California NRCS Executive Summary of Programs

							                                             NRCS CALIFORNIA 2006
                                      Executive Summary of Programs
Conservation Innovation Grants                                          Farm & Ranchlands Protection Program
The Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) program was offered            The Farm and Ranchlands Protection Program (FRPP) is a
in California for the first time during FY 2005. Over 20 applications    voluntary easement program that helps farmers and ranchers
were received to address the program’s primary purpose of               keep their land in agriculture. NRCS partners with the California
developing innovative techniques and methods to address natural         Department of Conservation – Farmland Conservancy Program,
resource conservation issues. Three grants for a total amount of        local governments, and non-profit land trust organizations to
$179,000 were awarded to study innovative methods to improving          acquire agricultural conservation easements from landowners.
air quality and sustainable crop production.                            The FRPP program in California has leveraged over $9 million
                                                                        with $22 million of conservation partner funds to protect over
Conservation Reserve Program                                            6,000 acres of prime farmland. The FRPP program with our
NRCS provided technical assistance for a general signup                 partners have earmarked over $48 million to protect 22,000
in FY 2005. California has a total of 520 contracts in the              acres of agricultural lands with a conservation easement in
Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) covering 147,583 acres.              the next two years. Since the program was authorized in 1996,
The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) and                 California has received $22 million to protect over 28,000 acres
continuous signup CRP (CCRP) continues to provide upland                of agriculture lands.
wildlife/riparian habitat to the upper Sacramento Valley and
other parts of the state, with 110 contracts totaling 9,427 acres. In
addition, there are approximately 30,000 acres of expired Water         The Grassland Reserve Program (GRP) allows private landowners
Bank contracts that have rolled over into Marginal Pastureland          to enter into rental or conservation easement agreements with
CRP that provide brood water and upland nesting habitat for             NRCS with the purpose of conserving and enhancing grassland
resident waterfowl and shorebirds.                                      resources. While livestock grazing is permitted under a Prescribed
                                                                        Grazing Plan, no significant disturbance of the soil may occur
Emergency Watershed Protection Program                                  on enrolled acreages. The primary benefit of the program is
The Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) program provides               the reduction in conversion of quality grasslands to uses such
technical and financial assistance for watersheds ravaged by             as crops or urban development. In FY 2005, California enrolled
natural disasters. Approximately $150 million in EWP funding            3,865 acres in 10 and 20-year rental agreements, and 1,856 acres
was made available to NRCS in 2004 to address both the fire              in permanent conservation easements; one of these permanent
response work in Southern California as well as assisting San           easements is enrolled for the conservation of sage grouse habitat
Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego Counties impacted by                with a total of 1,662 acres. This was funded through the state’s
the Tree Mortality Emergency. Approximately $120 million of             federal allocation of about $3.2 million, $500,000 of which were
the $150 million in EWP funding was designated for dead tree            contributed through the Sage Grouse Conservation Initiative.
removal and erosion control in the impacted areas. In 2005, NRCS        Total program enrollment acreages for all years is 38,950.
made major strides to protect mountain communities in tree              Applications were competitively ranked using statewide criteria
mortality areas from the threat of devastating wildfire. Working         specific to the program and with input from the State Technical
with sponsors and partner agencies, dead trees and fuel were            Advisory Committee.
removed on over 25,000 acres in priority areas. Approximately
70 percent of the $120 million has been obligated for competed          Plant Materials
and planned projects. NRCS is working with our sponsors and             The Lockeford Plant Materials Center (PMC) serves most of
partner agencies to complete total obligation of the remaining          California. Twenty-nine plants have been released for commercial
funds and have all remaining work under contract by the end             seed production to solve soil and water conservation problems.
of 2006. Southern California experienced wildfires in November           In FY 2005, PMC and field office staff worked together on seven
2005. Three EWP projects for $350,000 have been approved and            studies, including rangeland seeding, soil sequestration of carbon
are waiting for funds to be implemented. Northern California            and cover crop conservation field trials. Many landowners helped
experienced significant floods in December 2005. Four exigency            with site preparation, plot layout, fencing, planting and treatment
projects for about $400,000 were funded and are complete or             applications. Eighty thousand native plants were provided to
in progress. Additional non-exigency projects costing up to             Resource Conservation Districts and others for restoration work.
