Proposed Changes in the NRCS National Handbook of Conservation Practices for Review and Comment

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Natural Resources Conservation Service

Proposed Changes in the NRCS National Handbook of Conservation

Practices for Review and Comment

AGENCY: Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), U.S. Department

of Agriculture.

ACTION: Notice of availability of proposed changes in the NRCS National

Handbook of Conservation Practices for review and comment.

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SUMMARY: It is the intention of NRCS to issue a series of new or

revised conservation practice standards in its National Handbook of

Conservation Practices. These standards include Contour Buffer Strips

(332), Filter Strips (393A), Tree/Shrub Pruning (660A), Riparian Forest

Buffer (391A), and Manure Transfer (634). NRCS State Conservationist' s

who choose to adopt these practices for use within their state will

incorporate them into Section IV of their Field Office Technical Guide

(FOTG). Some of these practices may be used in conservation systems

that treat highly erodible land or on land determined to be wetland.

DATES: Comments will be received on or before April 28, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Submit individual inquiries in writing

to Gary Nordstrom, Director, Ecological Sciences Division (ECS),

Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), P.O. Box 2890, Room

6154-S, Washington, DC 20013-2890.

Single copies of these standards are available from NRCS-ECS in

Washington, DC. Copies are also available electronically from the NRCS

server at Fort Worth, Texas. The name of the server is

ftp.ftw.nrcs.usda.gov. Practice standards appear as files in /pub/nhcp/

pending. Practice code numbers are used as file names in this

subdirectory. These standards are available as MS Word 6.0 files. They

should be downloaded from the FTP server as binary files.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 343 of the Federal Agriculture

Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 requires the NRCS to make available

for public review and comment proposed revisions to conservation

practice standards used to carry out the highly erodible land and

wetland provisions of the law. For the next 60 days the NRCS will

receive comments relative to the proposed changes. Following that

period a determination will be made by the NRCS regarding disposition

of those comments and a final determination of change will be made.

Gary R. Nordstrom,

Director, Ecological Sciences Division, Natural Resources Conservation

Service.

[FR Doc. 97-4945 Filed 2-26-97; 8:45 am]

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