2008 Conservation Security Program (CSP)

CSP is a voluntary program that provides financial and technical assistance to promote the conservation and improvement of soil, water, air, energy, plant and animal life, and other conservation purposes on private working lands. Working lands include cropland, grassland, prairie land, improved pasture, and range land, as well as forested land that is an incidental part of an agriculture operation.
 

Selected Watershed for 2008

Description of Watershed
General Information
Enhancements
Contract Limits and Payments Schedules
CSP Verification of Minimum Eligibility
Illinois CSP Contacts

                                    Lower Cache River Watershed

Click on map for larger jpg image (123kb)        Click on map for larger jpg image (236kb)

The following documents requires Adobe Acrobat.
Printable PDF of State Map (PDF, 172kb)
Printable PDF of Watershed Map (PDF, 277kb)

List of Counties

• Alexander
• Johnson
• Pulaski
• Union

Description of Watershed

The Cache River flows approximately 110 miles and empties into the Ohio River. The basin drains nearly the entire southern tip of Illinois. The Lower Cache River watershed contains approximately 230,000 acres of land and approximately 420 farms with an average size of 288 acres. Corn and soybeans are the principal agricultural crops, along with sorghum, wheat and hay. In addition, 20 percent of Illinois’ nurseries and orchards--primarily peaches and apples--are located here. Nearly 60 percent of the area is in crops and pastureland, with the remaining acreage is in forest. Farm income in the watershed is very poor, due to the less fertile soils and declining commercial fruit and vegetable production on which the region had been historically reliant.

Drainage for the Cache River originates in the Shawnee Hills. The watershed drainage area consists of unglaciated sandstone bedrock with cliffs and overhanging bluffs in the north, and lower limestone and sandstone bedrock with sinkholes, caves, and glades to the south. The watershed contains representatives of as many as 20 natural ecological community types, some of which are the best or the only examples of their type in the state. It is brimming with Illinois’ most unique and resource-rich habitats. The area shelters more than 100 wildlife and plant species in Illinois which are endangered or threatened throughout the United States. The local economy is influenced by the outdoor recreation and tourism in the Cache River area.

Common resource concerns in the Lower Cache Watershed are deforestation, habitat fragmentation, water flows and flooding, erosion and sedimentation, and water quality.

NRI Land Cover/Use

Sign up dates April 18 - May 30, 2008

General Program Information

Enhancements

CSP enhancement activities reward individuals for conservation activities they are already doing and provide incentives to adopt new methods. An applicant must first qualify for CSP by meeting the minimum soil and water eligibility, which makes them eligible for receiving enhancement payments. The following are the enhancements available to Illinois applicants. The activity sheets explain the criteria and required elements for each enhancement. The certification sheets are the document the producer will sign acknowledging he/she understands the enhancement and identify which activity he/she will continue to perform.

The following documents require Adobe Acrobat Reader.

CSP Contract Limits and Payments Schedule

The following document requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Contract_Limits_Payments-LCache.pdf  (PDF, 137kb)

CSP Verification of Minimum Eligibility

The following document requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Verifications_Minimum_Eligibility_4-2008.pdf (PDF, 214kb)

Illinois CSP Program Contacts
Send an e-mail message or question on CSP to:

National Information for 2008

National CSP Archived Materials located at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/csp

Illinois Archived CSP Information. For copies of materials, contact Paula Hingson at paula.hingson@il.usda.gov.

2006 - Upper Sangamon Watershed
2005 - Lower Kaskaskia, Kishwaukee, and Middle Wabash-Busseron Watersheds
2004 - Kishwaukee Watershed