Good news for forest owners! Now that Congress has finally passed the Farm Bill, the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) once again has funds available for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). We will summarize the process forapplying for funding later in this article, but first some background.Late in 2012 the NRCS State Forester organized an advisory committee to help establish funding priorities for forestry stewardship practices. NYFOA was represented on this committee, along with the DEC, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and SUNY ESF. Duringseveral meetings with the state NRCS staff in 2013, we emphasized the need for cost-sharing for practices necessary to address the forest regeneration crisis, specifically herbicidal treatment of invasive and interfering vegetation, and the construction of deer exclosure fencing. We also sought to ensure that these practices would receive an appropriately high priority during the ranking procedure for the allocation of funding.
展开▼
