Cooperative river basin studies provide USDA planning assistance to Federal, State, and local governments. The purpose of these studies is to assist in appraising water and related land resources; defining and determining the extent of the problems; and formulating alternative plans, including land treatment, nonstructural or structural measures, or combinations thereof, that would solve existing problems or meet existing and projected needs. These studies concentrate on specific objectives identified by the requesting agencies and citizen groups that are consistent with USDA authorities and responsibilities and current NRCS priorities. The objectives ordinarily include the formulation of a plan but may require only inventories of available resources and associated problems to be used by other agencies in plan formulation. USDA assistance is provided through field advisory committees composed of representatives of the Economic Research Service, Forest Service, and NRCS. The NRCS representative chairs the field advisory committee.