USDA seeks input regarding an update to its technical guidelines and science-based methods to quantify greenhouse gas sources and sinks from the agriculture and forest sectors, Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Agriculture and Forestry: Methods for Entity-Scale Inventory, to ensure that relevant information and data are considered, improve the rigor of the guidelines, and enhance the usability of the methods in the updated guidelines.
The U.S. Forest Service proposed revisions to implement certain changes to the Small Tracts Act enacted in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 concerning the eligibility of small tracts of land for conveyance outside of the National Forest System.
The BLM Paria River District Office announced the availability of the records of decision for the approved resource management plans for the Grand Staircase, Kaiparowits, and Escalante Canyons units of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and the federal lands excluded from the monument by Proclamation 9682, now identified as the Kanab-Escalante planning area.
The BLM Canyon Country District Office and U.S. Forest Service Manti-La Sal National Forest announced the availability of the records of decision for the approved monument management plans for the Bears Ears National Monument Indian Creek and Shash Jáa units.
The U.S. Forest Service revised regulations to implement certain changes to the Small Tracts Act, enacted in the 2018 Farm Bill, to raise the value limit of tracts to be conveyed outside of the National Forest System from $150,000 to $500,000 and create a new conveyance category for parcels used as landfills, sewage treatment plans, or cemetaries under a Forest Service special use or other authorization.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service through an interim rule amended its regulations under the 2018 Farm Bill to implement the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, which enhances conservation and promotes coordination between the Service and its partners to help producers and landowners increase the restoration and sustainable use of soil, water, and wildlife on a regional or watershed scale.
EPA renewed the charter for the Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Advisory Committee, which provides advice and recommendations to the Administrator on environmental issues and policies that are of importance to agriculture and rural communities, for an additional two years.
Our country's landscape has changed dramatically over the last 50 years as a result of numerous governmental policies and subsidies that encourage low-density development commonly referred to as "sprawl." Sprawl results in environmental problems ranging from air pollution to wetland degradation. Our countryside is disappearing and becoming more fragmented, while urban areas are simply neglected. Moreover, this type of growth, which has gone unchecked for the latter half of this century, increases traffic congestion, strains public budgets, and deteriorates our quality of life.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency seeks comment on residential energy retrofitting programs financed through special state legislation enabling a "super-priority lien" over existing and subsequent first mortgages.
The Commodity Credit Corporation made interim changes to the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program to conform with the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018.