Are you someone who is familiar with private agricultural land and natural resource interests in Spartanburg County? Each year the NRCS seeks help from local stakeholders to rank resource concerns in the county. If you are a landowner in the county, we would love to have your input in this Local Work Group process! Review this list of available NRCS resource concerns and choose your top 3 for each landuse in the survey below. Keep scrolling for more information about the Local Work Group.
| Soil | 1. Sheet and rill erosion |
| 2. Wind erosion | |
| 3. Ephemeral gully erosion | |
| 4. Classic gully erosion | |
| 5. Bank erosion from streams, shorelines, or water conveyance channels | |
| 6. Subsidence | |
| 7. Compaction | |
| 8. Organic matter depletion | |
| 9. Concentration of salts or other chemicals | |
| 10. Soil organism habitat loss or degradation | |
| 11. Aggregate instability |
| Water | 12. Ponding and flooding |
| 13. Seasonal high water table | |
| 14. Seeps | |
| 15. Drifted snow | |
| 16. Surface water depletion | |
| 17. Groundwater depletion | |
| 18. Naturally available moisture use | |
| 19. Inefficient irrigation water use | |
| 20. Nutrients transported to surface water | |
| 21. Nutrients transported to groundwater | |
| 22. Pesticides transported to surface water | |
| 23. Pesticides transported to groundwater | |
| 24. Pathogens and chemicals from manure, biosolids, or compost applications transported to surface water | |
| 25. Pathogens and chemicals from manure, biosolids, or compost applications transported to groundwater | |
| 26. Salts transported to surface water | |
| 27. Salts transported to groundwater | |
| 28. Petroleum, heavy metals, and other pollutants transported to surface water | |
| 29. Petroleum, heavy metals, and other pollutants transported to groundwater | |
| 30. Sediment transported to surface water | |
| 31. Elevated water temperature |
| Air | 32. Emissions of particulate matter (PM) and PM precursors |
| 33. Emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) | |
| 34. Emissions of ozone precursors | |
| 35. Objectionable odors | |
| 36. Emissions of airborne reactive nitrogen |
| Plants | 37. Plant productivity and health |
| 38. Plant structure and composition | |
| 39. Plant pest pressure | |
| 40. Wildfire hazard from biomass accumulation |
| Animals | 41. Terrestrial habitat for wildlife and invertebrates |
| 42. Aquatic habitat for fish and other organisms | |
| 43. Feed and forage imbalance | |
| 44. Inadequate livestock shelter | |
| 45. Inadequate livestock water quantity, quality, and distribution |
| Energy | 46. Energy efficiency of equipment and facilities |
| 47. Energy efficiency of farming/ranching practices and field operations |
THANK YOU!
The Local Work Group is composed of the county NRCS agents, the Soil and Water Conservation District commissioners, Watershed Directors, DNR, FSA, Clemson Extension, Forestry Commission, Stormwater Management, conservation groups, agricultural groups, wildlife groups, and most importantly, local landowners and producers. This group of concerned citizens is tasked with helping to decide what natural resource concerns are the greatest in Spartanburg county. Members of the Local Work Group (LWG) receive a survey which lists the realized resource concerns for our county’s forest land, crop land, pasture land and agricultural waste. The 47 listed resource concerns are broken down into the categories of soil, water, air, plants, animals and energy. The LWG member then ranks on the survey their top 3 concerns for forest land, their top 3 concerns for crop land, top 3 for pasture and again for agricultural waste. The survey can be taken online or a paper copy can be mailed to the LWG member. Once the survey has been filled in, it is returned to the Soil and Water Conservation District where all responses are tabulated with first choice concerns weighted more heavily than second, and second more than third.
At this point in the process, the LWG member can be finished with their responsibilities for the year, or they can join other LWG members at a meeting where the results of the survey will be shared and further discussed as well as compared to the results from the prior year. At this meeting, the local NRCS agent will explain how the results of the LWG effect the practices and funding pools for the year. They also have the opportunity to discuss new initiatives and how they may be related to the resource concerns brought forward through the LWG process.
Through becoming a member of the LWG, you have the opportunity to help shape resource management not only in our county, but throughout the state as well. If you would like to receive the Local Work Group list of available NRCS resource concerns survey, please contact Beth with the Spartanburg Soil and Water Conservation District. Calls can be made to 864.345.6787 or emails sent to SpartanburgSWCD@yahoo.com. Please leave the email address or physical address to which you would like the survey sent.
We hope to see your concerns addressed in the survey!
–