Washington NRCS Farm Bill Programs and Services

Updated 05/02/2012

All Farm Bill Programs have a continuous signup with periodic announced cut off dates.
Refer to individual programs for specific details.

WA NRCS's natural resources conservation programs help people reduce soil erosion, enhance water supplies, improve water quality, increase wildlife habitat, and reduce damages caused by floods and other natural disasters. Public benefits include enhanced natural resources that help sustain agricultural productivity and environmental quality while supporting continued economic development, recreation, and scenic beauty.
 

Conservation programs under the 2008 Farm Bill available for Washington residents are:

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) 
    EQIP - Conservation Activity Plan (CAP)
    EQIP - Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative  (CCPI)
    EQIP - Keeping Your Forest Healthy
    EQIP - On-Farm Energy
    EQIP - Organic Initiative
    EQIP - Sage Grouse Initiative
    EQIP - Seasonal High Tunnel - 3 year trial
    EQIP - National Water Quality Initiative

Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP)
Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) 
 

EASEMENT PROGRAMS

Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP)
Grassland Reserve Program (GRP)
Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP)

GRANT PROGRAMS

Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG)
 

STEWARDSHIP PROGRAMS

Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)

Washington NRCS Programs include:

Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA)
    CPGL - Conservation of Private Grazing Land Initiative
Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP)
    EWP - Floodplain Easement Option  
Plant Material Program
Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasts Program
Soil Survey Program
Watershed Program (PL-566)
 

In some cases, materials on the following pages do not meet 508 compliance standards. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. In an effort to provide further assistance, a point of contact has been provided on each program page.

Washington Farm Bill Programs

Conservation of Private Grazing Land Initiative (CPGL)

The Conservation of Private Grazing Land Initiative will ensure that technical, educational, and related assistance is provided to those who own private grazing lands.  It is not a cost share program.  This technical assistance will offer opportunities for better grazing land management, protecting soil from erosive wind and water, using more energy-efficient ways to produce food and fiber, conserving water, providing habitat for wildlife, sustaining forage and grazing plants, using plants to sequester greenhouse gases and increase soil organic matter, and using grazing lands as a source of biomass energy and raw materials for industrial products.
...More Info on CPGL    (This link is directed to the national NRCS program site.)

Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program provides technical, educational, and financial assistance to eligible farmers and ranchers to address soil, water, and related natural resource concerns on their lands.  The program provides assistance to farmers and ranchers in complying with Federal, State, and tribal environmental laws, and achieves its ends through the implementation of a conservation plan which includes structural, vegetative, and land management practices on eligible land.
...More Info on EQIP

Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP)

The Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program provides funds to help purchase development rights to keep productive farmland in agricultural uses.  Working through existing programs, USDA joins with State, tribal, or local governments to acquire conservation easements or other interests from landowners.  USDA provides up to 50 percent of the fair market easement value.  To qualify, farmland must be part of a pending offer from a State, tribe, or local farmland protection program, be privately owned, have a conservation plan, be large enough to sustain agricultural production, be accessible to markets related to whatever the land produces, have adequate infrastructure and agricultural support, and have surrounding parcels of land that can support long-term agricultural production.  Depending on funding availability, proposals must be submitted by the government entities to the appropriate NRCS State Office during the application window.
...More Info on FRPP

Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP)

The Wetlands Reserve Program is a voluntary program to restore wetlands. Participating landowners can establish conservation easements of either permanent or 30-year duration, or can enter into restoration cost-share agreements where no easement is involved. In exchange for establishing a permanent easement, the landowner receives payment up to the agricultural value of the land and 100 percent of the restoration costs for restoring the wetlands The 30-year easement payment is 75 percent of what would be provided for a permanent easement on the same site and 75 percent of the restoration cost. The voluntary agreements are for a minimum 10-year duration and provide for 75 percent of the cost of restoring the involved wetlands. Easements and restoration cost-share agreements establish wetland protection and restoration as the primary land use for the duration of the easement or agreement. In all instances, landowners continue to control access to their land.
...More Info on WRP

Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP)

The Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program provides financial incentives to develop habitat for fish and wildlife on private lands. Participants agree to implement a wildlife habitat development plan and USDA agrees to provide cost-share assistance for the initial implementation of wildlife habitat development practices. USDA and program participants enter into a cost-share agreement for wildlife habitat development. This agreement generally lasts a minimum of 10 years from the date that the contract is signed.
...More Info on WHIP

Grassland Reserve Program (GRP)

The Grassland Reserve Program (GRP) is a voluntary program that helps landowners and operators restore and protect grassland, including rangeland, and pastureland, and certain other lands, while maintaining the areas as grazing lands. The program emphasizes support for grazing operations, plant and animal biodiversity, and grassland and land containing shrubs and forbs under the greatest threat of conversion.

