DRAFT MEETING NOTES
State Technical Guide Committee (STGC)Teleconference
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
1:00- 2:45
Attendees: Tom Burnham, Greg Kuehl, Lars Santana, Denise Troxell, Evelyn Conrad, Kevin Shaw, Lynn Larsen, Chris Hamilton
Welcome and Remarks.
Greg Kuehl, Acting SRC and Co-Chair opened the meeting.
STGC Organizational Adjustments and new Three Year Plan to commence FY 2018.
Greg led a discussion to develop a draft Three Year Plan by the end of September to guide the committee and its new members as they develop their priorities and finalize the next Three Year Plan. Leaving a significant amount of the next Three Year Plan (starting in October)to the current and new members of the committee provides a strong initial work product to complete and a stronger understanding of the path forward for the committee. Discussed a change to membership on the committee that would be developed in a written format and presented as a draft to the STC and the OLT for their approval. The most significant change would be to include an SO Technical Specialist on the committee for each of the five task forces. The task forces would continue to be led by FO personnel with much of the required work updating the FOTG being done by the SO Technical Specialist. It was mentioned that Task Force leads are a critical piece of the structure. Discussed rotating out membership and staggering terms on the committee. We need to maintain several current members to assist in continuity of the operation of the committee.
Review Status of FOTG Updates
The STGC agreed that Technical Notes need to be stored in Section I under the correct discipline. Tech Notes that are specific to a Standard for the time being can stay in Section IV
Task Force Leads provided updates of Standards and Job Specifications and priorities for further work:
Biology. Mitch Cummings, Task Force Lead
Discussed biology materials in Tech Notes that may be outdated but are still on the Web Page. Need to be shifted to the Tech Guide. An example, includes the CPA 52. This will be addressed by a bulletin being prepared by Gary Diridoni. Working with Public Affairs at SO to update web page for example remove dead links. Shift WHEGs to FOTG. Working to address duplications and broken links on NRCS State web page.
Engineering: Kevin Shaw, Task Force Lead
Reported on progress to update standards. Link to specs not working?
Agronomy: Lynn Larsen, Task Force Lead.
Discussed progress as CPS 328 and CPS 329 were updated. Working to improve format of Job Specs.
Forestry: Tom Burnham, Task Force Lead.
Flurry of activity last winter on Standards and priorities are in place to update needed Job Specifications.
Grazing Land: Lars Santana, Task Force Lead
Where to house Technical Notes was question from Lars. Review progress of Grazing Task Force.
We had a discussion regarding the value of a standardized spreadsheet to track status of Section IV Standards, Job Specs and SOWs. This might be a good item for the next Three Year Plan.
Discuss FOTG Section III
STGC needs to re-group to continue making progress this year. Discussedthe value of a schematic/outline for this section.
Integrated Erosion Tool Briefing.
Denise provided an update on this new tool that will eventually replace RUSLE2 and WEPS.
List of Actions for next two months.
1)Greg to enlist assistance to begin devising a Section IV Standardized spreadsheet.
2)Denise to coordinate an eNews submission from STGC.
3)Greg needs to work with Task Force leads to devise list of top twenty practices needing an updated Job Specification/Job Sheet including multiple CINs and field #s for certification block.
4)Set up folders to directly place Tech Notes in Section I under each of the five disciplines. Bob, Greg and Tech Staff
5)Determine a good folder setup for Section III of the FOTG. Denise and Tech Staff.
To do at a later date:
CPA-52 add-on capability reviewed with Gary and Evelyn.
Schedule Next meeting. All