USDA Announces Sign-Up For 2008 Conservation Security Program in West Virginia

Sign-up will be April 18 – May 16, 2008

MORGANTOWN, WV, March 20, 2008 — USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announces the 2008 Conservation Security Program (CSP) sign-up will be held April 18 to May 16, 2008, in the Lower Kanawha watershed. The watershed includes parts of Cabell, Jackson, Kanawha, Mason, Putnam, and Roane Counties. CSP is a voluntary conservation program that supports ongoing stewardship of private agricultural working lands and rewards those producers who meet the highest standards of conservation and environmental management.

“Those who depend on the land to make a living are the best stewards of the land,” said West Virginia State Conservationist, Kevin Wickey. “Since the first sign-up in 2004, CSP has offered payments for enhancing natural resources, rewarding farmers who are model conservationists, and providing incentives for other producers to achieve those same high standards of conservation in agriculture.”

To be eligible for CSP, most of a producer's agricultural operation must fall within the boundaries of the Lower Kanawha watershed. The sign-up announcement and specific program requirements are being published in the Federal Register. Payments can include three components:

1. an annual stewardship component for the base level of conservation treatment,

2. an annual component for maintenance of existing conservation practices, and

3. an enhancement component for exceptional conservation effort. Enhancement activities could include limited pesticide applications, renewable energy generation, and widening existing riparian forest buffers for restoring critical stream habitat.

NRCS asks potential participants to complete a CSP self-assessment workbook (available on the Web or from local NRCS offices) to find out if their operation meets the requirements of the CSP program and qualifies for participation. The self-assessment process includes a self-screening questionnaire for each land use to be enrolled. The producer submits the completed CSP workbook to the local NRCS office during the sign-up period and meets with NRCS personnel to go over any additional needed documentation. NRCS will then determine if eligibility requirements are met and provide options for the producer's decision on enrollment category placement.

Additional information on CSP, including eligible watersheds and a CSP self-assessment workbook is available at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/csp or contact your local NRCS District Conservationist, listed in the following table.

The Lower Kanawha watershed may be eligible for the 2008 Conservation Security Program (CSP). The watershed includes parts of Cabell, Jackson, Kanawha, Mason, Putnam, and Roane Counties.

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