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Four Washington projects to receive national-, state-level conservation innovation grants

SPOKANE, Wash. (July  3 , 2007) – To assist small forest landowners in accessing emerging markets for carbon sequestration, and to develop and demonstrate a nutrient recovery process for anaerobic digesters, two Washington groups will receive national grants totaling nearly $600,000, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced today.

The Northwest Natural Resource Group will receive $200,000 for their carbon sequestration project, while Washington State University will receive nearly $400,000 for their nutrient recovery project through NRCS’ Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) program. To be eligible, projects must involve producers who are eligible through NRCS’ Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).

In addition to the national grants, two other Washington groups received state-level NRCS grants totaling nearly $100,000. A project by Ostheller Farms, Inc. will demonstrate the use of residue conserving surface tillage to manage weeds in both organic and non-organic dryland grain production where certain weed species are hard to control.  This work will be conducted on farm-size fields in Spokane County.

A second project by Washington State University will demonstrate a new Spectrophotometer, which collects geo-referenced, near-infrared soil data.  The measurements are correlated with organic matter, carbon, pH and other soil properties, generating maps of soils characteristics across the landscape. This potentially useful system may simplify the measurement of important soil properties; provide a new tool for evaluation of conservation management practices; and guide farmers in soil management decisions. 

“CIG accelerates development, transfer and adoption of promising new technologies and approaches to some of the nation's most pressing natural resource concerns,” NRCS Assistant State Conservationist Dave Brown said. “CIG benefits agricultural producers and consumers by providing more options and possibilities for environmental enhancement,” Brown said.

Nationally, nearly $20 million in innovation grants were awarded to 36 states funding 51 projects designed to develop and refine cutting-edge technologies and approaches that can help producers maintain viable agricultural operations.

As part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), NRCS administers CIG, which provides competitive grants to state and local governments, tribes, non-governmental organizations and individuals to promote the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies. Applicants from 47 states submitted 171 CIG project proposals this year and requested CIG grants totaling about $61.7 million.

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