Pennsylvania's 2008 Strategic Goals

Pennsylvania NRCS provides products and services that enable people to be good stewards of our soil, water, and related natural resources. With our help, people are better able to conserve, maintain, or improve their natural resources

To accomplish our mission of “Helping People Help the Land,” we have established the following strategic goals for Fiscal Year 2008:

I. Put Planning First – Improve the effectiveness of conservation planning.
The emphasis of “Put Planning First” is to proactively help clients develop a good conservation plan that includes core conservation practices. This emphasis on up-front conservation planning within NRCS will correspond in a timely fashion with other programs and procedures that reference the need for a current conservation plan. It is imperative that planning assistance be provided in a proactive manner to prepare land users for successful participation in conservation programs such as EQIP. NRCS’ ability to assist clients with implementation of their program contracts in a timely and efficient way will be greatly enhanced by starting now to develop action oriented conservation plans. Priority status will be awarded to producers with current conservation plans.

II. Promote core conservation practices and increase implementation success of these practices.
Core conservation practices such as no-till farming, nutrient management, cover crops and conservation buffers can reduce the loss of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment from cropland while maintaining or increasing crop profitability. Implementing core conservation practices can also play an important role in carbon sequestration and can address 80 percent of the pressing environmental issues facing farmers and the Chesapeake Bay.

III. Streamline and improve program, policies, procedures, and processes.
Conservation programs are important tools to help farmers and landowners apply conservation practices and protect natural resources. Because these are public funds, the programs must be administered fairly and impartially for all of our customers. We must ensure financial integrity and good stewardship of this financial resource just as we do with the natural resources we work to protect. At the same time we want to constantly improve our processes to make it easier for both us and our customers to get conservation practices applied.

IV. Develop/deliver new/revised or existing Natural Resource Information.
Natural Resource Information will enable employees to provide better service to customers, allow customers to more easily access our information, and enable customers and stakeholders to understand agency processes and rationale for agency decisions. Baseline data in an Arc Map project will assist employees to develop future watershed scale goals for conserving natural resources. Updated practice information fact sheets, checklists, and job sheets will support efficient delivery of technical assistance of Core Conservation practices. A revised RUSLE2 Pennsylvania user guide will assist planners with estimating fuel savings under different management operations. A statewide wildlife priorities strategy and training to use wildlife habitat evaluations will help staff improve fish and wildlife habitat quality. Clarified planner re-certification requirements and a job approval authority chart for non engineering practices will assist supervisors with identifying their employees’ related KSA levels and training needs. New training materials about Energy Audits will help develop priorities and delivery of energy conservation in future EQIP sign ups.

V. Human Capital Strategy - Have a well trained, diverse and productive workforce.
Knowing what to do and how to do it in order to meet mission goals is as critical to the ongoing success of individual NRCS employees as it is to the success of the entire Agency. Employees must continue to focus on better ways to do their jobs. NRCS leaders must work with staff to identify knowledge, skill, and competency gaps and provide ongoing opportunities for training, development, and information sharing, so that every employee can maximize their contribution to the Agency’s mission, enhance our service delivery, and improve overall management and deployment of our diverse workforce.

VI. Instill an effective and efficient organization to achieve the strategic, financial and performance goals.
NRCS is committed to continued development of our organization to achieve our goals through strategic planning, financial responsibility, and meeting our performance goals. This is critical to a high performing government agency responsible for providing programs and services utilizing public money. Through this initiative and through continued improvement, NRCS will provide the most benefit to our customers and be recognized as a high achieving agency that is fiscally responsible.

VII. Increase outreach to underserved customers.
NRCS is committed to ensuring that every eligible customer is aware of the agency's programs and technical assistance. Underserved customers may include, but are not limited to women, minorities, small farmers, new farmers, limited resource farmers, and geographically remote farmers. NRCS in Pennsylvania will strive to achieve this goal so that all potential customers will know the door is open to them for accessing the agency's services. Knowing that demands for our services are greater than our resources, NRCS leadership will assist employees in understanding the agency's priorities to determine the order in which customers will receive technical services. Participation in programs will be determined by the publicly accessible ranking criteria.