The Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP): The U.S. experience in determining a national scale natural resource and conservation needs assessment

Authors: JOHNSON, M-V - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS, USDA); NORFLEET, M - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS, USDA); ATWOOD, J - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS, USDA); Behrman, Kathrine; Kiniry, James; Arnold, Jeffrey; White, Michael; WILLIAMS, J - Texas Agrilife Research

Submitted to: Australian Journal of Soil Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/3/2014
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) was started to provide an understanding of the benefits of agricultural conservation practices for watersheds, to measure the benefits at a national and regional level, and to identify conservation needs across the United States. Representative cropland acres in all the major agricultural U.S. watersheds were surveyed between 2003 and 2006 as part of the CEAP Cropland National Assessment. Two models, Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender (APEX) and the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), were used to simulate the conservation practices currently in place and recognize conservation needs. These models also allow for the comparison of different conservation techniques. In 2011 the Chesapeake region was the first large watershed to be resampled and re-analysed for the CEAP Cropland National Assessment. The initial survey and resurvey expanded the goals of CEAP to use scientific research to make land management decisions to improve conservation. Comparison between the survey and resurvey also confirmed that encouraging land owners to voluntarily adopt conservation practices is working. However, there is still room for improvement through the development of more comprehensive conservation management plans.

Technical Abstract: The Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) was initiated to establish a scientific understanding of the impacts of agricultural conservation practices at the watershed scale, to quantify agricultural conservation practice benefits at the national and regional scales, and to identify outstanding conservation treatment needs across the United States. Representative cropland acres in all major U.S. watersheds with a significant amount of cropland were surveyed between 2003 and 2006 as part of the seminal CEAP Cropland National Assessment. The Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender (APEX) and the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), both daily-time step, process-based models, were applied to the data to simulate current conservation practice impacts and identify outstanding conservation needs. The models enabled exploration of comparative impacts of various treatment scenarios. In 2011 the Chesapeake Bay region became the first large watershed to be resampled and re-analysed within the CEAP Cropland National Assessment context. The Chesapeake Bay benchmark survey and resurvey demonstrably furthered CEAP’s goal to enable scientifically-based land use decision making for agricultural conservation practice implementation. Comparison of the benchmark (2003-2006) results to the resurvey (2011) results confirmed that the voluntary, incentives based approach to encouraging conservation adoption is working; however, there is opportunity to improve conservation practice impacts through emphasis on development of comprehensive conservation plans. The CEAP effort involves activities ranging from scientific research, monitoring programs, and analysis of land management and conservation practice adoption; to model development and simulation for comparison of management option impacts and development of management optimization; to interpretation of data on large watershed scales; and finally to outreach and extension education.