2012 Washington Conservation Stewardship Program
(CSP)
Updated
02/28/2013
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.
Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)
factsheet (PDF; 72KB)
CSP is also available to assist producers with a transition to
organic production.
The following document describe this opportunity in detail.
Contribution to Organic Transitioning (PDF;
60KB)
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)
CSP
Geographic
Priority Area Boundaries (PDF; 591KB)
FY12
Priority Resource Concerns (PDF;
147KB)
Conservation Stewardship Self-Screening Checklist (PDF,
98KB)
CSP
Conservation Activity List (PDF,
92KB)
CSP Enhancement Compatibility chart
(PDF; 123KB)
"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.
CSP
Enhancement Linkage to NRCS Practice Standards (PDF; 35KB)
NOTE: For special consideration of management periods outside those dates
specified in the state specific enhancements below, consult with your local Area
or State Specialist.
AIR03 - Replace burning of prunings, removals and other crop residues with
non-burning alternatives (XLSM; 32KB)
AIR04 - Use drift reducing nozzles, low spray pressure and boom height and
adjutants to reduce pesticide drift (XLSM; 32KB)
AIR07 -
GPS, targeted spray application (SmartSprayer), or other chemical application
electronic control technology (XLSM; 32KB)
AIR08 - Nitrification inhibitors or urease inhibitors (XLSM; 36KB)
ANM03 - Incorporate native grasses and/or legumes to 15% or more of
herbage dry matter productivity (XLSM; 80KB)
ANM05 - Extend existing riparian forest buffers for water quality
protection and wildlife habitat (XLSM; 57KB)
ANM07 - Extending existing field borders for water quality protection and wildlife
habitat (XLSM; 75KB)
ANM09 - Grazing management to improve wildlife habitat (XLSM;
1.1MB)
ANM10 - Harvest hay in a manner that allows wildlife to flush and escape (XLSM;
4.6MB)
ANM11 - Patch-burning to enhance wildlife habitat (XLSM;
32KB)
ANM12 - Shallow water habitat (XLSM; 38KB)
ANM17 -
Monitoring nutritional status of livestock using the NUTBAL PRO system (XLSM;
30KB)
ANM18 -
Retrofit watering facility for wildlife escape (XLSM; 36KB)
ANM21 -
Prairie restoration for grazing and wildlife habitat (XLSM; 78KB)
ANM23 - Multi-species native perennials for biomass/wildlife habitat (XLSM;
31KB)
ANM25 - Stockpiling
of forage to extend the grazing season (XLSM; 31KB)
ANM26 - Managing calving to coincide with forage availability (XLSM;
33KB)
ANM27 - Wildlife Friendly Fencing (XLSM;
33KB)
ANM29 - On-farm forage based grazing system ( XLSM; 33KB)
ANM31 - Drainage water management (XLSM; 36KB)
ANM32 - Extend existing filter strips or riparian herbaceous cover for water
quality protection and wildlife habitat (XLSM; 74KB)
ANM33 - Riparian buffer, terrestrial and aquatic wildlife habitat (XLSM;
85KB)
ANM34 - Leave standing grain crops un-harvested to benefit wildlife (XLSM;
33KB)
ENR01 - Fuel use reduction for field operations (XLSM; 29KB)
ENR09 - Variable frequency drive electric motors (XLSM; 32KB)
ENR10 - Using nitrogen provided by legumes, animal manure and compost to
supply 90 to 100% of nitrogen needs (XLSM; 36KB)
ENR11 - Improving energy feedstock production using alley cropping systems
with short rotation wood crops (XLSM; 67KB)
ENR12 - Use of legume cover crops as a nitrogen source (XLSM; 33KB)
PLT02 -
Monitoring key grazing areas to improve grazing management (XLSM; 4.4MB)
Stubble Height worksheet (XLSM; 18KB)
PLT05 - Multi-story cropping, sustainable management of non-timber forest plants
(XLSM; 43KB)
PLT06 - Renovation of windbreak, shelterbelt or hedgerow for wildlife habitat (XLSM;
71KB)
PLT15 -
Establish pollinator and/or beneficial insect habitat (XLSM; 97KB)
PLT16 -
Intensive management of rotational grazing (XLSM; 36KB)
PLT17 -
Creating forest opening to improve hardwood stands (XLSM; 47KB)
PLT18 -
Increasing on-farm food production with edible woody buffer landscapes (XLSM; 60KB)
SOE03 - Continuous no-till organic system (XLSM; 41KB)
SOE04 - Continuous no-till (XLSM; 42KB)
SQL01 - Controlled traffic system (XLSM; 33KB)
SQL02 - Continuous cover crops (XLSM;
44KB)
SQL03 - Drainage water management for nutrient, pathogen, or pesticide reduction
(XLSM; 41KB)
SQL04 - Use of cover crop mixes (XLSM; 39KB)
SQL05 - Use of deep rooted crops to
break up compaction (XLSM; 39KB)
SQL08 - Inter cropping to improve soil quality and increase biodiversity
(XLSM; 35KB)
SQL09 - Conversion of cropped land to grass-based agriculture (XLSM;
74KB)
WQL01 - Biological suppression and other non-chemical techniques to manage brush,
herbaceous weeds and invasive species
(XLSM; 35KB)
WQL03 - Rotation of supplement and feeding areas (XLSM; 33KB)
WQL04 - Plant tissue tests and analysis to improve nitrogen management (XLSM;
46KB)
WQL05 - Apply nutrients no more than 30 days prior to planned planting date
(XLSM; 37KB)
WQL07 -
Split nitrogen applications, 50% after crop emergence or pasture green up (XLSM;
38KB)
WQL09
- Apply phosphorus fertilizer below the soil surface (XLSM; 37KB)
WQL10 - Plant cover crop that will scavenge residual Nitrogen (XLSM;
43KB)
WQL11 - Precision application technology to apply nutrients (XLSM;
38KB)
WQL13 - High level integrated pest management to reduce pesticide environmental
risk (XLSM; 37KB)
WQL14 - Land application of treated manure (XLSM; 36KB)
WQL17 - Use of non-chemical methods to kill cover crops (XLSM; 37KB)
WQL18 - Non-chemical pest management for livestock (XLSM; 71KB)
WQL19 - Transition to organic grazing system (XLSM; 42KB)
WQL20 - Transition to Organic Cropping Systems (XLSM;
42KB)
WQL21 - Integrated pest management of organic farming (XLSM; 39KB)
WQL22 - On farm composting of farm organic waste (XLSM; 37KB)
WQL24 - Apply enhanced efficiency fertilizer products (XLSM; 46KB)
WQL25 - Split application of nitrogen based on a PSNT (XLSM; 37KB)
WQL26 - Reduce the concentration of nutrients imported on farm (XLSM;
29KB)
WQT01 - Irrigation system automation (XLSM; 27KB)
WQT03 - Irrigation pumping plant evaluation (XLSM; 32KB)
WQT05 - Remote monitoring and notification of irrigation pumping plant
operation (XLSM; 27KB)
WQT07 - Regional weather networks for irrigation scheduling (XLSM;
31KB)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.
News Release
High
Program Signup Shows Producers’ Commitment to Conservation Stewardship
February 29, 2012
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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