Fremont County Soil and Water Conservation District, along with the employees of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship-Division of Soil Conservation, and Farm Service Agency have a lot of programs and rules to deal with on a daily basis. From practices that are funded by the state to the large programs within the federal government, personnel in the Sidney Field Office must have knowledge of all of these programs.

Finding information through this website can hopefully speed up your next visit to the Service Center, and in the following links you can find information about our various programs.

State of Iowa Programs -

Financial Incentives Program - State Cost Share:  This is one of the most commonly known programs that the district has a big part in.  Each fiscal year, the State of Iowa allocates funds to all 100 Soil and Water Conservation Districts through IDALS-DSC.  These funds are used by the District as cost-share on various projects, usually terraces in Fremont County.  Cost-share rates are 50% for this program, and funds are allocated on first come/first serve basis.  Producers or landowners must sign up on the list at the Service Center.  Once Fremont County SWCD receives enough funding to cover that person, the job will be engineered as needed and completed by the landowner.  Fremont SWCD then reimburses the landowner once all the bills have been turned in.  For more information, visit the IDALS Financial Incentives Bureau Cost-Share page.

· Cost Share Rates MICROSOFT EXCEL

· Contact Fremont SWCD for more information: (712) 374-2014

· tammy.grebert@ia.nacdnet.net

· Kevin.Brannen@ia.nacdnet.net

Resource Enhancement and Protection Program (REAP):  This Iowa-based, multi-departmental program is administered through both the Iowa DNR and IDALS-DSC.  Funds from this program are used for Timber Stand Improvements (TSI), installation of windbreaks, seeding of conservation cover, and other resource concerns.  There are several good contacts for the REAP practice within Fremont County; contact Brian Gross or District Forester Jeremy Cochran for more information.

· Brian:  (712) 374-2014 ext.114, brian.gross@ia.usda.gov 

· Jeremy:  (712) 482-6245, jeremy.cochran@dnr.state.ia.us

Federal Programs -

Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP):  EQIP is a program that has become one of the fundamental tools for the conservation.  The Sidney Field Office has been using the program to create terraces and work with cattle operations for the past few years.  Now, the emphasis that Iowa NRCS has put on EQIP is more of a "whole-farm" approach.  Instead of doing one practice, such as terraces, the staff is now looking to improve the sustainability of the farm on the whole.  If waterways are needed as well as terraces, then we work with the landowner and operator to install those practices with cost-share.

The same is true for cattle operations.  The Natural Resources Conservation Service can help with installing wells and pasture management, but we also look at creating a paddock system for rotational grazing if it is feasible.  New interior fences are a practice that can be cost-shared, so the landowner is able to improve his farm's sustainability for half the cost.

· Field Office:  (712) 374-2014

· Brian:  brian.gross@ia.usda.gov

· Marvin:  marvin.freed@ia.usda.gov

Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP):  This federal program, like other Farm Bill programs, is being expanded in terms of funding.  In Fremont County, we've used this program to restore native prairie on the Loess Hills, mainly by removing eastern red cedar, dogwood, sumac, and other invasive woody vegetation.  The program can also be used to provide financial assistance to landowners who want to manage timber for wildlife mast (food) production, improve riparian area habitat, or plant native plants to old pastures and farms. 

· Brian:  (712) 374-2014 ext.114, brian.gross@ia.usda.gov

Conservation Reserve Program (CRP):  CRP is one of the most well know programs that USDA offers to landowners as an option to cropping.  The Farm Service Agency administers the program, and NRCS offers technical assistance to the FSA and producers.  Landowners may install filter strips and riparian buffers, waterways, contour buffer strips, shallow water areas for wildlife, farmable wetlands, and windbreaks under the continuous program in CRP.  There are no sign-up periods for the practices, and most practices pay not only the base 50% cost share, but also a 40% practice incentive payment (PIP), paying 90% of the cost of installing the practice.  Some of these practices also offer a one-time, sign-up payment (SIP) of $10/acre/year for 10 or 15 year contracts and 120% of the rental rate each year. 

General Sign-up CRP offers the same practices as Continuous, but landowners may also enroll entire fields or farms if the land is Highly Erodible or has wetland soils.  These offers are accepted through a specific sign-up period, and must pass through a bidding process.

· Cindy Bebout:  FSA County Executive Officer, (712) 374-2691 ext.100, Cindy.Bebout@ia.usda.gov

· Brian Gross:  District Conservationist, (712) 374-2014 ext.114, brian.gross@ia.usda.gov

· Lucas Forney:  District Employee, (712) 374-2014 ext.3, Lucas.Forney@ia.nacdnet.net

Wetland/Floodplain Easement Programs (WRP and EWP-FP):  Fremont County, with their Two Rivers Project, has become one of the leaders in the wetland and floodplain easement programs that USDA offers.  Many of the easements are near the Riverton Wildlife Management Area or located on the Missouri River Valley on both sides of Highway 2 (Nebraska City).

Acceptance into either of these programs is highly competitive, as the state has a backlog for WRP, and  EWP-FP.  Ranking sheets are filled out at the time of application and the farm is added to the WRP or EWP-FP list according to that rank.  Rankings depend on easement size; proximity to protected land, whether it be state or federally owned, or covered by an easement; as well as other factors.

Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP):  This program is a voluntary program that offers landowners the means and the opportunity to protect, restore, and enhance wetlands. The NRCS goal is to achieve the greatest wetland functions and values, along with optimum wildlife habitat, on every acre enrolled in the program.

A farm or part of a farm is eligible for WRP when hydric (wetland) soils are present, or if at least half of the farm is too wet to farm much of the time. Most of the area must be in crop, but waste land and timber may be included. Once the easement is filed, the landowner retains control of the title, but no farming, grazing, or timber harvesting may be done within the easement boundary.

· Lucas Forney: Wetland Specialist (712) 374-2014 ext. 3, Lucas.Forney@ia.nacdnet.net

Emergency Watershed Program-Floodplain Program (EWP-FP):  This program is nearly the same as the Wetland Reserve Program, but focuses on  a different resource concern:  flooding.  Since 1998, NRCS has spent millions of dollars to purchase easements for restoring the "reaches and flows" of floodplains within Iowa and other states.  In Fremont County, we received 20 easements from 1999 to 2001 to help reduce the impacts of flooding on the Nishnabotna and Missouri Rivers.  Much of our emphasis for the program is in restoring native vegetation to the floodplain, but we also try to move water into our easements during flood events where possible.  That water is then retained for wildlife habitat, and excess water is allowed back into the river once the flooding has subsided.

If a farm has been flooded more than three times within the past 10 years, it is eligible for the EWP-FP program.  Of course, the more damage to crops and land in the past 10 years, the higher the rank.  Like the WRP program, landowners retain ownership of the land, but they have no rights to harvest any type of crop off the land.

· Lucas Forney: Wetland Specialist (712) 374-2014 ext.3, Lucas.Forney@ia.nacdnet.net  

Grassland Reserve Program (GRP):  This program helps private landowners and operators restore and protect grassland, including rangeland and pastureland.

The GRP has reached its national spending limit for the 2002 Farm Bill. The USDA is unable to accept new applications, and all unfunded GRP applications will be retained until further notice.

Conservation Security Program (CSP):  The CSP is a voluntary conservation program that rewards farmers for ongoing stewardship of private agricultural lands. The CSP sign-up is offered in selected priority watersheds annually across the Nation. Payments are determined by the tier of participation.

· Brian Gross:  District Conservationist, (712) 374-2014 ext.114, brian.gross@ia.usda.gov