Transcript EQIP – Natural Legacy Special Initiative

Nebraska’s EQIP Special
Initiative:
Using EQIP to meet resource needs
identified in Nebraska’s State Wildlife
Action Plan
Tim McCoy, Ag Program Manager, NGPC
and
Ritch Nelson, State Wildlife Biologist, Nebraska NRCS
EQIP – Natural Legacy
Special Initiative
• Proposal from NGPC
requesting to set
aside $1,000,000 of
EQIP funds for
FY2008
• Goal – to prioritize
EQIP projects that
meet resource needs
identified in the
Nebraska Natural
Legacy Plan (State
Wildlife Action Plan)
Nebraska’s Important Landscapes
identified in the Legacy Plan
Nebraska 2008 EQIP SI
Priority Legacy landscapes
Overall Special Initiative
Accomplishments
• Approximately 73
contracts approved in
18 different counties
• Obligated $1,012,176
in EQIP financial
assistance funds
• Enrolled 51,164 acres
for this purpose
$405,047
Habitat
Management
Habitat
Establishment
Grazing
Management
(~51,000 ac)
$606,438
(11,573 ac)
$36,231
(333 ac)
NE EQIP Legacy SI - Practices
• Habitat Establishment
– Conservation Cover
• 92.0 Acres….$17,922
– Upland Habitat
• 26.7 Acres….$1,185
– Range Planting
• 137.0 Acres….$7,217
– Restore Rare/Declining Habitat
• 73.9 Acres….$3,770
– Tree/Shrub Planting
• 2.5 Acres….$6,133
~333 Acres….$36,231
NE EQIP Legacy SI - Practices
• Habitat Management
– Brush Management
• 5,280.2 Acres….$485,575
– Prescribed Burning
• 2,649.9 Acres….$60,734
Firebreak
• 24,687.1 Feet….$788
– Use Exclusion
• 3,591.2 Acres….$49,479
– Wetland Restoration
• 52.2 Acres….$9,861
11,573 Acres….$606,438
NE EQIP Legacy SI - Practices
• Grazing Management
– Fence
• 140,303 Feet….$104,816
– Pipeline
• 68,557 Feet….$90,744
– Well
• 17….$34,517
– Pumping Plant
• 16….$31,120
– Water Facility/Tank
• 113…. $108,363
~51,000 Acres….$405,457
2008 EQIP SI
Priority landscapes: 71% of acres, 63% of $$,
78% of contracts
2008 EQIP Legacy SI
Verdigre-Bazile Watershed example: making a
“landscape impact”
•EQIP SI: 21 contracts, > 2500 acres, $119k
•General EQIP: 30 contracts, >1350 acres, $88k
•Total direct EQIP impact (2008 only): ~4000 acres
•Landscape EQIP benefit (2008 only): ~8000 acres
“Landscape impact”: reduced tallgrass prairie
fragmentation, reduced woodland invasion, increased
prairie management with grazing and prescribed fire,
farmer/rancher ownership of prairie conservation
Why EQIP – Why not WHIP?
• Incentives available for
use exclusion and
cropland conversion
• Attracts cooperators with
“working lands” for
enrollment (90% of NE)
• At-Risk Wildlife and
Invasive Plants are
national priorities for EQIP
• WHIP funding is typically
1/50th of EQIP funding in
Nebraska (record WHIP this
year in NE..only 1/25th of EQIP)
2009 EQIP SI…
• 2009 EQIP Special Initiative to
help meet goals for Legacy
- $1 million set aside
- Separate statewide EQIP
ranking for funds
• Opportunity to Expand Active
BULS for Priority (almost
doubled)
• Possibly Add Practices
– scenarios for control of invasive
aquatic plants in riparian areas
Nebraska 2008 EQIP SI
Priority Legacy landscapes
Nebraska 2009 EQIP Special
Initiative for Legacy
The “Paul Harvey” version
(the rest of the story):
•
•
•
Our NRCS State Conservationist, Steve Chick,
and staff were involved with developing our
SWAC
We were at the table (EQIP subcommittee) and
State Technical Committee and opportunity was
presented
We took immediate action
The “Paul Harvey” version
(the rest of the story):
•
•
•
Our NRCS State Conservationist, Steve Chick,
and staff were involved with developing our
SWAP
We were at the table (EQIP subcommittee) and
State Technical Committee and opportunity was
presented
We took immediate action
The “Paul Harvey” version
(the rest of the story):
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Our NRCS State Conservationist, Steve Chick,
and staff were involved with developing our
SWAC
We were at the table (EQIP subcommittee) and
State Technical Committee and opportunity was
presented
We took immediate action
Field staff who were working on implementing the
Legacy Plan already knew landowners who this
would work for.
In active Legacy areas, our field staff working
with partners led to an interest from many EQIP
local work groups to prioritize general EQIP to
those same areas (internal “ground-up” interest)
NRCS Staff were very supportive (State Wildlife
Biologist – Ritch Nelson, Assistant State
Conservationist – Brad Soncksen, EQIP Program
Manager – Rich Torpin)
There were bumps and learning curves. Field
staff quickly identified that if we could do this
multiple years…we can do more and better!
Questions?