NRCS Holds State Technical Committee Meeting

Maryland Media Liaison:

Carol Hollingsworth, 443-482-2902

Annapolis, MD -- May 19, 2006, -- Virginia (Ginger) L. Murphy, Maryland State Conservationist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), today announced that NRCS will hold a meeting of the Maryland State Technical Committee on Friday, June 2, 2006, from 9 a.m. to Noon. The meeting will be held at the NRCS State Office building at 339 Busch's Frontage Road, Conference Room 205, Annapolis, Maryland 21401.

Agenda items will include:

• Reviewing applications submitted for funding under the Farm and Ranchlands Protection Program (FRPP) and
• Discussion of the establishment of an easement rate cap for the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP).

Members of the State Technical Committee associated with a FRPP application or potential easement acquisition are asked to abstain from participating in the review process. This will alleviate any conflict of interest with the application review process.

The primary role of the Maryland State Technical Committee, an advisory group, is to assist in the development of technical guidelines necessary to implement the conservation provisions in the 2002 Farm Bill. Ginger Murphy, the NRCS Maryland State Conservationist, chairs the committee. NRCS is USDA’s lead conservation agency and has worked hand-in-hand with farmers and landowners for more than 70 years to conserve natural resources on private lands.

Please contact Linda Elben-Adams at 443-482-2936 or linda.adams@md.usda.gov if you wish to participate in the meeting. A packet of information which will include the FRPP applications and WRP rate cap information will be sent to you for your review prior to the June 2nd meeting.

The public is invited to attend the meeting.