2011 Washington Conservation Stewardship Program
(CSP)
Updated
12/15/2011
Introduction
The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) is a voluntary conservation program that encourages producers to address resource concerns in a comprehensive manner by
undertaking additional conservation activities and improving, maintaining, and managing existing conservation activities.
CSP is available on Tribal and private agricultural lands and non-industrial private forest land in all 50 States and the Caribbean and Pacific Islands Areas. The program provides equitable access to all producers, regardless of operation size, crops produced, or geographic location. The Secretary of Agriculture has delegated the authority for CSP to the NRCS Chief.
Program Description
Organic Production Option
Private
Non-industrial Forest Owner Option
Washington Priorities
Self-Screen Checklist and Activity Sheets
Enhancement Activity Job Sheets
State Specific Enhancement Requirements
Through CSP, NRCS will provide financial and technical assistance to eligible producers to conserve and enhance soil, water, air, and related natural resources on their land. Eligible lands include cropland, grassland, prairie land, improved pastureland, rangeland, nonindustrial private forest lands, agricultural land under the jurisdiction of an Indian tribe, and other private agricultural land (including cropped woodland, marshes, and agricultural land used for the production of livestock) on which resource concerns related to agricultural production could be addressed. Participation in the program is voluntary.
CSP encourages land stewards to improve their conservation performance by installing and adopting additional activities, and improving, maintaining, and managing existing activities on agricultural land and nonindustrial private forest land. The NRCS will make CSP available nationwide on a continuous application basis.
The State Conservationist, in consultation with the State Technical Committee and local work groups, will focus program impacts on natural resources that are of specific concern for a State, or
the specific geographic areas within a State. Applications will be evaluated relative to other applications addressing similar priority resource concerns to facilitate a competitive ranking process among applicants within a State who face similar resource challenges.
The entire operation must be enrolled and must include all eligible land
that will be under the applicant's control for the term of the proposed contract that is operated substantially separate from other operations.
CSP offers participants two possible types of payments:
- Annual payment for installing and adopting additional activities, and improving, maintaining, and managing existing activities
- Supplemental payment for the adoption of resource-conserving crop rotations
The State Conservationist, in consultation with the State Technical
Committee and local work groups, will focus program impacts on natural
resources that are of specific concern for a State, or the specific
geographic areas within a State. Applications will be evaluated relative
to other applications addressing similar priority resource concerns to
facilitate a competitive ranking process among applicants within a State
who face similar resource challenges.
The documents below require
Acrobat Reader,
Microsoft Excel
, or
Microsoft Word.
CSP is also available to assist producers with a transition to
organic production.
The following two documents describe this opportunity in detail.
Contribution to Organic Transitioning (PDF; 45KB)
CSP is also available to assist forestry producers. The following document
describes this opportunity in detail.
Q & A for Private Forest Landowners interested in CSP (PDF; 2.1MB)
Geographic Area Boundaries
and Priority Resource Concerns (PDF; 514KB)
Conservation Stewardship Self-Screening Checklist (PDF,
98KB)
CSP
Conservation Activity List (PDF,
111KB)
CSP Duplicate Practice List (XLS;
20KB)
CSP Enhancement Compatibility chart (PDF;
400KB)
"Enhancement" means a type of conservation activity used to treat natural resources and improve conservation performance. Enhancements are installed at a level of management intensity that exceeds the sustainable level for a given resource concern, and those directly related to a practice standard are applied in a manner that exceeds the minimum treatment requirements of the standard.
National
Enhancement activity job sheets are available for the following resource concerns: Air Quality, Animal, Energy, Plants, Soil Erosion, Soil Quality, Water Quality, Water Quantity
and Special Projects.
The state specific enhancements listed below are to be used for
planning and contracting in Washington. If there is not a state specific
enhancement listed below to meet the needs of your plan, refer to the
national enhancement activity job sheets listed above.
AIR03 - Replace burning of prunnings, removals and other crop residues
with non-burning alternatives (DOCX; 16KB)
AIR04 - Use drift reducing nozzles, low spray pressure and boom height
and adjutants to reduce pesticide drift (DOCX; 16KB)
AIR06 - Replacing oil and wood fired heaters in orchards and
vineyards (DOCX; 18KB)
NEW!
