The article focuses on the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP). CEAP was developed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), and Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES). Its goals were to establish a scientific understanding of the effects of conservation practices of watersheds and to calculate conservation results and benefits for reporting at the national and regional levels. Its activities were organized into bibliographies, literature reviews, and scientific workshop, watershed assessment studies, and national and regional assessments of conservation practices made up of four components namely cropland, wetlands, wildlife and grazing lands.