USDA Awards Conservation Partnership Grant For North State Restoration Initiative

Contact: Dave Sanden (530) 527-2667 or Ken Weaver (530) 257-7272

DAVIS, Calif., May 16, 2005—Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns awarded a $72,652 grant under the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS), Conservation Partnership Initiative (CPI) program to a partnership made up of the Pit Resource Conservation District (PRCD), the Susanville Indian Rancheria and the Lassen County Fire Safe Council, Inc, the partnership’s Principals.

"These grants are part of an effort to support cooperative conservation," said Ed Burton, NRCS Acting State Conservationist for California. "They enhance the development of locally led solutions to important natural resource problems and help producers cooperate and share information to address environmental challenges."

PRCD submitted the application on behalf of the partnership. The grant will fund the Cooperative Sagebrush Steppe Restoration Initiative, a project to plan for and restore sagebrush steppe ecosystems through the removal of invasive western juniper and applying adaptive management techniques. The PRCD grant was one of only eight CPI grants awarded nationwide for 2005.

Combined with matching funds, the partners will have a $147,732 budget to implement the project. The Principal Project Partners will be joined in the 18-month planning effort by dozens of other project partners who will help develop a plan for voluntary private land sagebrush steppe restoration projects.

After the planning effort is complete the Principals have set a $2 million goal for restoration project funds to implement practices during the initial 3-year implementation period. The project encompasses a large portion of Lassen County and the entire Pit RCD in Lassen and Modoc counties, an area that covers about 1.6 million acres.

"The CPI application was truly a team effort," said Tom Esgate, Director for the Lassen County Fire Safe Council and the designated Project Manager for the initiative. "The Lassen County Resource Advisory Committee made an important $30,000 contribution that helped us meet our match requirement, and we are especially appreciative of the support Congressman Doolittle has given us. He and his staff have taken a keen interest in the project and the potential it holds for ecosystem restoration and biomass power production in the future."

Removal of invasive juniper and biomass utilization will be key elements in the project implementation phase. The encroachment of western juniper into the sagebrush steppe is widely acknowledged as the single factor having the greatest impact on land health in the region and it is a significant contributor to hazardous fuel loads.

"This project should dovetail well with a parallel effort of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service on Public lands that is about to get under way," said NRCS District Conservationist Ken Weaver.

"We are planning a very open and inclusive process that will solicit input from the public throughout the project area." The end result of the planning effort will be a comprehensive plan for voluntary restoration efforts that will complement the planning of the work being undertaken by BLM and the U.S. Forest Service. "With the award of CPI funds, sagebrush steppe restoration efforts will now be firing on all eight cylinders in northeast California," said Esgate.

This was the second time the partners applied for CPI funds. California NRCS is only allowed to choose one project from the state to enter the national competition for CPI funds. "All the partners are grateful that the staff of the State Office stood behind us and supported us for two years in row," said Esgate.

CPI is a voluntary program designed to foster conservation partnerships and fund projects that focus technical and financial resources on conservation priorities in watersheds and other geographic areas of environmental sensitivity. CPI proposals are required to address one or more of the following conservation priorities: Terrestrial and aquatic wildlife habitat, invasive species, agricultural air quality, livestock nutrient management, and minor/specialty crop pest management.

Additional information on CPI and the grant awards is on the Web at www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/cpi.

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