Programs


Home Staff Supervisors Calendar of Events Programs Services Watershed News Tree List Contact Us History Related Links		LaMoure County Soil Conservation District Programs Available CRP CREP WHIP EQIP Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Contact: USDA, Farm Service Agency The Conservation Reserve Program reduces soil erosion, protects the Nation's ability to produce food and fiber, reduces sedimentation in streams and lakes, improves water quality, establishes wildlife habitat, and enhances forest and wetland resources. It encourages farmers to convert highly erodible cropland or other environmentally sensitive acreage to vegetative cover, such as tame or native grasses, wildlife plantings, trees, filterstrips, or riparian buffers. Farmers receive an annual rental payment for the term of the multi-year contract. Cost sharing is provided to establish the vegetative cover practices. For additional information, see our Farm Bill page. CREP Some private lands producers have another tool in their farm conservation management tool box with the advent of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department's new CoverLocks program. CoverLocks highlight the establishment of high-quality winter wildlife habitat for the benefit of North Dakota's resident wildlife species. Twenty-acre blocks, known as CoverLocks, consisting of tree block plantings, grass and food plots are developed essentially cost free to producers in certain watersheds under USDA's Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) cost share program with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. In addition, the department pays an additional up front payment for a 30-year use easement on the CoverLock and a 30-year public access easement on the entire quarter on which the CoverLock is located. However, no use restrictions apply to the 140 acres of the quarter not in the CoverLock itself. Certain watersheds in the following counties are eligible: Sargent, LaMoure, Dickey, Logan, McIntosh, Emmons, Stark, Morton, Oliver Dunn, Grant, Hettinger, and Adams. Producers can contact NRCS offices in those counties or call the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Bismarck at 328-6327 or 328-6309 for other program details. Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Contact: USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a voluntary conservation program which offers farmers and ranchers a tool to address their natural resource concerns while achieving the most environmental benefits through locally developed priority areas and natural resource concerns. Eligibility for the program is limited to persons who are engaged in livestock or agricultural production. EQIP provides cost-share assistance for up to 75 percent of certain conservation practices. Incentive payments can be offered to encourage producers to perform land management practices. Total cost-share and incentive payments are limited to $10,000 per person per year and $50,000 for the length of the contract, which can run from 5 to 10 years. For 1999, North Dakota received an EQIP funding allocation of $3,000,000 for financial assistance and educational assistance. This is a decrease from 1998 in which North Dakota received an allocation of $3,628,000 to focus on fifteen geographic priority areas and four statewide resource concerns, and 1997's figures of $4.2 million for nine geographic priority areas and four statewide resource concerns. The 1999 allocation covers 19 geographic priority areas which have been identified across the state. They are Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, Spirit Lake Sioux, Standing Rock, Fort Berthold, Missouri Coteau, North West Coteau, Heart River, Devils Lake Basin, Sheyenne River Basin, Riparian Forest, Beaver Creek, Antelope Creek, Cedar Lake Watershed, Thirty Mile Creek, Otter Creek, West Des Lacs Souris, Adams County/Duck Creek, Pipestem Creek Watershed, and Lower North Fork Grand River. The four natural resource concerns that blanket the state include grazing lands, concentrated livestock waste, windbreaks, and soil health. Application to participate in EQIP can be made throughout the year. For 1999, two periods have been established to evaluate participant applications and award contracts. The first evaluation period is scheduled for March 1 through March 23. The second is for May 3 through May 28. Those producers who may not quite have their conservation plans developed by the end of the first evaluation period or did not receive an offer for a contract will have an opportunity to compete in the second period.