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Natural Resources Conservation Service		 Georgia Go to Accessibility Information
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Technical Support Team

Conservation Planning

The conservation planning initiative in Georgia is designed to assist field office personnel in developing the capability to provide quality products to landusers in the field. The emphasis is on providing information and planning assistance onsite, on the farm, in real time. Previously, field staff would collect information, provide information verbally, return to the field office to process, perform calculations, and print materials that would be carried back to the producer for signatures and review.  The technology is available and in use for field staff to perform all of these functions in the field, allowing discussion with the landowner relative to the assistance provided and with visual interpretations of the impacts.

To meet this objective, field offices are being set up with the following tools: desktop GIS software, the Customer Service Toolkit, digital camera, portable printer, and a PLGR (GPS unit). 

Examples of activities include: calculating acres on buffer zones, calculating CRP acreage outside of pivot irrigation circles, calculating soil type acres for CRP, siteing irrigation systems, updating field boundaries utilizing GPS, displaying and printing conservation problems with digital camera, completing soil database queries, printing plan and soil maps, and creating and maintaining resource inventories that are important to the field office.

The Tools

District Conservationist with Laptop Computer in Field

Distrct Conservationist with Global Positioning Tool
Laptop Computer GPS unit

District Conservationist with Camera documenting crop residue.

Conservation Technicain with landowner surveying.
Digital Camera Traditional on-site assistance

 

Conservation Planning Maps

Conservation Plan Map - Blitch Farm

Consdervation Plan Map - Double C Dariy

Conservation Plan Map - Overstreet Farm

 

Resource Maps

Conservation Plan Topographic Map

Conservation Plan Soils Map

 

Job Sheets
No-till jobsheet cover Riparian Forest Buffer jobsheet cover

 

Plan Document
Conservation Plan document

The Conservation Planning Initiative has resulted in developing the following partnerships:

1
 Partnering with the Georgia Association of Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisors.  Soil and Water Conservation Districts purchased GIS software to improve conservation assistance activities.
2
 A partnership with the Georgia Forestry Commission and the University of Georgia in developing plans to providing training in the use of GIS software.
3
 The Hall County Conservation District developed a nonprofit Hall County Soil and Water Association to promote GIS activities within the District. The Association has purchased equipment such as computers and a laser color printer to support field staff needs using GIS software.  A partnership was developed between the Hall County SWCD Association and NRCS to support field level GIS activities.
4
 A Partnership with the Henry County Soil and Water Conservation District, Henry County Government and the Upper Ocmulgee RC&D resulted in the purchasing of computer equipment, a color printer, a scanner and software to provide field staff with GIS capability and a platform to provide assistance to landusers. 
5
 The Ogeechee, Alapaha, and Flint River Soil and Water Conservation Districts have developed partnerships with NRCS to support efforts to implement the deployment of the GIS tools to the field office.
 
These partnerships developed because the parties involved recognized the significance of a quality conservation plan and how GIS tools provide  improved assistance to our customers.  Assistance that is provided in the field where the assistance is needed and provided efficiently and in a quality manner.