Conservation Planning Sign-Up Pilot Announced

Contact: Jasper Parker, 405-742-1243

Stillwater, Oklahoma Sept. 22, 2005—Darrel Dominick, state conservationist, announced that Oklahoma is one of nine states participating in the first conservation planning sign-up. The conservation planning signup is a pilot initiative that emphasizes the importance of conservation planning to help farmers and ranchers.

Conservation planning combines the best elements of cooperative conservation to provide new opportunities to improve environmental performance and maintain productivity. This pilot initiative will demonstrate how a conservation plan is a critical tool to help farmers and ranchers make wise management and land use decisions.

Oklahoma joins California, Colorado, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Wyoming as the pilot states.

The 12 counties in Oklahoma that will participate in this pilot initiative include Beaver, Custer, Washita, Kiowa, Caddo, Grady, Osage, Washington, Tulsa, Choctaw, Pushmataha, and McCurtain.

NRCS is establishing a conservation planning sign-up to enable landowners to plan more realistically to implement practices in a more comprehensive approach. It also allows local NRCS offices to manage their workloads more efficiently and effectively to help landowners reduce erosion, improve soil health, improve water quantity and quality, restore and conserve wetlands, enhance fish and wildlife habitat, improve pasture and range health, improve woodlands, and address other natural resource issues.

Using a landowner self-assessment process, NRCS offices in the 12 pilot counties will accept conservation planning applications during the specified sign-up period. Oklahoma’s signup will begin October 17, 2005 and end November 18, 2005. Individuals who want technical assistance to develop a conservation plan may apply at their local NRCS or conservation district office. NRCS is the federal government's principal agency for providing conservation planning and technical assistance on private land. Locate your local NRCS Field Service Center. Additional information on conservation planning and technical assistance can be found on the Oklahoma NRCS Website.

All programs and services of the Natural Resources Conservation Service are provided in a nondiscriminatory manner.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or a part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

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