Conservation Planning Sign-Up Pilot Announced
Updated
12/05/2005
Nine states are participating in the first conservation planning sign-up, a
pilot initiative that emphasizes the importance of conservation planning to help
farmers and ranchers be better prepared to apply for conservation programs and
to comply with federal, state, tribal and local environmental regulations.
Conservation planning combines the best elements of cooperative conservation to
provide new opportunities to improve environmental performance and maintain
productivity. This pilot initiative will demonstrate how a conservation plan is
a critical tool to help farmers and ranchers make wise management and land use
decisions.
California, Colorado, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island, Texas and Wyoming are the pilot states. Also see the map below showing the pilot sites
within each state.
USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is establishing a
conservation planning sign-up to enable landowners to plan more realistically to
implement practices and apply for conservation programs in a more comprehensive
approach. It also allows local NRCS offices to manage their workloads more
efficiently and effectively to help landowners reduce erosion, improve soil
health, improve water quantity and quality, restore and conserve wetlands,
enhance fish and wildlife habitat, improve air quality, improve pasture and
range health, reduce upstream flooding, improve woodlands, and address other
natural resource issues.
Using a landowner self-assessment process, NRCS offices in the nine pilot states
will accept conservation planning applications during the specified sign-up
periods. Individuals who want technical assistance to develop a conservation
plan may apply at their local NRCS office. All agricultural land is eligible for
conservation planning technical assistance, including cropland, orchards,
vineyards, pasture and range, woodland and farmsteads.
Following are the pilot states conservation planning sign-up dates:
2005 Sign- Up Date
State |
Start |
End |
California |
Oct. 1 |
Dec. 31 |
Colorado |
Sept. 19 |
Nov. 1 |
North Dakota |
Oct. 3 |
Nov. 18 |
Oklahoma |
Oct. 17 |
Nov. 18 |
Oregon |
Sept. 1 |
Sept. 30 |
Pennsylvania |
Sept. 18 |
Nov. 23 |
Rhode Island |
Sept. 6 |
Nov. 10 |
Texas |
Sept. 26 |
Nov. 28 |
Wyoming |
Oct. 3 |
Nov. 18 |
NRCS is the federal government's principal agency for providing conservation
planning and technical assistance on private land. NRCS helps landowners address
today's resource concerns such as soil erosion, water quantity and quality,
animal waste disposal, overgrazing and air quality.
This pilot will validate benefits of a conservation planning sign-up, test
alternative ways states could conduct a planning sign-up and identify the
feasibility of a national sign-up.
< Back to NRCS Conservation Programs
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