Transcript Slide 1

USDA Climate Change
Capabilities and Responsibilities
William Hohenstein
Director
USDA Global Change Program Office
Overview of USDA Climate Change
Responsibilities
• Research
– US Global Change Research Program/Climate
Change Science Program
– Climate Change Technology Program
• Inventory and assessment
– Contributions to national inventories
– Site and project-level accounting
• Action
– Conservation programs
– Renewable energy programs
• International
– Support for Department of State and WH
– Bi-lateral actions
Summary of USDA Greenhouse Gas Inventory
and Assessment Capabilities and Responsibilities
National GHG Inventory
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Periodic US Agriculture and Forestry Greenhouse Gas Inventory (2005, 2008)
Provides GHG estimates for land use, land use change, and forestry chapter of the Official EPA
GHG Inventory (annually)
Provides underlying statistics for the agriculture chapter of the EPA Inventory (annually)
Project/entity GHG inventories
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Provided agriculture and forestry methods for DOE Voluntary GHG Reporting Registry 1605(b).
Created estimation tools and reporting framework
Developing “stand alone” GHG inventory methods for entities and projects
Analysis/Assessment
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FASOM Model – Forest Service part of team developed only integrated forest/agriculture
economic model of the U.S.
ERS analyses: Biomass Feedstock Report (2008), Economics of Sequestering Carbon in the
U.S. Agricultural Sector (2004)
Assessments of legislative approaches
Observation systems
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The U.S. Forest Inventory -- Forest Service
Forest Health Monitoring Network – Forest Service
National Burn Severity Monitoring Project – Forest Service
Natural Resources Inventory – NRCS
Snowpack Telemetry Network (SNOTEL) – NRCS
Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) – NRCS
National Agricultural Statistics Survey – Agriculture Census, statistics reports
USDA Implements $4.7 Billion in Farm Bill
Conservation Programs
• Farm Services Agency and the Natural Resources Conservation
Service administer portfolios of incentive programs that require
annual reporting.
• NRCS and FSA verify the implementation of conservation practices,
adherence to contract specifications, and audit a sub-set of
contracts periodically to ensure compliance with contracts.
• NRCS and FSA manage networks of private sector technical service
providers that assist landowners in implementing actions supported
by USDA’s conservation programs.
USDA maintains records of cropping practices and
management
• NASS maintains the agriculture census that could be used to collect
information on aggregate levels of implementation of nutrient
management, soil conservation, and manure management systems.
• USDA Surveys track crop management:
– Conservation Effects Assessment Program (CEAP)
– Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS)
• FSA maintains 10+ years of official crop history for crop lands; GIS
records will replace paper records and aerial photos by 2011;
• FSA utilizes GIS Common Land Units (CLUs) to delineate tract,
farm, and field level data.
• FSA maintains official land records for 5 million active farms and
routinely updates name/address records and reconstitute farms due
to frequent change in control of land.