(Time: 11:48) Part 1 of a 3 part series on Web Soil Survey. This video covers information on the Web Soil Survey home page, ways to access the application, and explanation of the top ribbon of the application.

(Time 1:00:22) Our soils support 95 percent of all food production, and by 2060, our soils will be asked to give us as much food as we have consumed in the last 500 years. They filter our water. They are one of our most cost-effective reservoirs for sequestering carbon. They are our foundation for biodiversity. And they are vibrantly alive, teeming with 10,000 pounds of biological life in every acre. Yet in the last 150 years, we’ve lost half of the basic building block that makes soil productive.

(Time: 1:14) Participants will learn to use NRCS conservation practice standards to support the NRCS conservation planning process.

5 Online training modules that take approximately 1 hour to complete. The modules are prerequisites for Conservation Planning, Part 1 and also recommended before beginning any practice specific training.

This webinar covers Phase II, Steps 8 and 9 of the Conservation Planning Process, Cultural Social and Economic Considerations, Resource Concerns and Land Uses, Planning Criteria and Soils. Participants will learn: the requirements of carrying out the conservation treatments that make up the planned conservation systems and how to collect and analyze information to complete human considerations in all nine steps in the planning process. Guided to planning criteria to determine the appropriate inventory or assessment methods or combination of methods to use for each resource consideration.

Second in the series on environmental evaluations, this webinar will assist NRCS conservation planners, partners, and technical service providers to understand how to properly document the results of the Environmental Evaluation process. The NRCS-CPA-52 Environmental Evaluation Worksheet provides a framework to document compliance with NRCS environmental requirements. Participants will learn the nature and detail of the documentation required, as well as the use of various features built into the form such as the use of common resource measurement and analysis tools.

First in the series on environmental evaluations, the primary topics of this webinar include: legal foundations, scoping of relevant resource concerns for a planning unit, Federal actions vs. non-federal actions, and relationship of the NRCS planning process and environmental evaluations. The target audience for this training is all staff engaged in implementing/complying with NRCS’s environmental procedures. Resources available for further training on the subject will be provided. (Time: 50 min) 

Fruit from trees and shrubs (aka mast) is a significant source of food for many wildlife species. This webinar will explore a variety of mast producing trees and shrubs found in eastern deciduous woodlands, as well as, their role in sustaining the wildlife species that depend on them. It will explore on some of the techniques, including crop tree management that can be employed to enhance the diversity and productivity of these woodland mast producers. (Time: 1:05) 

Forestry Best Management Practices (BMPs) are techniques and practices used to minimize and prevent water quality problems associated with. (Time: 1:00)  

This webinar provides insight into how meeting the sunlight needs of individual crop trees can facilitate Forest Stand Improvement efforts. (Time: 00:56)