U.S. Department of Agriculture

Natural Resources and Environment Mission

USDA plays a critical role in the sound stewardship of the Nation's land and natural resources. The USDA Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly the Soil Conservation Service) share responsibility for fostering sound stewardship on 75 percent of the country's total land area.

Both agencies apply sustainable ecosystem principles in the management of soil, water, forests, and wildlife. Each agency's respective strengths and expertise demonstrate that sound environmental policy and agricultural productivity are not mutually exclusive.

The Forest Service (FS) provides leadership in the management protection, and use of the Nation's forests and rangelands. The agency is dedicated to multiple- use management of these lands for sustained yields of renewable resources such as wood, water, forage, wildlife, and recreation to meet the diverse needs of people.

The Forest Service carries out its mission by:

• using an ecosystem approach to managing the National Forest System NFS) -- the lands, wildlife and fisheries, recreational facilities, forest and rangeland, watersheds and air, and minerals and energy on the 191 million acre NFS,
• advising and assisting State and private foresters,
• conducting research in forestry, forestry resources, and forest products utilization, and
• supporting resource conservation and sustainable development abroad.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is the Federal agency that works hand-in-hand with the American people to conserve, improve, and sustain natural resources on private lands. To carry out this mission, NRCS has:

• a nationwide network of conservation specialists who work through some 3,000 locally organized and locally run conservation districts to help individual land users and rural and urban communities.
• programs for technical assistance and cost-sharing,
• a strong technology base that includes:
  • a national cooperative soil survey
  • standards for conservation systems that address such areas as erosion control, animal waste management, irrigation water management, wetlands conservation and restoration, and flood control and streambank stabilization
  • a plant materials program that introduces new ways to use plants for revegetation, land stabilization, and landscape enrichment
  • computer "models" for predicting soil erosion by wind and water, agricultural nonpoint-source pollution of water, the effects of grazing practices on rangeland health, and the effects of management decisions on farm and ranch economics
  • the National Resources Inventory - the Nation's most comprehensive and statistically reliable source of data on natural resource conditions and trends on non-Federal land, and
  • a snow survey and water supply forecasting program for the western mountain states.

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