EQIP Helps Southern California Dairy Goat Operation

(above) Kira Ezis, a dairy goat producer from Rainbow, California, utilized EQIP funds to revitalize her farm after the 2007 wildfires (NRCS photo — click to enlarge) native plants and flowers have begun to resurface on the Rainbow farm -- Ezis said she enjoys finding and researching the new species (NRCS photo — click to enlarge)

NRCS is playing an integral role in assisting one of the few dairy goat operations in Southern California to be sustainable.

The slopes on Kira Ezis’ hilly 64-acre property in northern San Diego County were ravaged by wildfires nearly wiping out her entire farm.  The fires forced the evacuation of her 50 goats and eight horses to out-of-town farms, a major operational and financial inconvenience. But the aftereffects of the fires were equally devastating to her land, leaving slopes bare and the creek that runs through her property susceptible to erosion.

But thanks to cost-share funding through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Ezis’ farm now has a future.  EQIP allocated more than $4 million to San Diego County agricultural producers to apply conservation practices on the land focusing on erosion control, water quality, water conservation, and wildlife habitat.

NRCS provided technical assistance to Ezis, as well. Officials surveyed her property and completed a conservation plan that will help protect her land from soil erosion and improve water quality in the creek.

Dry conditions since the fires have helped keep ash and sediment from running off, but Ezis said the bare soils have hit a point of saturation where heavy rains could cause severe erosion. “Straw bales and fiber rolls helped control some erosion,” she said, “but this last rain I saw sediment delivery to the creek.”

California NRCS State Conservationist Ed Burton said the natural resources of San Diego farms certainly needed protecting. “The scorched earth and steep hillsides required immediate attention to lessen the danger that soil would erode into the creeks, compromising both the cropland and the water resources,” he said. “We realized that conservation practices such as water-conserving irrigation systems and soil erosion methods could help both farms and the natural resources.” Under the unique conditions set in motion in November 2007, EQIP provided considerable conservation assistance to the producers of San Diego County.

Overall, 150 San Diego County farmers signed up for EQIP last fall, and construction on conservation practices has started on more than half of those farms.  “I had never heard of NRCS before the wildfires last fall,” said Ezis. “Now I don’t know where I would be without them.
Your contact is NRCS public Affairs Specialist Anita Brown at 530-792-5644.