GRP is authorized by the Food Security Act of 1985, as amended by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) administer the program, in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service. Funding for the GRP comes from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC).
...More Info on GRP  (This link is directed to the national NRCS program site.)

Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)

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.
... More Info on CSP  
 

Washington NRCS Programs

Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA)

NRCS provides assistance to land-users, communities, units of State and local government, and other Federal agencies in planning and implementing conservation systems.  The purpose of the conservation systems is to reduce erosion, improve soil and water quality, improve and conserve wetlands, enhance fish and wildlife habitat, improve air quality, improve pasture and range condition, reduce upstream flooding and improve woodlands.
...More Info on Conservation Technical Assistance    (This link is directed to the national NRCS program site.)

Plant Materials Program

The purpose of the program is to provide native plants that can help solve natural resource problems.  Beneficial uses for which plant material may be developed include biomass production, carbon sequestration, erosion reduction, wetland restoration, water quality improvement, streambank and riparian area protection, coastal dune stabilization, and other special conservation treatment needs.  Scientists at the Plant Materials Centers seek out plants that show promise for meeting an identified conservation need and test their performance.  After species are proven, they are released to the private sector for commercial production.  The work at the 26 centers is carried our cooperatively with state and Federal agencies, commercial businesses, and seed and nursery associations.
...More Info on Washington Plant Materials Center

Soil Survey Program

Soil surveys provide a scientific inventory of soil resources that includes maps showing the locations and extent of soils, data about the physical and chemical properties of those soils, and information derived from that data about potentialities and problems of use on each kind of soil in detail to meet the needs of farmers, agricultural technicians, community planners, engineers, and scientists applying the findings of research and experience to specific land areas.  Soil surveys provide information needed to maintain usable soil.  They also provide information needed to protect water, wetlands, and wildlife habitats.  Soil surveys are the basis for predicting the behavior of a soil under various uses, its potential erosion hazard, potential for ground water contamination, and suitability for cultivated crops, trees, and grasses.  Soil surveys are important to planners, engineers, zoning commissions, tax commissioners, homeowners, developers, and land-dependent processes such as agriculture.  The NRCS Soil Survey Division, through its World Soil Resources Staff, helps gather and interpret soil information for global use.

NRCS provides the soil surveys for privately owned U.S. lands and, through its National Soil Survey Center, provides scientific expertise to enable us to develop and maintain a uniform system for mapping and assessing soil resources.  This allows information from different locations to be shared, regardless of which agency collects it.  NRCS provides most of the training in soil survey to Federal agencies and assists other Federal agencies with their soil inventories.  NRCS is also responsible for developing the standards and mechanisms for providing digital soil information for the national spatial data infrastructure required by Executive Order 12906.
... More Info on Soil Survey

Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasts

NRCS provides western states and Alaska with projected water supply information.  Field staff collect and analyze data on depth and water equivalent of the snow pack at more than 1,200 mountain sites and estimate annual water availability, spring runoff, and summer stream flows.  Individuals, organizations, and state and Federal agencies use these forecasts for decisions relating to agricultural production, fish and wildlife management, municipal and industrial water supply, urban development, flood control, power generation, and water quality management.  The National Weather Service includes the forecasts in their river forecasting function.
... More Info on Snow Survey

Watershed Program (PL-566)

The Small Watershed Program  works through local government sponsors and helps participants solve natural resource and related economic problems on a watershed basis. Projects include watershed protection, flood prevention, erosion and sediment control, water supply, water quality, fish and wildlife habitat enhancement, wetlands creation and restoration, and public recreation in watersheds of 250,000 or fewer acres. Both technical and financial assistance are available.
... More info on National Watershed Program (This link is directed to the national NRCS program site.)

Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP)

The Emergency Watershed Protection Program was passed by Congress to relieve imminent threats to life and property caused by storms, flooding, and erosion.  It is designed to assist groups of people with a common problem, but individuals who are sponsored by a local unit of government may also qualify.

EWP provides technical and cost-sharing assistance up to 75% of project costs; and provides a case-by-case investigation of eligible projects to develop remedial measures.  EWP protects homes, businesses, highways, public facilities, and a wide variety of other property damaged or threatened by natural disasters or emergencies.  Public and private landowners are eligible but they must be represented by a sponsoring local unit of government such as a city, county, or watershed authority.
... More Info on EWP    (This link is directed to the national NRCS program site.)

Contact your local USDA Service Center for additional information regarding program details in your area.
 

Technical Service Providers  (TSP)
This site can be used by producers interested in hiring a Technical Service Provider (TSP) or by individuals interested in becoming a TSP.

TechReg- NRCS's online tool for Technical Service Providers to register, become certified, and manage their TSP profiles. TechReg also helps landowners locate and choose certified registered technical service providers who can help them meet their conservation goals.

NRCS National 2008 Farm Bill

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