 Welcome to the Alabama Soil and Water Conservation Committee's online Feral Swine Technical Training for Landowners. Successful completion of this training is required prior to applying for financial assistance through the Conservation Incentive Programs, Feral Swine Control Program, available in some Alabama counties. The goal of this technical training is to provide landowners with basic knowledge about the Conservation Incentive Program, how to conduct removal efforts for feral swine, and to provide landowners guidance on the best management practices that should be used to effectively and humanely remove feral swine. This online training will require that you answer several quiz questions periodically throughout the training. You must answer at least 70% of the questions correctly. However, you may take the training as many times as necessary. Once you successfully complete the training, print out or save a copy of your certificate of completion. You will need to present the certificate when applying for financial assistance. The Alabama Feral Swine Control Program is a cooperative effort led by the Alabama Soil and Water Conservation Committee with support provided by many other state and federal agencies, including the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Alabama State Office of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA Wildlife Services, Alabama Agriculture and Conservation Development Commission, Alabama Association of Conservation Districts, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Auburn University, Alabama Farmers Federation, Alfa, Alabama Wildlife Federation, Alabama Cattlemen's Association, and the University of West Alabama. This program includes not only a financial assistance program for landowners to control feral swine, but also significant education and outreach programs and research and monitoring to measure the effectiveness of this program in reducing damage caused by feral swine in Alabama. This program is currently only available in select portions of some counties in Alabama for three years beginning in 2020. Additional counties may be added to the program in coming years if additional funding becomes available. Funding for this program was provided by the 2018 Farm Bill and administered through the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. The Conservation Incentive Program is administered by the Alabama Soil and Water Conservation Committee to provide landowners to cost share assistance for the purchase of traps and related equipment for trapping feral swine. Landowners may choose among many commercially available traps, including those using smart technology and other materials such as fence panels, game cameras, and T-posts commonly used in feral swine trapping. This 70% cost share on traps and trapping equipment is capped at $6,000 for landowners with fewer than 1,000 acres, or $12,000 for landowners with more than 1,000 acres. Landowners must own or have direct management authority over land within the project area and must also meet several other criteria to be eligible. It's important that you first consult with the Alabama Soil and Water Conservation Committee's feral swine field coordinator in your county to determine your eligibility. The Conservation Incentive Program is available in Sumter, Baldwin, Escambia, Houston, and Henry counties in Alabama as shown on this map. It's also available in some portions of adjoining counties of Clark, Caneca, Dale, Geneva, Green, Monroe, and Pickens counties. These areas were selected based on a high overall percentage of land in agriculture production, a history of damage due to feral swine, and land owner interest. Removal efforts are focused in these specific areas to hopefully eradicate or at least reduce feral swine populations to manageable levels. If your property is within one of the adjoining counties, it's important that you check with the Alabama Soil and Water Conservation Committee feral swine field coordinator in your area to determine if your property is within the boundaries of the program area. On the west side of the state, the Conservation Incentive Program is available in Sumter County and some watersheds of bordering Green and Pickens counties. The Alabama Soil and Water Conservation Committee feral swine field coordinator for this program area can be reached at the Sumter County Soil and Water Conservation District Office on the campus of the University of West Alabama. In southwest Alabama, the Conservation Incentive Program is available in Baldwin and Escambia counties, and some watersheds in adjacent counties of Clark, Caneca, and Monroe. The Alabama Soil and Water Conservation Committee feral swine field coordinator for both program areas can be reached at the Baldwin County Soil and Water Conservation District. In South East Alabama, the Conservation Incentive Program is available in Houston and Henry counties, and some watersheds extending into Dale and Geneva counties. The Alabama Soil and Water Conservation Committee feral swine field coordinator for this program area can be reached at the Houston County Soil and Water Conservation District Office in Dothan. Feral swine, also known as wild pigs, feral hogs, or wild boar, are a non-native species to North America that were first introduced in the mid-1500s by Hernando de Soto during his explorations of what is now the southeastern United States. Since that time, these formerly domestic pigs have either escaped confinement or control of the owner or were intentionally released and subsequently established small free-ranging populations throughout the southeast, Texas, and California. These populations remained relatively small and did not expand to new areas very quickly. Over the past 20 to 30 years, the range of feral swine in North America has expanded dramatically, mainly due to what is now the illegal live trapping and transporting and releasing of feral swine to other areas to establish new populations for recreational hunting purposes. Once found in only small isolated populations in a few portions of the southeast, feral swine can now be found throughout nearly all of the southeast with populations in 35 states, including portions of the west, midwest, northeast United States, and southern Canada. Along with a significant expansion of feral swine populations in the United States comes increased damage to agriculture and forestry. Because of their destructive feeding behavior and rooting, feral swine caused more than 50 million per year in damage to agriculture and forestry in Alabama. Likewise, other states in the southeast such as Georgia, Louisiana, and Tennessee have experienced similar levels of damage to agriculture and forestry with damages ranging in the tens of millions of dollars per year. Some research suggests damages due to feral swine are in the hundreds of millions in the southeast. Not only do feral swine cause significant monetary damage to agriculture and forestry, but they also cause a great amount of damage to the environment in which they live. Through their aggressive rooting and feeding behavior, feral swine may increase stream bank erosion and sedimentation and alter local plant communities. Moreover, they compete with recreationally and economically important game animals such as white-tailed deer and turkeys for food resources such as acorns. Wallowing and defecating in lakes and streams also leads to unhealthy levels of fecal coliform and E. coli in waterways. These environmental damages are difficult to quantify in terms of dollars. However, it's suspected these damages likely double if not triple the damaged estimates reported in agriculture and forestry. Feral swine, like their domestic counterparts, are prolific breeders. In a good year with abundant food resources, a sal may produce up to two liters of, on average, about four to six piglets. They may reach sexual maturity as early as six to ten months of age. Compared to a white-tailed deer which give birth to one or, in some cases, two fawns per year, it becomes apparent that to control feral swine populations, a great number will have to be removed from the population each year. A term you'll frequently hear when talking about controlling feral swine is sounder. A sounder is a group of feral swine, usually a few sows and their offspring that travel together. Older males, called boars, tend to be solitary. In some populations, sounders may occupy a somewhat stable home range, but boars tend to be less predictable, often roaming the landscape in search of food and breeding opportunities. Their home ranges can vary in size depending upon several factors such as the amount of cover, the availability of seasonal resources such as crops and acorns, access to water, and the competition for food and space resources by other feral swine.