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Fun in the Sun - #USDARoadTrip Through Conservation and Recreation

Posted by Matt Herrick, USDA Director of Communications in Conservation Forestry
Jul 06, 2015
United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket with NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite (SMAP). Photo by NASA’s Kim Shiflett.
United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket with NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite (SMAP), a remote sensing mission designed to measure and map the Earth's soil moisture distribution and freeze/thaw stat with unprecedented accuracy, resolution and coverage. Photo by NASA’s Kim Shiflett.

The second stop on our #USDARoadTrip is our recreation and conservation portfolio, including our vast and spectacular forest and grassland system managed by USDA’s Forest Service as well as some of the cooperative conservation efforts underway by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Farm Service Agency (FSA). 

With Independence Day fireworks behind us for 2015, USDA gives you another reason to look up into the night sky. With a new satellite, NASA and USDA have partnered to map Earth’s soil moisture from orbit, letting us monitor droughts, predict floods and forecast the water supply in major cities.

Our forests and public lands are national treasures with limitless space for recreational opportunities and adventure. And by investing in science-based, partner-driven conservation solutions, not only do we help farmers, ranchers and landowners conserve resources for future generations on private and working lands, we also create jobs and grow a sustainable path for our nation’s rural economies.

A massive field of fireweed covering the ground across this open expanse of landscape at the foot of one of hundreds of mountain peaks across southeast Alaska and the Tongass National Forest. (US Forest Service photo)
Our forests and public lands are national treasures with limitless space for recreational opportunities and adventure.

In the coming weeks, we’ll make stops in some of our nation’s rural communities and take you inside USDA’s own R&D shop, which pumps out science and tech innovations, web portals, and applications for customers around the world. And over on our Twitter handle, @USDA, we will be highlighting Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s visits to all 50 states. Continue tuning in to #USDARoadTrip to see how USDA is working in all corners of our nation to build a stronger, more sustainable American economy through partnership, progress and promise.

Joe Muller and Sons, Co-Owner Tom Muller digs down to check the soil condition of his crop of tomatoes, that receive underground micro irrigation, in Woodland, CA.
By investing in science-based conservation solutions, not only do we help farmers, ranchers and landowners conserve our resources for future generations, we also create jobs and grow a sustainable path for our nation’s rural economies.
Category/Topic: Conservation Forestry