Introduction

Conservation plans serve as blueprints for implementing conservation practices on the landscape. They are typically developed by a soil conservationist working closely with the landowners, farmers,  ranchers, and other stakeholders.

Your conservation plan will be developed with the target audience being the landowner, land manager, or producer (hereon referred to as the land manager) you have been working with throughout this course. The conservation plan should be written and produced at a quality at which it could be immediately implemented as written by the land manager. It should be professionally done and easy to read by a lay-person. While your instructor will be the one reading and grading the report, you are encouraged to provide it to the land manager. Write it as though it was written for them.

Management Plan Outline

Abstract

An abstract is a short summary of the entire document, and has a maximum of 250 words. Abstracts are written in a way where everything that is important in the document is reflected in the abstract. The content of the abstract should be written as a single paragraph and include the following items in the order listed: an introductory statement, objectives, site characterization, management plan recommendations, predicted changes to erosion rates, and conclusions.

Introduction

Provide an introduction that’s one or two paragraphs in length that introduces the landowner to your  conservation plan. This section should describe what is included in the rest of the report and how that information was collected.

Site Characterization

This section will be used to describe the site, its current conditions, and the current management in detail.

Location and Area

Use this section to describe location of the field, and list any nearby landmarks, such as nearby roads or landmarks that a layperson could use to navigate to the site. A legal description of the plot of land would be appropriate as well. Also, list the total area, in acres.

Description of Current Management

This section will describe all of the details of the current management plan, including many of the practices that may impact erosion rates. Describe in detail the current crop rotation; tillage practices that are used; what, if any conservation practices that are already in use, such as contour tillage, terraces, etc. Create a map of the site that readily identifies terraces, field boundaries, and nearby landmarks if they are close enough (like roads, for example). You are encouraged to develop professional quality maps using ArcGIS or similar programs.

Soil Map

Provide a written summary of the soil mapping units that exist on the site, along with the total area, and percent of total area associated with each mapping unit. Include the actual soil map report that was retrieved from the web soil survey in the appendix to the report.

Soil Erosion under Current Management

Estimate the total amount of water and wind erosion that occurs at the site currently. Water erosion from sheet (aka interrill) and rill erosion should be estimated using WEPP, as was done in the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) laboratory activity. Wind erosion should be estimated using WEPS, as was done in the Wind Erosion Prediciton System (WEPS) laboratory activity. For both simulations a summary of all parameters should be listed and described in enough detail that someone else could use the same information and come to the same estimation of water erosion. The use of a table for describing the factors used for WEPP and WEPS models is recommended for reporting these details.

If there is a gully erosion at your study site the rate of water erosion from ephemeral and perennial gullies should be estimated using the following document:

USDA NRCS. 2002. Estimating Soil Loss From Gully Erosion. 8. https://efotg.sc.egov.usda.gov/references/public/MO/gully-ephemeral_erosion.pdf

Soil Health Assessment

Summarize your Cropland In-field Soil Health Assessment findings in this section. Identify any individual assessments that identified potential soil health resource concerns for the site. Include either the NRCS Cropland In-field Soil Health Assessment worksheet OR the LandPKS Soil Health Report  in the Appendix.

Management Plan

Describe the conservation practices you are recommending that the land manager adopt in this section.

Map of Conservation Practices (Recommended)

It is highly recommended that you include a map of the conservation practices that you recommend to the land manager. If you do not have prior experience with mapping software like ArcGIS or QGIS, then a rudimentary map will suffice. Note: nice looking maps can be drawn in PowerPoint using a satellite image of the site as a background and shapes and labels added over the top

Crop Rotation & Cropping Systems

If your recommendation includes using the land for crop production, describe in detail the cropping system and rotations that you recommend implementing in the field. The actual rotation may stay the same, but with management changes such as using contour tillage or no-till. Including a table similar to the management files used in the WEPP and WEPS models is recommended for demonstrating your rotation. Provide estimates of residue that would exist at the time of planting the following crop. Lastly, with the Web Soil Survey report included in the appendix, include yield estimates for your crops, forages, or range grasses as needed.

Pasture Management

If your recommendation includes using the land for pasture, describe in detail the pasture management practices that your group recommends implementing in the field. Include pasture production estimates provided by the Web Soil Survey with the soil survey report in the appendix. Also, including a table similar to the management file used in the WEPP model may prove to be useful in demonstrating your rotation.

Tillage

In this section, describe what tillage operations you plan to use, if any, and describe why those practices were chosen. Referring to the table of operations in the “Crop Rotation & Cropping Systems” and/or “Pasture Management” sections may be useful in your discussion.

Construction Site and Urban Soil Management

If your site is not an agricultural field, but instead is intended to be used for building site or urban development, describe the conservation practices you recommend during and after construction.

Conservation Structures

If you plan on installing terraces, grassed waterways, or other conservation structures then include both a description of what you plan to implement, and a description of where those practices will be installed. Also include a map of where those practices will be implemented in the field.

Management for Surrounding Lands

If you plan to adopt any conservation practices for the lands surrounding the field of interest, then include both a description of what you plan to implement, and a description of where those practices will be installed. Also denote where those practices would be implemented on the map.

Soil Erosion under New Management Plan

Estimate soil erosion that would occur under the new management plan if it was fully implemented. Provide the same level of detail for the WEPP and WEPS model parameters as you did for the estimation of erosion under the current management practices. If your site has gully erosion and your conservation plan adequately addresses that concern, then it will be assumed that gully erosion will be eliminated once your conservation practices are implemented. Thus, you do not need to include any estimations of gully erosion under the new management plan.

T Values

Determine the T values for the dominant soil mapping units at the site using the Web Soil Survey, and determine if current total erosion rates and soil erosion rates following your conservation plan exceed tolerable rates of soil loss. Note: It should be a goal to develop a conservation plan that at least meets T values.

Summary & Conclusions

Provide an overall summary for the management plan and the impact it will have on soil and water conservation at this site. The summary and conclusions should be three or more paragraphs in length. The first paragraph of this section should summarize the methods used, the site characteristics, and what practices are both being used currently. The second paragraph should outline the conservation practices and changes to existing management practices that you are recommending. The third paragraph should  focus on the expected outcomes of the conservation plan, such as the expected reduction in erosion, comparison of erosion rates to the T value, improvements to soil health, and other resource concerns that were addressed.

References

Cite your references using the style guide from the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. Note: this is the same style used in this laboratory manual and Soil and Water Conservation: An Annotated Bibliography. It is recommended that you cite conservation practice standards, conservation practice standard overviews, and extension bulletins for each of the conservation practices you recommend implementing on this field. These references should be cited in the text where appropriate.

Appendix

Include any additional information that would be of use to the producer in this section. This section should include a soil map and other reports from the Web Soil Survey, the soil health report from LandPKS, reports from WEPP and WEPS simulations, and other information that will be useful to the land manager based upon your recommendations.

Grading

Conservation Plan Presentation