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Throughout 2023, Joint VSP Technical Panel (TP) and Statewide Advisory Committee (SAC) meetings have been online and in person at a central location for presenting counties. All county work groups, CDs, and interested stakeholders are welcome to attend. Catch the last scheduled Joint meeting of 2023 in Pullman!
Oct. 12, 2023, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Pullman and online
Agenda
Physical location: USDA-NRCS Pullman Plant Materials Center, 4900 SE Terre View Drive, Pullman, WA 99163
Online: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82346049516?pwd=VGwvMURKY3h1Q2xLZWdxdHNVY2w2UT09
Meeting ID: 823 4604 9516
Passcode: 883387
Counties presenting
Garfield, Whitman, Stevens, Lincoln, Columbia, Walla Walla, Franklin, Benton, and Asotin.
Meeting format
- Presentations from the specific list of counties.
- Time on the agenda for each presenting county will serve as a check-in with the TP and SAC as the county prepares for their next 5-yr report.
- A presenting county is invited to participate however they prefer, including, but not limited to a conversation with the TP and SAC, a presentation by the county (with or without PowerPoint) or a virtual tour of county VSP projects.
Time set aside on the agenda for specific counties is not the only time that a county can attend or communicate with the TP and SAC.
Background
Counties are free to attend, or not attend, these meetings, and are free to bring whatever issues they want to bring to the TP and SAC for dialogue. Issues might include monitoring, data collection, five-year report data entry, outreach and education, etc.
The time on the agenda for each county will serve as a “check-in” for each county with the SAC and TP as they prepare their next five-year report. The concept for this dialogue time for each county is that each county would have a dedicated time to meet with the TP and SAC on an on-going basis. The purpose of this meeting is to reinforce the communications, focused primarily on issues related to the next five-year report, between the state agencies on the TP, counties, county work groups, and technical service providers and the stakeholders represented on the SAC.
This schedule does not replace communications that are on-going between any VSP entities at the local or state level, but to provide a dedicated “check-in” opportunity for any county that wants to make use of it.
Subject to availability, any county may present any issue at the Joint Meeting. Counties are welcome to inquire about time on the agenda.
Assessing wetland functions and values with applications to VSP
Please join us November 14, 2023 @ 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. (Pacific Time Zone)
Demonstrating the effects of agricultural conservation practices on wetland functions and values is an important component of many county and conservation district monitoring efforts, particularly for counties participating in the Voluntary Stewardship Program (VSP).
This virtual session, developed in coordination with the Center for Technical Development (CTD), will cover a variety of approaches used to assess wetland functions and values with an emphasis on applications to watershed-scale monitoring and VSP. During this informational session we will cover the following topics:
- Overview of the Washington Dept. of Ecology’s field-based Wetlands Rating System
- Results from the Dept. of Ecology’s Statewide Wetland Mapping Inventory
- Pros and cons of using the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Technical Note 14 for field-based wetlands assessments
- Overview and introduction to emerging remote sensing tools that estimate wetland presence/absence and functioning.
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