By Michael Stinebrink
Soil Conservationists, USDA-NRCS

In Lake County, the Natural Resources Conservation Service works in direct partnership with the two local conservation districts – the West Lake and East Lake Resource Conservation Districts – to provide technical assistance to private landowners in the management and conservation of natural resources. The goal of the technical assistance process is the development of a conservation plan for a property that meets the needs of the soil, water, air, plant, and animal resources, while ensuring the sustainability and profitability of the land. In working with a landowner, NRCS personnel seek to assess the resources on the land and the conservation problems and opportunities facing the landowner, and draw on various sciences and disciplines in the development of a conservation plan for the whole property.

After developing a conservation plan, a landowner is often eligible to apply for financial assistance to help get the planned practices installed and implemented. The U.S. Department of Agriculture offers several conservation programs to provide financial assistance in the form of incentives and cost-share payments to agricultural producers in the implementation of conservation plans. In Lake County, one of the most widely used programs is the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). Practices eligible for financial assistance through EQIP include cover and green manure crops, filter strips and riparian forest buffers, grassed or rock-lined waterways, sediment basins, field borders and hedgerow plantings, tree or shrub plantings, grade stabilization structures, irrigation water management, nutrient and residue management, and integrated pest management. The program operates on a continuous sign-up basis, meaning that applicants may apply for the program at any time during the year. For more information on EQIP and other programs and services available in California, please visit the California NRCS website at http://www.ca.nrcs.usda.gov/. To speak with an NRCS representative in Lake County, or to apply for a conservation program, please call (707) 263-4180, or stop by our office in the County Agricultural Building.

The mission of the NRCS is to help people conserve, maintain, and improve our natural resources and environment. And, the vision of the NRCS is “Harmony between people and the land”. The NRCS achieves its mission through the delivery of technical assistance and the application of conservation programs. These are public services that are voluntary in nature. With roots dating back to the Dust Bowl, and the Soil Conservation Act of 1935, NRCS has developed a reputation as a technical leader in conservation work. Known as the Soil Conservation Service until the mid-1990’s, NRCS relies upon many of the same principles that its founder, Hugh Hammond Bennett, promoted during an era of increasing mechanization in agriculture, and associated soil loss, in the 1920’s-1930’s. For more information about NRCS, please visit the national NRCS website at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/.