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  • This forum has 189 topics, 698 replies, and was last updated 1 month, 1 week ago by Rachael Guth.
Viewing 20 topics – 1 through 20 (of 195 total)
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    • Collective CD Output and Impacts Does your state agency have a standardized way to capture CDs environmental outputs/impacts? If so, what reporting document(s) do you use? Individual accomplishments are good, but we’re particularly interested in collective outputs/impacts. What incentive(s) do you have for receiving the data?

      Started by: Rachael Guth

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    • 6 days, 19 hours ago

      Rachael Guth

    • Hazard Classification for ponds in developing areas Do any states have any provisions in state law that exempts or protects farm pond owners from liability or requirements to upgrade their ponds when development or changes in the watershed result in a change to hazard class for the pond?  Many ag pond owners in North Carolina are getting letters demanding modifications to their pond to increase protection for downstream residents, etc.

      Started by: David Williams

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    • 2 weeks ago

      David Williams

    • State Department of Agriculture- Staff Training The Indiana State Department of Agriculture- Division of Soil Conservation needs a training program for new and current staff.  Our current program is lacking, and rather than recreate the wheel, we were wondering if other NASCA members housed in state departments of agriculture could be kind enough to share their process and any supporting documentation. We would greatly appreciate your help. Jennifer

      Started by: Jennifer Thum

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    • 1 month, 1 week ago

      Rakel Sanchez

    • Ideas for table top type displays at your capitol We support Kansas Association of Conservation Districts by attending the Conservation Day at the Capitol and staffing a booth/table.  We don’t have time to canvass the districts and create a state annual report (like South Carolina 2023 – if you haven’t seen it, it is awesome), but we are looking for a creative and attention grabbing idea. What have you used at your capitol that turned out to be highly effective at starting conversations?

      Started by: Marsha Setzkorn-Meyer

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    • 1 month, 2 weeks ago

      whitescreen

    • Needs Assessment I have been tasked with updating our state soil commission’s strategic plan, and I was wondering if you know if NRCS or any other NASCA states have ever done a “needs assessment” or “gap analysis” to estimate how much additional funding and manpower would be necessary to address all the soil/water conservation concerns across a state/region.

      Started by: John McClurkan

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    • 4 months, 2 weeks ago

      Jake Wilson

    • Safety Concerns at Local Work Group Meeting Hi all, I was just contacted by a district who’s dealing with a phoned-in threat left on their voicemail from a member of the public in advance of their local work group meeting. Due to the nature of the language used, they’re concerned about safety for their event and more generally for their staff. We’ve advised them to contact both NRCS (the threat was called in to a federal phone) and local law enforcement. NRCS is drafting a bar letter to prohibit the individual from entering the service center, but the district’s main office is located elsewhere and the local work group event will be held at a local community center. We’ve also advised them to consider remote options for this meeting. We haven’t dealt with anything like this before, so I’m wondering if anyone else provides guidance to districts about how to respond to irate members of the public or about safety issues more broadly? Particularly in a highly charged political atmosphere, has anyone else had to deal with threats to district staff? Has your agency been able to provide any resources around this issue? We’d like to do some kind of training at the very least, but not sure what that might entail. Beyond that, it feels like we have to just default to whatever security local law enforcement can provide, but I’d welcome any other thoughts or ideas.   Thanks,   Clare

      Started by: Clare Ireland

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    • 4 months, 4 weeks ago

      Marsha Setzkorn-Meyer

    • Grant Application Templates and Scoring Criteria We have a grant that is state funded.  It is a matching grant for conservation districts. We solicit applications in the late summer for the following year. The application it’s self is pretty easy and we haven’t gotten many complaints from applicants about it. However, our scoring committee has brought up concerns over the past few years. Some of the concerns for example are districts just copy and pasting their responses from the previous years. Some districts have more money, partners, etc. and hire grant writers so their applications are far superior. I am wondering if anyone has any application templates they could share with me, or different scoring criteria guidelines that they use. We score on a scale of 1-10 on 6 categories: Project Overview, Project Methodology, Adequacy of Resources, Partnerships, Deliverables, and Funding Preference. If that helps at all.

      Started by: Rakel Sanchez

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    • 1
    • 6 months, 1 week ago

      Rakel Sanchez

    • Application for SCD Board Supervisors For those charged with appointing Board Supervisors to your local SCDs, can you share the application you use for potential applicants/nominees. Maryland would like to update our materials.

      Started by: Alisha Mulkey

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    • 6 months, 2 weeks ago

      Alisha Mulkey

    • Conservation District NAICS Codes We have a new state law that’s requiring our districts to register for state unemployment coverage for the first time. In going through this process, we’ve realized that our districts are using very different North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes. I’d like to provide guidance on what codes our districts should be using, and I’m wondering if anyone has already provided guidance to districts in your state about this? Or if not, do you know what NAICS code your districts tend to use?   Thanks!  

      Started by: Clare Ireland

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    • 9 months, 1 week ago

      Lisa Knauf Owen

    • RCPP projects to supplement SCS programs? Have any states utilized RCPP to fund or enhance funding for their existing state cost share programs? Funding for our state cost share program has declined for years. With all of the federal dollars now available, it seems like a natural fit. If you have, I would love to hear any experiences with it. Thank you.

      Started by: Jay Nelson

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    • 1
    • 1 year ago

      Jay Nelson

    • State Cost Share Programs and NEPA/NHPA Curious to know if any other state that has a state-funded cost share program that cooperates with NRCS for CTA has been told that CTA is the trigger (federal undertaking) for the National Historic Preservation Act rules to attach to state funded conservation projects. Any feedback would be welcomed. Thanks in advance!

      Started by: John McClurkan

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    • 6
    • 1 year ago

      Jay Nelson

    • BMP Evaluation Tools – Water Quality For North Carolina’s state Agriculture Cost Share Program, district staff are required to use specific approved tools to calculate water quality outcomes associated with practice implementation (soil saved, N and P reduced, etc.). We are exploring potential tool switches or upgrades to our approved program tools for water quality outcome reporting to enhance tool functionality, improve tool access and usability, and overall streamline the process of water quality outcome calculation reporting for district staff. We would like to learn more about the tools other states are using for best management practice water quality outcome reporting for state agriculture cost share programs. Can you share publicly available links to the tools you use? Can you share published information (reports, fact sheets, etc.) about the tool(s) you use? Any information on this topic welcomed. Thanks!

      Started by: Allie Dinwiddie

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    • 1
    • 1 year, 1 month ago

      Allie Dinwiddie

    • Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Programs Hi all, In Kansas we are considering making some changes to our current Sediment and Nutrient Reduction program.  It is currently an incentive based system tied to CRP contracts/practices.  We would like to change it a state cost share only incentive based program that does not require CRP participation. Are there other states out there who are doing something similar?  If so, I’d like to hear from you. Thank you, Kristin Kloft

      Started by: Kristin Kloft

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    • 1
    • 1 year, 1 month ago

      Kristin Kloft

    • District Employee Salaries Do any of your state’s agencies maintain any type of database of district employee salaries/benefit packages or is anyone aware of a national resource with that type of information? We are trying to get an idea of what is competitive regionally and nationally.

      Started by: Jake Wilson

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    • 6
    • 1 year, 2 months ago

      Kathy Bircket

    • Vehicle Management Kansas is exploring options related to its management of vehicles. Does your state have a central motor pool? Or does each agency manage its own vehicles? Respectively submitted by Shelly Bartron, Special Assistant to Adam Proffitt, Kansas Secretary of Administration.

      Started by: Samir Arif, Chief of Staff, Kansas Secretary of Administration

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    • 1
    • 1 year, 2 months ago

      Samir Arif, Chief of Staff, Kansas Secretary of Administration

    • Federal Procurement Requirements Hello NASCA members, In CT, all 5 Districts were awarded LISFF grants, almost $3MM in total. As they will be engaging subcontractors to do the work, they need to comply with the federal procurement requirements as stipulated here: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFR45ddd4419ad436d Do any of us members have a toolkit with templates for these required documents (such as the procurement policy, statement of conflict of interest, etc.)? I think this would be extremely helpful.  Please let me know if we have these in house.

      Started by: Lilian Ruiz

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    • 1
    • 1 year, 3 months ago

      Lilian Ruiz

    • District Manager Position Description Vermont is looking to provide better guidance to our conservation districts around position descriptions. Does anyone have sample job descriptions for the district manager position that you’d be willing to share? I’m looking for either actual position descriptions in use by districts currently or sample template position descriptions you provide to districts. Thank you!   Clare

      Started by: Clare Ireland

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    • 1 year, 4 months ago

      Clare Ireland

    • Updating Our Supervisor Handbook At our recent association meeting we were asked by several supervisors for guidance on personnel management.  The information is currently in our Conservation District Handbook, but not in the Supervisor Handbook.  We plan to update the Supervisor book to include some information, but not be overwhelming.  For example, we will probably include sample performance evaluations, steps of probation and/or termination, supporting documentation, etc.   If your state does this, would you share your Supervisor Handbook?  Looking for content ideas.

      Started by: Marsha Setzkorn-Meyer

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    • 1
    • 1 year, 4 months ago

      Marsha Setzkorn-Meyer

    • District Accounting Software Programs The Kansas Division of Conservation does not require districts to use a particular accounting software. Most of our districts use QuickBooks for accounting and reports. However, QB has had several changes recently. It is becoming very costly to use the program as well as internet based. Some of our districts don’t have reliable internet or prefer not to have their finances on internet based software.  Those who have not upgraded are being advised (by other districts) not to make upgrade because of cost and all the problems encountered. To assist, we are looking at alternative accounting software for districts to consider. What is the primary accounting software districts in your state use?

      Started by: Marsha Setzkorn-Meyer

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    • 1 year, 7 months ago

      Jake Wilson

    • Riparian Easement Programs I am interested in learning more about any states that run or participate in some way in a conservation easement program specifically around protecting riparian areas. Please feel free to reach out directly to me at sjoy@scc.wa.gov or 360-480-2078. Thanks!

      Started by: Shana Joy

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    • 1
    • 1 year, 8 months ago

      Shana Joy

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