Who We Are

Helping People Help the Land
With the mission of “Helping People Help the Land,” the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides products and services that enable people to be good stewards of the Nation’s soil, water, and related natural resources on non-Federal lands. With our help, people are better able to conserve, maintain, or improve their natural resources. As a result of our technical and financial assistance, land managers and communities take a comprehensive approach to the use and protection of natural resources in rural, suburban, urban, and developing areas.

A Partnership Approach
Since the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s, NRCS has worked with conservation districts and others throughout the U.S. to help landowners, as well as Federal, State, Tribal, and local governments and community groups.

NRCS has six mission goals: high quality, productive soils; clean and abundant water; healthy plant and animal communities; clean air; an adequate energy supply; and working farms and ranchlands.

To achieve these goals, the Agency implements these strategies:
• Cooperative conservation: seeking and promoting cooperative efforts to achieve conservation goals.
• Watershed approach: providing information and assistance to encourage and enable locally-led, watershed-scale conservation.
• Market-based approach: facilitating the growth of market-based opportunities that encourage the private sector to invest in conservation on private lands.

Conservation Assistance
Our locally-based NRCS staff works directly with farmers, ranchers, and others, to provide technical and financial conservation assistance. Our guiding principles are service, partnership, and technical excellence.

NRCS helps landowners develop conservation plans and provides advice on the design, layout, construction, management, operation, maintenance, and evaluation of the recommended, voluntary conservation practices.

NRCS activities include farmland protection, upstream flood prevention, emergency watershed protection, urban conservation, and local community projects designed to improve social, economic, and environmental conditions.

NRCS conducts soil surveys, conservation needs assessments, and the National Resources Inventory to provide a basis for resource conservation planning activities and to provide an accurate assessment of the condition of the Nation’s private lands.

As the leading source of technology as it applies to natural resource conservation on private lands, NRCS develops technical guides and other Web-based tools to help enhance natural resource conservation efforts.
For More Information

For More Information
Please contact NRCS at your local USDA Service Center, listed in phone directories under U.S. Government, or visit our Web site at: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov.

Download and view using Acrobat Reader.

NRCS: Who We Are (PDF; 28 KB)