Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)

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
• Improving, maintaining, and managing existing conservation activities

CSP is available on Tribal and private agricultural lands 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.

Through CSP, NRCS will provide financial and technical assistance to eligible producers to conserve and enhance soil, water, air, an 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 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:

1. Annual payment of installing and adopting additional activities, and improving, maintaining, and managing existing activities
2. Supplemental payment for the adoption of resource-conserving crop rotations

2010 CSP in West Virginia

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2010 Conservation Stewardship Self-Screening Checklist (98 KB)
2010 Conservation Stewardship Program Activity List (38 KB)
2010 Resource Conserving Crop Rotation (150 KB)
2010 CSP Geographic Areas (234 KB)
2010 Organic Crosswalk (45 KB)

CSP Priority Resource Concerns and Enhancement Activity Job Sheets
All Geographic Areas

National CSP Website

West Virginia Program Contacts:

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