$750,000 are on a funding wait list.                                    The PMC completed the growth and ground cover evaluations
                                                                        of 36 introduced and native cover crop varieties, with the data
Enviromental Quality Incentives Program                                 being used in RUSLE2 (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation).
The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is one of           Moreover, RUSLE2 will be used extensively in the Conservation
the most popular and effective programs that NRCS offers. Guided        Security Program (CSP). The PMC assisted in evaluating a
by working groups, stakeholders and a locally led process, funds        Conservation Field Trail (CFT) in the Elkhorn Slough watershed
are allocated to address significant natural resource concerns           to introduce agricultural producers to various grasses. In Tule
throughout the state. During FY 2005, approximately 1,700 EQIP          Lake, the PMC completed an evaluation of 120 grass and
contracts covering 500,000 acres were funded for approximately          legume plots used to determine the best plant materials to use in
$48 million. This includes nearly $4 million in special EQIP            conservation practices. The PMC worked extensively with other
funding for Klamath Basin to conserve surface and groundwater;          agencies such as the Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
$5.5 million to address air quality concerns; and $9 million to         Service and the National Park Service in developing native plants
address water conservation concerns throughout California.              for restoration sites. The Center is also being used to demonstrate
Information about the EQIP program can be found on the Web              various conservation practices and is providing plant materials
at www.ca.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/eqip/.                                 training to NRCS, RCD and partner staff.
                                NRCS CALIFORNIA 2006             ~     EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF PROGRAMS

Private Grazing Lands Assistance                                       Pierson Reach Stream restoration project. This project is part
Grazing land technical assistance is very important in California      of a major stream restoration project for the Central Sonoma
where beef is the fourth largest agricultural commodity.               Watershed project completed in the 1970s.
Environmental pressures on private grazing lands and federal
grazing allotments have increased the intensity of management on       Soil Surveys
private grazing lands. The Grazing Land Conservation Initiative        California, with its extensive natural diversity, contains more than
(GLCI) and California Grazing Lands Coalition (CGLC) are               1,940 soil series and greater than 12,700 soil map units dispersed
voluntary efforts to enhance privately owned grazing land. GLCI        across 18 different MLRAs. Published soil survey information
funds provide increased technical assistance to ranchers and help      exists for about 78 percent of the state’s 101 million acres, which
support development of local grazing lands coalitions, conferences     are made up of about half private and half federally-owned land.
and workshops, and demonstration projects. Demonstration               About 91 percent of the private land is mapped and the remaining
projects included the use of NutBal tool statewide for analyzing       large blocks will be completed over the next five years. About 17
animal nutritional needs and developing grazing prescriptions,         million acres of federal land, mainly BLM and NPS ownership,
and integrated vegetation management trials in San Luis Obispo         remain to be mapped. These agencies have been providing about
County. Hosted activities included a Bay-Delta area symposium          $700,000 per year toward the work in these areas. Roughly 3
that focused on conservation of public and private grazing lands.      million acres of private land are also intricately interspersed with
Five major areas of current GLCI emphasis are: 1) Facilitation of      this federal land. Future needs include extensive maintenance/
Local Grazing Lands Coalitions; 2) Development of Ecological           update work where alteration of land through activities such as
Site Descriptions; 3) Compliance with State Rangeland Water            land-leveling, deep ripping, and reclamation have changed the
Quality requirements; 4) Prevention, control and eradication of        soils and/or where intensity of modern land use requires more
noxious weeds, and 5) Implementation of Farm Bill programs on          detail. MLRA Soil Survey Offices are currently being implemented
grazing lands. Landowners planned 398,095 acres where grazing          in six California locations to serve as hubs for conducting the
lands were the primary resource concern, and applied grazing           remaining initial and future maintenance work. The Pacific
lands practices on 429,746 acres in FY 05. The prescribed grazing      Southwest MLRA Soil Survey Region Office (MO2), located in
practice was applied on 230,339 acres.                                 Davis, is working to provide soil survey technical leadership and
                                                                       quality assurance to most of California, southern Nevada, Hawaii,
Resource Conservation & Development                                    the Pacific Basin, and portions of Arizona, Utah, and Oregon.
Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) is a unique
program that helps people protect their natural resources while        Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program
improving an area’s economy, environment and living standards.         The FY 2006 allocation for California of $865,000 is a 50 percent
California currently has 12 authorized areas statewide. In FY          reduction from the $1.7 million in Wildlife Habitat Incentives
2005, over 100 RC&D projects were completed, which focused             Program (WHIP) funds in FY 2004. Despite the significant
on land conservation, water management, resource awareness,            reduction, we expect to fund projects that provide habitat for
environmental concerns, and community development. The RCD             fish and wildlife species with declining populations. Several
program in California has assisted with over 38 new businesses         applicants are interested in restoring in-stream, riparian, and
being established and 1,300 new jobs created. In addition, over        upland habitat for Coho and Chinook salmon and Steelhead
1,700 acres of wildlife habitat were protected. California has three   Trout. Other applicants want cost-sharing to remove fish
RC&D area applications pending approval: The California Delta,         barriers, supply in-stream structure, remove exotic riparian
the San Francisco Bay, and the San Joaquin areas. The California       plant species, or renovate access roads to drastically reduce
State Association of RC&D Councils has expanded to 15 RC&D             sediment contribution to streams. Many other applicants will
Councils, each defining its own local goals and objectives.             focus their projects on restoration of riparian corridors that
                                                                       bisect crop, range, brush, and forestland. As in past years, we
Small Watershed Program                                                expect to leverage these funds with partnership contributions
The Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act of 1954              that in past years have nearly matched NRCS funds for WHIP
(Small Watershed Program) gives NRCS broad authority to assist         projects on private lands.
local sponsors in solving small watershed resource problems.
Currently, California has about 12 active watershed projects in        Wetlands Reserve Program
various stages of implementation. The projects provide benefits         The Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) contributed significantly
for flood prevention, soil erosion, fish and wildlife enhancement,       to wildlife habitat and wetland restoration activities in California
and related purposes. California also provides technical assistance    throughout FY 2005. In addition to enrolling 4,745 more acres in
for watershed surveys and planning. Some FY 05 project                 the program, NRCS kept pace with the habitat objectives of the
highlights include: Construction of the last phase of the Beardsley    program by completing restoration on more than 9,000 acres of
watershed project was nearly completed with 90 percent of the          previously recorded conservation easements. Of the total acres
Los Angeles Ave. Unit II project complete. Remaining work              enrolled in 2005, 4,221 acres were permanent easements, 294
will be completed in early 2006. This project will finish the           acres were in 30-year easements, and the remaining 230 acres
Beardsley Watershed Project approximately 40 years after the           were enrolled as a 10-year restoration contract. This brings the
initial construction began. Construction of the last element of        total enrollment in the state to 94,092 acres during 14 years of
the Carpenteria Watershed project was finished in 2006 at a total       program delivery. WRP in California targets marginal cropland
project cost of about $2.6 million. The work included a flood           where natural flooding and saturated conditions make farming
control wall and a marsh enhancement component. This project           difficult. In addition to restoring wetlands, habitat objectives of
is the outlet to the Carpinteria Watershed project that has been       WRP include the restoration of native upland and riparian plant
held up from implementation by environmental issues for many           communities and the interconnectivity of fragmented habitat on
years. Construction started for the $1.9 million Santa Rosa Creek      agricultural landscapes.