The following is information contained in a letter from Jeff Swotek:

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, is an often little known Federal agency.  The main mission of our organization it to provide national leadership in conservation and wise use of our natural resources.  We are not a regulatory agency but rather a technical assistance and financial assistance agency for everyone who owns, leases, or uses lands in all counties throughout this county.

 

You can check out our website at www.wa.nrcs.usda.gov and learn more about us and our programs.  I might draw special attention to our Environmental Quality Incentives Program which provides financial assistance and technical assistance.  In an nutshell, this is a competitive program where landowners, renters, and alike bring their list of projects that they would like to do on their forest or farm and apply for the program.  The applications are all ranked and we take the funding as far as we can based upon the ranking and the cost of the projects that you would like to do on your land and develop contracts.  Lets take your typical forestland application.  Say you are a customer who would like to do 40 acres of thinning, 10 acres of Maple control, 38 acres of Alder hand slash...  Each project you would like to do and its location generates points in our ranking and we can tell you how much, should you be awarded funding from us, you could receive so much for each acre of thinning, Maple control, Alder hand slash...  You can develop a schedule of what you would like to do when (from 2 - 10 years) and have the money for all of your projects reserved under your name if you are awarded funding.  All we would do is provide you a minimum specification for each project, you do the work or hire it done, you contact us, and we pay you on a per acre basis.  We like you to maintain the project for the life of the project and I can better explain this when we get together.  Financial assistance is also available for culverts and many many other projects under this same program.  Well now that I have tried to explain the financial assistance side, lets look at the technical assistance side of the program.  For each of your projects we can provide free technical assistance or provide you additional funds to select from a list of Technical Service Providers or TSPs.  The technical assistance takes the form of project planning, development of the minimum specifications, assistance in in the layout of project as well as the final certification of the projects.

 

It is important to note how we work.  By participating in the program your information and your land are respected.  All of your information is protected under the Federal Freedom of Information Act and is not releasable.  We do not come out to your property unless invited by you and when working with us there is no public access.  So rest assured we respect your rights as landowners.

 

Please see the following link: