Rhode Island State Technical Team (STT) Meeting notes

October 11, 2007
USDA Conference Room
Warwick, RI

Attending: Roylene Rides at the Door, Michael Moorman, Michael Kenyon, J. Eric Scherer, RI NRCS; Rob Swanson, Melissa Turrisi, FSA; Ken Ayars, RI DEM Div. of Agriculture; Tom Sandham, Eastern Rhode Island Conservation District; Elizabeth Scott, RI DEM Office of Water Resources; Thomas Abbott, RI DEM, Division of Forest Environment; Gregg Cassidy, RI DEM, Office of Sustainable Watersheds; Rick Pace, EccoAssets Markets; Jay Osenkowski, RI DEM Division of Fish and Wildlife; Stephen DelPozzo, SRICD; Margherita Pryor, US EPA; Kristin Dame, URI CES.

Introductions, Review Agenda, and Opening Comments

Roylene Rides at the Door State Conservationist welcomed everyone and asked for any updates for the agenda.

Ms. Rides at the Door briefed the members on the current situation for funding for programs in FY 2008. NRCS is currently operating under a continuing resolution (CR) and the only Farm Bill programs authorized at this time for participants is the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Security Program (CSP). The Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP) and the Farm and Ranchland Protection Program (FRPP) authorizations ended September 30, 2007 and therefore are not currently available to be funded. NRCS will be able to only service existing contracts for WHIP and FRPP.

Ms. Rides at the Door stressed that RI NRCS will need to focus on EQIP and CSP as the only two available programs and the outreach program will be directed towards these two programs for the immediate time. She asked the members to encourage landowner participation so as to fully obligate funds this FY in EQIP. She indicated that ranking of EQIP applications will occur on November 15th after the deadline for EQIP applications closes on November 1st.
 

Fiscal Year 07 Farm Bill Updates

Mike Moorman, Assistant State Conservationist for Programs (ASTC), presented handouts for an update on both WHIP and EQIP applications and contracts funded for FY 2007. He also presented a handout on the current applications for FY 2008 funds. He mentioned that there was a possibility for a second application period prior to December if not all funds were obligated. Mr. Moorman discussed with Team members the point cut off for FY 2008 applications as well as how ranking criteria will be developed for ranking worksheets (copies of worksheets provided to Team members). Team members discussed prior year deferred application and commented on applicants who may have scored too low becoming discouraged and not aware on how to improve their applications. Mr. Moorman indicated that staff would be working with applicants at outreach meetings to explain the ranking process.

State Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG)

Tom Sandham provided an update on the state CIG program. There will be scheduled outreach efforts for potential applicants. The conservation districts have scheduled a meeting in Cranston and are working with the University of RI, College of Life Sciences for the 2008 program. Mike Moorman explained a little more detail on the national vs. state offered programs and that CIG funds came out of the EQIP budget and NRCS expected to be able to offer the program this year.

Grassland Reserve Program (GRP)

Mike indicated that one application is still in the process and hopes to close on it this next quarter.

WRP

Mr. Moorman stated that the one active application for the Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) this year was presented with a purchase agreement. Based upon the price offered for the easement the owner declined to continue with their application in hopes of pursuing other opportunities. He indicated that the office will hold onto the file in case the owner wants to come back to WRP in the near future.

Farm and Ranchland Protection Program (FRPP)

Mr. Moorman stated that the FRPP is still working on the Treaty Rock Farm agreement as well as two other agreements for farms on Jamestown and the time to complete the agreements has been extended for six months.

Practice Payment Schedule

Mike Moorman and Reena Shaw presented a ‘final’ draft Practice Payment Schedule (PPS) to Team members for their review. The handout was developed by Reena Shaw, State Economist with a great deal of input from staff and partners. This new practice payment schedule will replace the former cost share practice list used for past year Farm Bill programs. Reena developed the new schedule to resemble the past formats used in the coast share lists to provide for a smoother transition to the new system.

Each member of the STT was asked to continue to provide any additional data or information they had on costs and prices to Reena. These can be used for future updates of the PPS.

Farm Viability

Ken Ayars, Chief, RI DEM – Division of Agriculture, presented an update on the Farm Viability program. A very successful weekend was held at the Pumpkin weigh in at the Fried’s farm. This event attracted a very large crowd (1000 people attended) It was recommended that this event be added to the NRCS list for next year for outreach events to attend. Ken discussed another successful year for RI’s farm stands and mentioned that Rhody Fresh and Rhody Warm were doing well.

Field Office Technical Guide

Tim Pindell, Resource Conservationist, presented two packets and a cover letter on recent updates to the Conservation Practice Standards list and requested comments from the STT on any possible changes they could see for these updated national standards for Rhode Island.
 

Canadian Geese Issue

Tom Sandham, District Manager for ERICD, presented an update on meetings of the subcommittee on the resident goose control issue. Jay Osenkowski, RI DEM Division of Fish and Wildlife was present, he also discussed the status of DEM’s efforts to address the issue, and he offered to be a member of the group. It was mentioned that there is a target to reduce geese populations in RI by 1/3.

Tom discussed three strategies the subcommittee is looking at, including working with plant materials not palatable to geese as a cover crop, or barrier, working with a group called Geese Peace and the possibility of hunting to control populations. Tom reviewed what has happened to date and said that the presentation by Geese Peace was very promising and he was interested in bringing them to RI for a presentation.

Other Items

Kristin Dame was introduced as newest member of the URI CES staff, working with producers in Rhode Island. She recently held a twilight meeting with vegetable producers on September 13th on IPM on squash production (there were about 30 farmers in attendance) She is hosting a November 8th twilight meeting on soil quality and reduce tillage in vegetables. She will have staff coming in from Cornell University to assist with the presentation. NRCS (Tim Pindell) will also be and will be presenting information on soil loss prediction models (RUSLE 2).

Melissa Turrisi provided the team members a copy of the Farm Service Agency Autumn Newsletter which highlighted upcoming events. A request came to NRCS about the possibility of offering a Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) in RI. Ms. Turrisi indicated that she would do some research on it and see if it were possible to do this and what it would take to accomplish.
 

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