The Natural Resources Conservation Service has been a pioneer in conservation for nearly a century, collaborating with landowners, local and state governments and other federal agencies to maintain healthy and productive working landscapes.

During this time, NRCS has broadened its concerns to all of Oregon’s natural resources and stocked its toolbox with energy-efficient and renewable practices to remedy most situations that pose a threat to its precious commodities.

Conservation programs through the Natural Resources Conservation Service are voluntary and come with incentives for property owners who implement such practices on their land.

It offers three primary financial assistance programs.

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program – EQIP – is a short-term option with contracts spanning one to three years in which landowners can address individual resource concerns.

Oregon’s Agricultural Conservation Easement Programs consist of long-term contracts in which land goes under an easement paid for by NRCS and a partner agency with arrangements that may last 30 years or more.

In the middle is the Conservation Stewardship Program.

“Whereas EQIP is for new farmers and folks who have never worked with us before and are looking to address one or a small handful of resource concerns, this program looks at the whole farm or production operation, maintains a base level of conservation for them and then asks them to step it up a bit and take their conservation practices to the next level,” Will Fett, Oregon’s Natural Resources Conservation Service outreach coordinator, said. “It helps producers maintain and improve more technically involved practices and carries a five-year commitment.”

Without the tighter timeline of EQIP, producers can continue implementing new practices over a longer period.

For example, an operation that is already working to remedy erosion may decide to add a berm or plant some buffer trees.

Another plus for the program is that NRCS recently increased the minimum payment to the producer to $4,000 per year, making it more economical to invest in such remedies. Depending on which climate smart agriculture conservation practices a producer adopts, their payment goes up.

Most contracts are on a reimbursement basis once NRCS verifies that the producer has completed the specified work.

“The conservation practices implemented by our producers look very different, depending on their type of operation and their location in the state, and that flexibility is really the beauty of the program,” Fett said. “We’re able to tailor to an individual producer while still providing good structure that a federal agency can manage.”

Recently an urban producer in the Portland Metro area with a small-scale farm took advantage of the program to help mitigate the prohibitive cost of irrigating with city water. They will receive financial assistance to implement a program that includes mulching their vegetable beds.

“Mulching has a ton of benefits, including holding the water in so you can irrigate less often,” said Fett. “The benefit for this producer is economically driven, but the conservation benefits are helping hold that soil in place better, managing water once it’s in the soil, and benefitting the soil as all of that organic matter breaks down.”

The NRCS considers applications to the Conservation Stewardship Program in late March, enabling producers to create a plan of action with NRCS and get going within months. While the programs are available to all customers, NRCS gives priority consideration to new customers and beginning farmers.