In January 1992 the Rangeland Watershed Program received a grant form the State Water Resources Control Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a rangeland water quality education program for privately owned rangelands. The Rangeland Watershed Program was jointly organized by the University of California Cooperative Extension Range Specialists and the USDA Soil Conservation Service State Range Conservationist. The program intends to coordinate education, research and technical assistance activities at the state and local level.
This grant will be used to fund development of educational materials for rangeland owners, conduct staff training in Cooperative Extension and Soil Conservation Service, to conduct local landowner education programs and to provide research based information to policy makers. This education program supports efforts by California's Range Management Advisory Committee (RMAC) to address rangeland water quality issues on privately owned rangelands.
In 1990, California's Range Management Advisory Committee (RMAC) to the State Board of Forestry focused its attention on rangeland water quality. RMAC has taken the lead in developing and implementing a water quality plan for private rangelands in California. Most of the publicly owned rangeland water quality issues are being addressed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. The state-wide plan will include sections on water quality assessment, agency roles in water quality planning, management measures (best management practices), approaches to watershed level planning, sources of technical and financial assistance and monitoring.
The educational program is directed to the privately owned rangelands which cover approximately 20 percent of the state's land surface and provide 90 percent of the forage that comes form the state's rangelands. This education program will take a whole watershed .
The Rangeland Watershed program will rely heavily on a series of fact sheets that address specific topics. The first ten fact sheets cover such subjects as: program descriptions, nonpoint sources of pollution on rangelands, watershed definitions and functions, local (watershed) level planning, water quality regulations, grazing, riparian, and water quality terminology. During March and April the Cooperative Extension Range Specialists, Jim Clawson and Mel George and the Soil Conservation Service Range Conservationist, Leonard Jolley used these fact sheets in rangeland water quality workshops. Six workshops were attended by 125 farm advisors, specialists, and conservationists. Meetings with rangeland owner groups at both state and local levels are under way, explaining the RMAC and joint CE/SCS programs and initiating the awareness programs. This educational effort is also intended to support the numerous other related water quality projects such as those funded by Section 319 monies, USDA Hydrologic Unit Areas, and Watershed Demonstrations.
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