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Development of an Online Reporting Format to Facilitate the Inclusion of Ecosystem Services into Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program Reports

Open-File Report 2022-1104
Prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Production and Conservation Business Center and Farm Service Agency
By:  and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20221104

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Abstract

The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program is a program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency. The Secretary of Agriculture is required to submit an annual report to Congress on Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program agreements that, among other things, reports on the progress made towards fulfilling commitments outlined in the agreements. The U.S. Geological Survey developed an online reporting form designed to ensure that consistent information is submitted to the Farm Service Agency from Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program State partners. Combined with the automated importation of text from partner-provided forms to word-processing documents, individual State reports and annual reports to Congress can now be produced efficiently and in a standardized format. Use of a standardized reporting format will also assist the Farm Service Agency in collecting information needed to support ecosystem service quantifications that go beyond the quantifications required from partners to document progress towards meeting the specific purposes and objectives identified in each agreement. Addition of these overarching conservation effect quantifications builds upon past ecosystem services modeling efforts based on the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs suite of open-source software models; these offer a spatially explicit means to quantify additional ecosystem services across diverse partners in a consistent manner. Data sources are currently available to provide much of the information needed to run these models and complete simulations that would facilitate the quantification and reporting of the societal values of conservation actions taken under the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. It is the aim of this report to provide the information needed to move towards widescale monitoring of the Nation’s ecosystem services in a natural accounting framework, similar to the framework used to value financial and human capital.

Suggested Citation

Mushet, D.M., and McKenna, O.P., 2022, Development of an online reporting format to facilitate the inclusion of ecosystem services into Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program reports: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2022–1104, 19 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20221104.

ISSN: 2331-1258 (online)

Table of Contents

  • Acknowledgments
  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Development of Online Reporting Form and Guide
  • Creating Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program State Partner Reports from Online Submissions
  • Summary Report to Congress
  • Evaluation of 2020 and 2021 Partner Reports
  • Bringing an Ecosystem Services Approach to Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program Reports
  • Quantifying Ecosystem Services into the Future
  • Summary
  • References Cited
  • Appendix 1. Farm Service Agency Notice Implementing Use of Online Reporting Form
  • Appendix 2. A Guide for Completing Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program Annual Reports Using the New Online Reporting Form
  • Appendix 3. Column Headings for Combined Microsoft Excel File
  • Appendix 4. Microsoft Word Mail Merge State Report Template
  • Appendix 5. Draft Text Produced for 2020 Report to Congress
  • Appendix 6. Draft Text Produced for 2021 Report to Congress
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Development of an online reporting format to facilitate the inclusion of ecosystem services into Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program reports
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 2022-1104
DOI 10.3133/ofr20221104
Year Published 2022
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Description Report: vi, 19 p.; 5 Appendixes
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Additional Online Files (Y/N) Y
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details