Recently, members from the United States Department of Agriculture - Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) of North Carolina (N.C) attended the annual N.C Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts (NCSWD) meeting. The goal was to support the Soil and Water Conservation District as they set their priorities for the year. The meeting opened on Sunday, January 8, 2023, with the Soil and Water Conservation Commission work session. The general session opened the following day with approximately 500 members in attendance. The general session allowed for guest speakers to make remarks about the importance of conservation and of the districts, notably Chief Richard Sneed of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Steven Troxler, the NC Commissioner of Agriculture. NRCS’s Southeast Regional Conservationist, James Tillman, also remarked on how important the districts and their conservation efforts are in the state.
“It begins and ends with the district”, said James Tillman, USDA-NRCS Southeast Regional Conservationist.
Aside from the general session, members from the NCSWCD and N.C-NRCS attended resource committees that included community conservation, district operations, education, finance, legislative, natural environment, research and technology, and water resources. Each committee discussed a variety of topics and points of order for the upcoming year.
N.C-NRCS also took advantage of the time to conduct its own agency meeting on January 10th. The agency discussed training, technical assistance, partnerships how the Inflation Reduction Act will impact the agency and its assistance here in the state. The agency also discussed the monumental effort that it was able to accomplish FY22.
“We are proud of what we have accomplished especially during a pandemic. The N.C partnership is making positive impacts in the lives of NC citizens”, said Tim Beard, N.C-NRCS State Conservationist.
This past fiscal year was historic in the terms of the amount of dollars invested in the state. Estimated payments totaling over $39 million dollars, over $5 million dollars have been certified and over $33 million dollars scheduled. Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) continues to be one of the most subscribed to programs for NC-NRCS. It allows the agency to address many natural resource concerns across the state. Since 2018, over 1,000 contracts in EQIP have been completed. Although EQIP is the most popular program, there has been an increase interest in the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) practices as well, with over 500 active contracts. Since 2018, the total amount invested between completed contracts and active contracts is almost $150 million dollars, covering over 500,000 acres treated with various practices.
N.C-NRCS also provides other assistance through voluntary programs to eligible landowners and agricultural producers to provide financial and technical assistance to help manage natural resources in a sustainable manner. Through these programs, the agency approves contracts to implement conservation practices that addresses natural resource concerns or opportunities to help save energy, improve soil, water, plant, air, animal, and related resources on agricultural lands and non-industrial private forest land. To get started, please visit your local USDA Service Center.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. To learn more, visit usda.gov.
Original source can be found here.
