbers of NRCS soils and support staffs. http://www.ftw.nrcs.usda.gov/ssur_data.html National SSURGO Database Data Access site. ######################################################################### Last month, the following x3780 files were sent to offices having SSSD: x3780.401mes on Sept 1 (25 updated OSDs) * x3780.402frig on Sept 2 ( 1 updated OSD ) @ @ Sent to offices using soils in the frigid soil temperature regime. * Sent to offices using soils in the mesic soil temperature regime. # Sent to all offices. These x3780s contained the following updated OSDs: MESIC ackmore adair amana armstrong biggsville bucknell cantril chequest clarinda clinton coppock cresent douds ely fella galland gara givin hedrick inton joyce judson kalona koszta mannon FRIGID chippeny ######################################################################### ACTIVITY SCHEDULE (through November 15--subject to change) MLRA DATE ACTIVITY LOCATION MO 10 STAFF 92 Oct 05-09 Field Review Ashland Jahnke 93 Sep 28-02 Progress Field Review Virginia, Duluth Giencke Handler 94A Sep 28-02 Progress Field Review Luce County Jahnke 107 Oct 05-09 Field Review Woodbury-Crawford Hempel DesLauriers 108B Oct 19-23 Final Field Review Quad Cities Hempel All Oct 05-06 ECIMIS Beta Testing (USFS) Cass Lake, MN Handler All Nov 09-13 Region 10 staff meeting St. Paul All ######################################################################### CONTRIBUTIONS, IDEAS, SUGGESTIONS, AND QUESTIONS ARE WELCOME Thanks to those individuals who participated this month. It is your efforts that are making this newsletter a success. * * * * * Please submit your articles at least five days before the end of the month for inclusion in the following month's newsletter. Otherwise it will appear the following month. Occasionally, due to other workload demands, it may be an additional month before the article appears. Generally, articles are inserted in the order they are received. Articles in an electronic format can be submitted to: jfh@mn.nrcs.usda.gov It is best if electronic articles are prepared in a "text only" format. Articles in a paper format can be sent or faxed to: John Handler MLRA Region 10 Office USDA - NRCS 375 Jackson Street - Suite 600 St. Paul, Minnesota 55101-1854 FAX: 1-651-602-7914 * * * * * This newsletter is intended to be a forum to distribute information of a general nature that will benefit soil scientists in soil survey project offices. It is hoped that it will foster communications and sharing of knowledge among those soil scientists in MLRA Region 10. * * * * * The format of this newsletter is intentionally simple so that it can be received, read, and printed by the project office having the least sophisticated computer setup. #########################################################################