[PCA] Fwd: USDA to Invest in Prairie Pothole Landscape Effort
Jessie Strother
strotherjessie at yahoo.com
Fri Feb 14 13:04:50 CST 2014
This is a great initiative as this region really needs some additional conservation based incentives. So much has gone to massive fields of corn and nothing else! J Strother
--------------------------------------------
On Fri, 2/14/14, De Angelis, Patricia <patricia_deangelis at fws.gov> wrote:
Subject: [PCA] Fwd: USDA to Invest in Prairie Pothole Landscape Effort
To: "native-plants" <native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org>
Date: Friday, February 14, 2014, 10:16 AM
---------- Forwarded
message ----------
From: USDA Office
of Communications <usda at public.govdelivery.com>
Date: Fri, Feb 14, 2014 at 11:35 AM
Subject: USDA to Invest in Prairie Pothole Landscape Effort
USDA Office of Communications
Press Release
Release No. 0023.14
Contact:
Office of
Communications (202)720-4623
USDA to Invest in Prairie Pothole Landscape
Effort
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2014 - Agriculture Secretary Tom
Vilsack announced that up to $35 million will be provided
during the next three years to help landowners conserve
grasslands and wetlands in the Prairie Pothole region. The
announcement was made on the Secretary's behalf by Under
Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Robert
Bonnie.
Farmers, ranchers and conservation partners will have
access to a mix of financial and technical assistance
opportunities through the Natural Resources Conservation
Service (NRCS) to restore wetlands and grasslands.
"This region of North Dakota, South Dakota,
Minnesota, Iowa and Montana provides critical breeding and
nesting habitat for more than 60 percent of the nation's
migratory waterfowl," Bonnie said of the Prairie
Pothole region. "Our goal is to help landowners manage
their working lands in a way that's compatible with
agricultural production and good stewardship of the soil,
water and habitat resources of the area so we are really
talking about keeping working lands working."
The wetlands and grasslands that characterize the region
provide vital water storage to reduce regional flooding,
improve water quality, and have tremendous potential to
store carbon in soils, which reduces the level of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere, one of the leading greenhouse
gases contributing to climate change.
The funding comes in a couple of pieces, including:
Environmental Quality Incentives
Program: The agency's largest conservation
program will help producers with expiring Conservation
Reserve Program contracts keep their lands as working
grasslands or haylands through implementation of prescribed
grazing and other conservation practices.
Ducks Unlimited-NRCS partnership for carbon
credits: NRCS is working with North Dakota, South
Dakota and Montana to create a carbon credit marketing
system for landowners who agreed to avoid tilling
grasslands. This work started in 2011 in North Dakota as
part of a Conservation Innovation Grant, but now it's
being expanded to the three states. Through this system,
interested landowners can keep their land in grass, continue
grazing and haying, and generate verified carbon credits
that place a conservation easement on their land. These
credits can be sold or traded into existing voluntary carbon
markets.
NRCS also is providing additional technical assistance to
complete certified wetland determinations, needed by
producers to meet conservation compliance requirements first
put in place in 1985.
Additionally, the 2014 Farm Bill has expanded
opportunities for conserving grasslands and wetlands,
including those in the Prairie Pothole region. To find out more about
USDA's efforts to work with producers in the region
click here. USDA also recently solicited
proposals for Conservation Innovation Grants.
For more information on these opportunities, visit a local NRCS field office or
the NRCS website.
#
USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To
file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of
the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of
Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC
20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer
Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866)
377-8642 (Relay voice users).
If you have questions about USDA activities, please visit
our Ask the Expert page. This
feature is designed to assist you in obtaining the
information you are seeking.
USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To
file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of
the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of
Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC
20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer
Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866)
377-8642 (Relay voice users).
-----Inline Attachment Follows-----
_______________________________________________
native-plants mailing list
native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org
http://lists.plantconservation.org/mailman/listinfo/native-plants_lists.plantconservation.org
Disclaimer
Posts on this list reflect only the opinion of the
individual who is posting the message; they are not official
opinions or positions of the Plant Conservation Alliance.
To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to native-plants-request at lists.plantconservation.org
with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
More information about the native-plants
mailing list