The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in South Dakota (SD) is investing up to $750,000 in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and $800,000 in the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) through South Dakota’s Conservation Implementation Strategy (CIS). CIS targets shared resource concerns in focal areas. The Extending Grazing Periods in the Shadehill Drainage Area CIS will focus on conservation projects that extend livestock grazing throughout the winter months near the North Fork of the Grand River in Harding and Perkins Counties. The USDA's NRCS is announcing the first batching period for the Extending Grazing Periods in the Shadehill Drainage Area CIS. Applications are accepted year-round, but all eligible applications received prior to December 9, 2022, will be considered for funding in 2023.
The Extending Grazing Periods in the Shadehill Drainage Area CIS will target water quality by reducing nutrients and sediment in the North Fork of the Grand River. Practices that reduce livestock confinement and extend grazing farther into the winter months will be a priority. According to Jaime Fuhrman, Resource Unit Conservationist for the NRCS, “Producers will be able put structural practices on cropland, such as livestock water and wind protection, and then plant the cropland to cover crops or perennial species to graze instead of feeding their livestock during that period. The practices included will help give producers options for winter grazing and will improve summer grazing systems by providing the infrastructure they need to get them off the rangeland sooner in the fall.”
Interested producers should come to one of the informational meetings (Lodgepole - November 15th, 2pm at the Lodgepole Hall, Ludlow – November 16th, 2pm at the Ludlow Hall) or contact the Buffalo or Bison NRCS Field Offices (FOs) by December 9, 2022. More information on the practices included in the CIS and a map of the project area can be found at the NRCS FOs. See the full list of active CIS projects across the state here. Anyone with questions on the Extending Grazing Periods in the Shadehill Drainage Area CIS Project can contact the FOs that administer the project area: Buffalo (605) 375-3218 or Bison (605) 244-5222. Alternatively, please contact Jaime Fuhrman at jaime.fuhrman@usda.gov.
Original source can be found here.
