With a Jan. 15 deadline looming, Jefferson County ranchers have been mulling applying for a trio of federal grants that seek to encourage land and resource conservation.
New applications for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), as well as its new regenerative farming program, must be submitted by that date.
Darby Minow Smith, who helps run the Smith ranch in the Boulder Valley, expressed interest in the new federal program. “We are starting to explore regenerative ranching – been to a couple conferences – but very much in the early stages,” she said via email. “I’d like to look more into the programs soon.”
Administered by the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), CSP seeks to reward producers for new and existing conservation activities. To be eligible, applicants must demonstrate they are addressing priority resource concerns and willing to implement additional practices.
Leah Lewis (nee Compton) has worked on her family’s ranch for decades. She said the Compton ranch would not be applying for any programs this year, as it is currently in the last year of a five-year CSP grant.
“The enhancements can certainly be beneficial,” Lewis said of CSP initiatives. One enhancement involved the planting of apple trees, while another encouraged planting sunflowers and other pollinator plants along the edge of their center pivots.
A third CSP enhancement made eight miles of Compton fencing more wildlife-friendly, adding wire spacing to keep elk and moose from getting snagged. Yet Lewis also viewed CSP projects as difficult and providing no more than minimum wage for labor costs.
“The enhancements that we are eligible to perform are often very challenging and we are always scrambling to complete things before Oct. 1 (federal fiscal year start),” she explained, remembering hand-bagging houndstongue, a troubling invasive weed, in the thick of mosquito season.
“I can’t hardly wait for an AI drone to take over that job!” Lewis joked. “Unless the enhancements add value to your ranch in some way, it can feel a little frustrating that you’re just adding more things to your work plate.”
Lewis added that she has had an application in for an NRCS’ logging and thinning grant for years, but has repeatedly been told there was no funding. She had yet to research the programs offered by the regenerative program, but planned to do so.
Marlee Johnson, who runs the Dahl ranch in Clancy, had not heard of these federal grants when informed by The Monitor of the looming deadline. But at least one other prominent Jefferson County rancher may be interested.
The Dawson ranch previously used EQIP funds to cost-share conifer encroachment mitigation, wildlife-friendly fencing, and a livestock pipeline. “NRCS staff was good to work with,” said Bill Dawson, who made clear he was speaking as a rancher and landowner, not in his role as Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ game warden sergeant for Helena. “I suspect we’d consider using that program again if we saw it as a benefit to our small operation.”
The USDA has dedicated $400 million from EQIP and $300 million from CSP to fund the first year of regenerative projects. Interested producers should apply at a local NRCS service center (790 Colleen Street, Helena, or 3 Whitetail Rd., Whitehall; (406) 287-3215) by Thursday Jan. 15.
