USDA Extends Sign-Up for 2008 Conservation Security Program

CSP sign-up will run through May 30, 2008

MORGANTOWN, WV, May 7, 2008 — USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announces the 2008 Conservation Security Program (CSP) sign-up is extended for two additional weeks in the Lower Kanawha watershed. The sign-up now ends on May 30, 2008. 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.

“NRCS recognizes the inopportune timing of this year’s sign-up and that farmers are busy in their fields. We want to give them as much time as possible,” said West Virginia State Conservationist, Kevin Wickey. “We are extending the sign-up as much as possible to allow producers adequate time to gather natural resource information and complete the required self-assessment and applicant interview. This two-week extension represents the fullest accommodation we can make and deliver a program this year.”

To be eligible for CSP, most of a producer's agricultural operation must fall within the boundaries of the Lower Kanawha watershed. A sign-up extension announcement is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on May 9, 2008. Originally, the CSP sign-up was scheduled to run from April 18-May 16, 2008. 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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