Farmers Have One More Chance To Sign Up For Program

Farmers who didn’t get their acres into the last sign-up of the Conservation Reserve Program have yet another opportunity to gain federal funds for putting their land in an environmental improvement program.

Starting Jan. 1 and lasting through Feb. 15, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program sign-up is available for landowners to volunteer their land to solve natural resource problems in riparian and upland watershed areas.

Under the program, landowners will work with the Natural Resources Conservation Service to develop farm or ranch plans that address natural resource concerns over a period of five to 10 years. In return, they will get assistance for up to 75 percent of their costs for building things like terraces, animal waste facilities and riparian buffers.

The priority areas in Washington include a groundwater management area in the lower Columbia Basin, the upper and lower reaches of the Yakima River Basin and the Blue Mountain counties.

For more information, contact your local U.S. Department of Agriculture NRCS office.

In other events this week:

Today

Deadline for the National Park Service to make plans to keep the bison at Yellowstone National Park even after the park is blanketed with snow and food is scarce. Now the animals regularly migrate out of the park carrying disease to animals outside.

Negotiations between the management and nurses at Sacred Heart Medical Center are scheduled for today and Tuesday. They will discuss the renewal of the nurses’ three-year contract which expires in 1997.

U.S. Realtors release a report on November existing home sales.

Tuesday

The Post Falls Urban Renewal Commission holds a public hearing on the Riverbend District Plan to spend up to $3.9 million worth of improvements to the area. The meeting is scheduled for 7 a.m. at the Oddfellows Hall in Post Falls.

The Conference Board releases the results of its monthly survey on U.S. consumer confidence.

Wednesday

Deadline for the State of Idaho to turn in its plans to clean up the Coeur d’Alene River Basin to the Environmental Protection Agency. The focus is cleaning up the metals pollution that gets to the basin from the Spokane River, the South Fork and Lake Coeur d’Alene.

The U.S. Labor Department releases the weekly unemployment claims.

Thursday

New Years Day, 1998. Most markets are closed.

The Washington State University Cougars, making their first Rose Bowl appearance in nearly 70 years, take on the University of Michigan Wolverines in Pasadena.

Ron Johns becomes president of Spokane Falls Community College.

Friday

The National Association of Purchasing Management releases its December business survey.

Saturday

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan addresses the American Economic Association at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chicago.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: On the shelf Business Week, Dec. 29: Cover story explores what the global slowdown means for individual investors. Fatter paychecks Average starting salaries in the administrative field are expected to rise 3.6 percent nationwide in 1998, according to a study by OfficeTeam. Here are the expected increases in some job classifications: Administrative assistant, secretary I, up 3 percent to $19,000-$24,000. Word processor, up 3.8 percent to $18,500-$23,000. Desktop publishing specialist, up 2.5 percent to $25,500-$36,500. Switchboard operator, up 3.7 percent to $17,250-$24,750. Receptionist, up 4.4 percent to $18,000-$23,750. Mail clerk, up 3.2 percent to $15,600-$19,500. Data entry operator, up 6.4 percent to $15,750-$17,500.