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Land Resources / News / Texas
Conservation Planning Technical and Financial Assistance Available to Agricultural Producers
Source: Natural Resources Conservation Service, by Melissa Blair
As an agricultural landowner or lessee, would you like to protect and improve your land so you can pass it on in better shape than when you got it? Would you like to leave your children land that is highly productive and well conserved? Would you like the satisfaction of working the land and knowing that you have done your part to protect the watershed you live in? Would you like to receive financial assistance to help you accomplish these goals?If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, contact a specialist in your county who can offer one-onone professional assistance to help you plan how to protect and optimize your land and natural resources for crops, livestock and wildlife. You can request this free assistance through a local USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office. All programs are voluntary and offered to all agricultural producers.The 2008 Farm Bill authorized some key programs for technical and financial assistance for producers which includes:Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)EQIP offers technical and financial help to install or implement structural, vegetative, and management practices that can benefit the soil, water, air, plants, livestock, and wildlife. Practices can include prescribed burning, prescribed grazing, vegetative buffers, brush management, grass planting, pipelines, wells, fencing and many more. Each county in the state is funded yearly to assist producers financially with these land management practices.Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP)WHIP provides assistance for producers who want to develop and improve wildlife habitat on private lands. Plans are developed in consultation with the local soil and water conservation district (SWCD) and provide both technical and financial assistance to establish and improve fish and wildlife habitat.Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP)WRP is designed to restore and protect wetlands on private property. It is an opportunity for landowners to enhance wetlands in exchange for retiring marginal agricultural land in primarily wet areas. WRP also serves to provide fish and wildlife habitat, improve water quality, protect biological diversity and provide limited recreational opportunities.Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP)FRPP is an easement program that helps farmers and ranchers keep land in agriculture. The program provides funding to state, local, or tribal entities with existing farmland protection programs to purchase conservation easements or other interests.Grassland Reserve Program (GRP)GRP can provide financial help which enables landowners to protect, restore and enhance grasslands on their property. The program protects grasslands from conversion to cropland or other uses, and conserves the grasslands by helping maintain viable ranching operations.The Texas Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLCI) is another resource for landowners. GLCI works with NRCS to promote grazing land management and to provide needed training to landowners, NRCS personnel and partners. This is done through producer grants, workshops, tours, reference material and other supporting activities. GLCI is not a Farm Bill program.You also can work with a local SWCD and NRCS in a voluntary, cooperative partnership to develop a conservation plan based on your goals and objectives. The conservation plan will provide the tools to help conserve, manage and care for the land, natural resources, livestock and wildlife. Conservation plans are not contracts. The plan helps record your conservation objectives. It is tailored to your situation and is a confidential document. Only when you receive financial assistance on practices identified in your plan, willyou have contracts drawn up for those specific practices. Applications for financial assistance for implementing your conservation plan are accepted throughout the year.NRCS specialists combine their knowledge of you and your land with the science-based knowledge and tools they have, to develop your conservation plan. After a specialist inventories and evaluates the soil, water, air, plant and animal resources on the property, they will review several options with you. The options you choose are recorded in your conservation plan. This written plan becomes your primary tool for long-term management of the natural resources on your property.A Conservation Plan Includes:- Aerial photo or diagram of your fields- Soil map and soil descriptions- Resource inventory data, which can include forage or crop production potential, or potentiallivestock carrying capacity- List of your treatment decisions- Location and schedule for applying and maintaining conservation practices and systems“Benefits of a conservation plan go a long way in helping you protect and improve your land so you can pass it on in better condition to future generations,” said Salvador Salinas, NRCS state conservationist for Texas. “The plan will help you qualify for NRCS financial assistance to help implement the conservation practices on your farm or ranch. It will also serve as your planning tool, and can be modified as your objectives and goals change throughout the years.”For more information about conservation planning, technical and financial assistance, contact your local USDA-NRCS office or visit www.tx.nrcs.usda.gov.###USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. October 21, 2011
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