Industry trends in livestock management are expected to continue through the next decade. There will be fewer livestock operations that manage many more livestock on a farm. In addition, more people are raising livestock on small rural properties. While dairy farms and most animal feedlots are required to maintain an up-to-date Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) permit that regulates manure management on their farm, there is still a need to improve manure management on many farms. In addition to appropriate facilities for collecting, storing, and distributing manure, Best Management Practices (BMPs) must be used to limit the chance of surface or ground water contamination and odors. The Pacific Northwest Extension Water Quality Team is sponsoring a one-day webinar for Extension agents, Soil and Water Conservation personnel, and anyone working with livestock owners on manure management facilities and techniques. The free webinar will be broadcast on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010. “This is a chance for those helping livestock producers with manure management to tool up for better service to clients,” says Mike Gamroth, Extension dairy specialist for Oregon State University. Gamroth and Joe Harrison, Nutrient Management specialist with Washington State University, will present the information on basic manure management and ideas for solving specific animal manure problems. The program will feature management practices for livestock producers and those using manure as a fertilizer, including the basics of “Keep clean water clean” and “Collect and use contaminated water and solid manure correctly.” Topics covered during the 4 hour session will include: How to keep clean water clean by collecting roof drainage and uncontaminated field runoff before it reaches open exercise lots, manure-treated fields, etc. Estimating the concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in manure. And how to apply only enough to satisfy crop needs. Applying manure nutrients when crops can use them. How to distribute manure liquids and solids evenly over all cropland, paying special attention to getting nutrients onto fields farthest from storage and over-application near storages.

Pacific Northwest Regional Water Quality Coordination Project Partners Land Grant Universities Alaska Cooperative Extension Service Contact Fred Sorensen: 907-786-6311 http://www.uaf.edu/ces/water/ University Publications: http://www.alaska.edu/uaf/ces/publications/ Idaho University of Idaho Cooperative Extension System Contact Bob Mahler: 208-885-7025 http://www.uidaho.edu/wq/wqhome.html University Publications: http://info.ag.uidaho.edu/Catalog/catalog.html Oregon Oregon State University Extension Service Contact Mike Gamroth: 541-737-3316 http://extension.oregonstate.edu/ University Publications: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/ Washington Washington State University WSU Extension Contact Bob Simmons: 360-427-9670 ext. 690 http://wawater.wsu.edu/ University Publications: http://pubs.wsu.edu/ Northwest Indian College Contact Dan Burns: 360-392-4328 dburns@nwic.edu or http://www.nwic.edu/ Water Resource Research Institutes Water and Environmental Research Center (Alaska) http://www.uaf.edu/water/ Idaho Water Resources Research Institute http://www.boise.uidaho.edu/ Institute for Water and Watersheds (Oregon) http://water.oregonstate.edu/ State of Washington Water Research Center http://www.swwrc.wsu.edu/ Environmental Protection Agency EPA, Region 10 The Pacific Northwest http://www.epa.gov/r10earth/ Office of Research and Development, Corvallis Laboratory http://www.epa.gov/wed/ For more information contact Jan Seago at 206-553-0038 or seago.jan@epa.gov
	The Project Land Grant Universities, Water Research Institutes and EPA Region 10 have formed a partnership to provide research and education to communities about protecting or restoring the quality of water resources. This partnership is being supported in part by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Our Goal and Approach The goal of this Project is to provide leadership for water resources research, education and outreach to help people, industry and governments to prevent and solve current and emerging water quality and quantity problems. The approach to achieving this goal is for the Partners to develop a coordinated regional water quality effort based on, and strengthening, individual state programs. Our Strengths The Project promotes regional collaboration by acknowledging existing programs and successful efforts; assessing program gaps; identifying potential issues for cross-agency and private sector collaboration, and developing a clearinghouse of expertise and programs. In addition, the Project establishes or enhances partnerships with federal, state and local environmental and water resource management agencies, such as by placing a University Liaison within the offices of EPA Region 10.
	Knowing how much spreading equipment applies at a given speed over a given amount of time. Keeping equipment in good condition. Spreading techniques to save nutrients and reduce odors. Applying only when wind and weather allow. Soil testing fields that are typical of application practices to determine how manure nutrients applied are matching those removed in crops. What records to keep: manure applications, crop yields, and all analyses to help improve nutrient use year after year. Whole farm nutrient budgeting requires that producers realistically look at what nutrients they bring on the farm minus the nutrients shipped off the farm to develop their farm nutrient balance. The program will be interactive allowing participants to ask questions on-line and via the phone. Educational materials and related Extension bulletins will be posted on-line for future use. Training materials will include modules from the Livestock and Poultry Environmental Stewardship (LPES) program. The LPES project delivers a curriculum and supporting educational tools to U.S. livestock and poultry industry advisors, who in turn, will help producers acquire certification and/or achieve environmentally sustainable production systems. Producers will also benefit directly from the information and the assessment tools that the curriculum provides. More information on connecting to the webinar will be sent to county Extension offices in early 2010.
	National Water Quality Program Areas The four land grant universities in the Pacific Northwest have aligned our water resource extension and research efforts with eight themes of the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Animal Waste Management Drinking Water and Human Health Environmental Restoration Nutrient and Pesticide Management Pollution Assessment and Prevention Watershed Management Water Conservation and Agricultural Water Management Water Policy and Economics
	This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 2008-51130-04734.

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