March 15, 2004

Becoming A Technical Service Provider -- What You Need To Know

A Technical Service Provider Orientation Workshop is scheduled for Wednesday, April 14. It will be delivered over the Interactive Video Network to five sites in North Dakota:

• Loftsgard Hall, Room 260, on the NDSU Campus, Fargo
• Burleigh County Extension Office, 3715 East Bismarck Expressway, Bismarck
• Dickinson Research Extension Center, 1133 State Avenue, Dickinson
• Renville County Extension Office, Courthouse, 205 Main Street East, Mohall
• Walsh County Extension Office, 638 Cooper Avenue, Grafton

The workshop will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. central daylight time, with a one-hour break at noon. Interactive video programming, allowing questions and comments to be shared with everyone attending, connects all sites. There is no charge to attend the workshop.

Presenters at this workshop are North Dakota Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and North Dakota State University Extension Service specialists.

Topics include:

• The role of the NDSU Extension Service in the Technical Service Provider Program policies
• NRCS Electronic Field Office Technical Guide
• Identifying and documenting environmental concerns
• Tools for planning and designing practices such as erosion predictions, nutrient management and engineering tools
• Progress reporting
• Procedures for payment/not to exceed rates
• USDA cost-share programs
• Activities requiring a professional soil classifier license
• Ongoing professional development opportunities

The Technical Service Provider (TSP) program was initiated in the 1996 Farm Bill and expanded by the 2002 Farm Bill. The 2002 Farm Bill authorized USDA to use TSPs to provide technical assistance on behalf of USDA. Technical assistance includes conservation planning and design, layout, installation and checkout of approved conservation practices.

TSPs will help ease the increased workload the Natural Resources Conservation Service will face as a result of landowner requests for technical assistance to participate in conservation programs in the 2002 Farm Bill. “I can see where we will have a very strong need for Technical Service Providers in North Dakota,” said Tom Coleman, NRCS assistant state conservationist in Bismarck. “There will be more work to be done in the conservation of North Dakota’s natural resources than we can handle this year and in years to come. We need more TSPs in North Dakota.”

NRCS will reimburse program participants (landowners) if they select a TSP from the list of approved TSPs and if the technical services provided meet all legal and program requirements. Anyone who is considering work as a Technical Service Provider, as provided in the 2002 Farm Bill, should plan on attending this workshop.

Registration is required. Contact Debbi McDonough at (701) 231-7236 before April 7. For additional information contact George Maher, NDSU Extension Service TSP program coordinator at (701) 231-8288, or Mark Anderson, North Dakota NRCS at (701) 530-2039.

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Source: George Maher, (701) 231-8288, george.maher@ndsu.nodak.edu
Editor: Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.nodak.edu

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