Conservation effects assessment Project

Abstract

Lisa F. Duriancik is the CEAP coordinator, Resources Inventory and Assessment Division, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Beltsville, Maryland. Dale Bucks is formerly with the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Beltsville, Maryland. James P. Dobrowolski is the national program leader for rangeland resources, USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), Washington, DC. Tom Drewes is the New Jersey state conservationist, NRCS, Somerset, New Jersey. S. Diane Eckles is a wetland ecologist, Resources Inventory and Assessment Division, NRCS. Leonard Jolley is a rangeland ecologist, Resources Inventory and Assessment Division, NRCS. Robert L. Kellogg is an agricultural economist, Resources Inventory and Assessment Division, NRCS. Daryl Lund is the branch chief for conservation effectiveness and policy analysis, Resources Inventory and Assessment Division, NRCS. Joseph R. Makuch is the coordinator of the Water Quality Information Center, USDA National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, Maryland. Michael P. O’Neill is the national program leader for natural resources and environment, CSREES. Charles A. Rewa is a biologist, Resources Inventory and Assessment Division, NRCS. Mark R. Walbridge is the national program leader for water quality and water management, ARS. Roberta Parry is a senior agricultural policy analyst with the Office of Water, US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. Mark A. Weltz is a rangeland hydrologist, Exotic and Invasive Weeds Research Unit, ARS, Reno, Nevada. T he Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) was initiated by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), and Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) in response to a general call for better accountability of how society would benefit from the 2002 farm bill’s substantial increase in conservation program funding (Mausbach and Dedrick 2004). The original goals of CEAP were to establish the scientific understanding of the effects of conservation practices at the watershed scale and to estimate conservation impacts and benefits for reporting at the national and regional levels. Other federal agencies and nongovernmental organizations with conservation and natural resource interests are currently partners in various CEAP activities, often through jointly funded research projects. CEAP activities are organized into three interconnected efforts: