[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 7, Volume 6]
[Revised as of January 1, 2008]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 7CFR650.3]

[Page 507-508]
 
                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
 
   CHAPTER VI--NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF 
                               AGRICULTURE
 
PART 650_COMPLIANCE WITH NEPA--Table of Contents
 
             Subpart A_Procedures for NRCS-Assisted Programs
 
Sec. 650.3  Policy.

    (a) NRCS mission. The NRCS mission is to provide assistance that 
will allow use and management of ecological, cultural, natural, 
physical, social, and economic resources by striving for a balance 
between use, management, conservation, and preservation of the Nation's 
natural resource base. The NRCS mission is reemphasized and expanded to 
carry out the mandate of section 101(b) of NEPA, within other 
legislative constraints, in all its programs of Federal assistance. NRCS 
will continue to improve and coordinate its plans, functions, programs, 
and recommendations on resource use so that Americans, as stewards of 
the environment for succeeding generations--
    (1) Can maintain safe, healthful, productive, and esthetically and 
culturally pleasing surroundings that support diversity of individual 
choices; and
    (2) Are encouraged to attain the widest range of beneficial uses of 
soil, water, and related resources without degradation to the 
environment, risk to health or safety, or other undesirable and 
unintended consequences.
    (b) NRCS environmental policy. NRCS is to administer Federal 
assistance within the following overall environmental policies:
    (1) Provide assistance to Americans that will motivate them to 
maintain equilibrium among their ecological, cultural, natural, 
physical, social, and economic resources by striving for a balance 
between conserving and preserving the Nation's natural resource base.
    (2) Provide technical and financial assistance through a systematic 
interdisciplinary approach to planning and decisionmaking to insure a 
balance between the natural, physical, and social sciences.
    (3) Consider environmental quality equal to economic, social, and 
other factors in decisionmaking.
    (4) Insure that plans satisfy identified needs and at the same time 
minimize adverse effects of planned actions on the human environment 
through interdisciplinary planning before providing technical and 
financial assistance.
    (5) Counsel with highly qualified and experienced specialists from 
within and outside NRCS in many technical fields as needed.
    (6) Encourage broad public participation in defining environmental 
quality objectives and needs.
    (7) Identify and make provisions for detailed survey, recovery, 
protection, or preservation of unique cultural resources that otherwise 
may be irrevocably lost or destroyed by NRCS-assisted project actions, 
as required by Historic Preservation legislation and/or Executive Order.
    (8) Encourage local sponsors to review with interested publics the 
operation and maintenance programs of completed projects to insure that 
environmental quality is not degraded.
    (9) Advocate the retention of important farmlands and forestlands, 
prime rangeland, wetlands, or other lands designated by State or local 
governments. Whenever proposed conversions are caused or encouraged by 
actions or programs of a Federal agency, licensed by or require approval 
by a Federal agency, or are inconsistent with local or State government 
plans, provisions are to be sought to insure that such lands are not 
irreversibly converted to other uses unless other national interests 
override the importance of preservation or otherwise outweigh the 
environmental benefits derived from their protection. In addition, the 
preservation of farmland in general provides the benefits of open space, 
protection of scenery, wildlife habitat, and in some cases, recreation 
opportunities and controls on urban sprawl.
    (10) Advocate actions that reduce the risk of flood loss; minimize 
effects of floods on human safety, health, and welfare; and restore and 
preserve the natural and beneficial functions and values of flood 
plains.
    (11) Advocate and assist in the reclamation of abandoned surface-
mined lands and in planning for the extraction of coal and other 
nonrenewable resources to facilitate restoration of the land to its 
prior productivity as mining is completed.
    (12) Advocate the protection of valuable wetlands, threatened and 
endangered animal and plant species and

[[Page 508]]

their habitats, and designated ecosystems.
    (13) Advocate the conservation of natural and manmade scenic 
resources to insure that NRCS-assisted programs or activities protect 
and enhance the visual quality of the landscape.
    (14) Advocate and assist in actions to preserve and enhance the 
quality of the Nation's waters.

[44 FR 50579, Aug. 20, 1979; 44 FR 54981, Sept. 24, 1979]