ANM01 - Drainage water management for seasonal wildlife habitat
(DOCX; 18KB)
ANM02 - Defer crop production on temporary and seasonal
wetlands (DOCX; 16KB)
ANM03 - Incorporate native grasses and or legumes into 15% or more of the
forage base (DOC;37KB)
ANM04 - Extend existing filter strips for water quality protection
and wildlife habitat (DOC; 30KB)
ANM05 - Extend existing riparian forest buffer s for water quality
and protection and wildlife habitat (DOC; 30KB)
ANM06 - Extend existing riparian herbaceous buffers for water
quality protection and wildlife habitat (DOC; 30KB)
ANM07 - Extend existing field borders for water quality protection
and wildlife habitat (DOC; 30KB)
ANM08 - Improve the plant diversity and structure of non-cropped
areas for wildlife food and habitat (DOC; 30KB)
ANM09 - Grazing management to improve wildlife habitat (DOC;
29KB)
ANM10 - Harvest hay in a manner that allows wildlife to flush and
escape (DOC; 31KB) NEW!
ANM11 - Patch-burning to enhance wildlife habitat (DOC; 29KB)
ANM13 - Non-forested Riparian zone enhancement for Fish and Wildlife
(DOC; 29KB)
ANM14 - Riparian Forest Buffer, Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife
Habitat (DOC; 30KB)
ANM15 - Forest Stand Improvement for Habitat and Soil Quality
(DOC; 34KB)
ANM19 - Wildlife Corridors (DOC; 29KB)
ANM22 - Restoration and management of rare or declining habitat
(DOCX; 18KB)
ANM23 - Multi-species native perennials for biomass/wildlife habitat
(DOCX; 16KB)
ANM24 - Upland forest wildlife structures (DOCX; 16KB)
ANM25 - Stockpiling for forages to extend the grazing season
(PDF; 318KB)
ANM27 - Wildlife Friendly Fencing (DOCX; 15KB) NEW!
CCR99 - Resource conserving crops and rotations (DOCX;
19KB)
PLT01 - Establish Pollinator Habitat (DOC;
28KB)
PLT02 - Grazing management to improve wildlife habitat (PDF;
250KB)
PLT03 - Forest Stand Improvement - Pre-treating vegetation and fuels
(DOCX; 36KB)
PLT05 - Multi-story cropping, sustainable management of non-timber
forest plants (DOCX; 59KB)
PLT06 - Renovation of
windbreak, shelterbelt or hedgerow for wildlife habitat (DOCX; 16KB)
PLT07 - Hardwood Crop tree release (DOCX;
37KB)
PLT08 - Habitat developed for beneficial insects
for Pest Management (DOC;
16KB)
PLT11 - Conifer Crop
Tree Release (DOCX; 21KB)
PLT12 - Patch harvesting to improve degraded hardwood stands
(DOCX; 29KB)
SOE01 - Continuous no-till with high residue (DOC; 30KB)
SOE03 - Continuous no-till organic system (DOC; 31KB)
SQL02 - Continuous cover crops (DOC; 31KB)
SQL03 - Drainage water management for nutrient, pathogen, or pesticide
reduction (DOCX; 16KB)
SQL04 - Use of cover crop mixes (DOC; 31KB)
SQL05 - Use of deep rooted crops to reduce compaction
(DOC; 30KB)
WQL01 - Biological suppression and other non-chemical techniques to manage
brush (DOC; 28KB)
WQL04 - Plant tissue testing and analysis to improve nitrogen management
(DOC; 40KB)
WQL06 -
Apply controlled release nitrogen fertilizer (DOC; 20KB)
WQL08 -
Split applications of nitrogen based on a PSNT or other crop-based
indicator
(DOC; 19KB)
WQL10 - Plant cover crop that will scavenge residual N
(DOC; 34KB)
WQL11 - Precision application technology to apply nutrients
(DOCX; 81KB) NEW!
WQL13 - High level integrated pest management to reduce pesticide
environmental risk (DOC; 33KB)
WQL20 - Transition to Organic Cropping Systems (DOC; 32KB)
Highlights and Announcements
Additional information can be found on the
National NRCS CSP site.
This site contains the CSP Fact Sheet, CSP Interim Final Rule and
Payment Range Estimates.
Program Contact
For
questions regarding the Washington State Conservation Stewardship Program
contact
your local NRCS office or:
Sharon Bromiley
Area Program Liaison
USDA - Natural Resources Conservation Service
316 W. Boone Ave Suite 370
Spokane, WA 99201
509.343-2273
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