Livestock Customer Satisfaction — 



USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service 

 (NASS) was commissioned to conduct a 

 survey of WS livestock customers in FY 1999. 

 More than 1 1 ,700 surveys were sent out, and 

 almost 75 percent of the surveyed customers 

 responded. The results showed that, for the 

 24 States surveyed, 76 percent of those 

 receiving direct assistance from WS gave a 

 satisfaction rating of either a 4 or 5 (based on 

 a 5-point scale with 1 being "not satisfied" and 

 5 being "very satisfied"). An additional 13 

 percent gave WS a satisfaction rating of 3, for 

 a total of 89 percent of livestock customers 

 who were satisfied with the direct assistance 

 provided by WS. In addition, more than 85 

 percent of all customers gave the WS program 

 an effectiveness rating of 3, 4, or 5 (using a 

 similar 5-point scale). 



Protecting Property, Crops, and Natural 

 Resources From Beaver Damage — For 



years, WS personnel have collected data on 

 the actual damage that beaver cause to various 

 resources in their States. However, these data 

 have not adequately portrayed the value of WS 

 work in preventing further damage from 

 occurring. For FY 1999, WS cooperated with 

 other agencies and used past experience to 

 develop estimates of the resources saved 

 (losses avoided) from further beaver damage. 

 A number of resources were included in 

 developing these estimates: timber, roads, 

 bridges, crops, and other wildlife species such 

 as trout. The target set by the program for its 

 beaver work was $8 million in avoided losses. 

 Thirteen States participated in this measure- 

 ment effort, and the results showed that a 

 conservative estimate of the resources saved 

 amounted to almost $22 million. 







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Protecting Threatened and Endangered 

 Species — WS continued to play a critical 

 role in the recovery of federally listed 

 threatened and endangered (T&E) species. 

 WS conducted 104 cooperative projects for the 

 protection of 84 T&E species in 26 States, 

 Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands in FY 

 1999. The WS program had set a target that 



90 percent of the T&E species projects it 

 participated in would result in localized 

 populations of the targeted species increasing, 

 or, at a minimum, remaining the same. WS 

 exceeded this goal and had an actual result of 

 93 percent (97 of 104 projects) where the 

 target population was reported increased or 

 maintained. 





