 Thank you Cindy. Can everybody hear me okay? All right. Well, thanks again. I definitely understand I'm between you and lunch So I'll try to keep it To the point, but I do have some good information. I'd like to share with you guys Like Cindy said, I'm the new district conservationist for the Gettysburg NRCS fuel office. I've been here four months I've been with the NRCS for a little over 12 years I came here from Northeast Colorado or the range specialist for over nine years In terms of NRCS programs, how many of you could I get a raise of hands? Have had in some time some ways to shape or form Interacted or Participated in an NRCS program All right, quite a few. That's good My goal today isn't necessarily to make you all experts in NRCS programs But more or less to give you an overview of some of the common programs that we have Hopefully help you to get the best utilization out of the program so they can do the most for you With that said In regards to today's topic I'm gonna highlight Four of our more common NRCS programs Now this isn't every program that we have and everything that we deal with some of those that might be excluded Will involve easement programs Some of the innovative grants and those types of things but in terms of soil health in terms of grazing in terms of applying What you're hearing today? These are some really sound programs that can I believe can help you Get your goals your objectives on the ground to head in the right direction Okay, the first program I'm going to talk about today is called the conservation technical assistance program or CTA The second one is called the environment environmental quality and center program equip The third is conservation stewardship program CSP And the last one I'm excited to tell you more about today is the regional conservation partnership program Which is a little bit newer to NRCS Okay CTA or the conservation technical assistance program As you can read on the slide, this is where the NRCS and its partners Provide their technical assistance to land units to address opportunities concerns problems related to natural resources This is really what I call the the building blocks to a lot of our government a lot of our farm bill programs A lot of the work that we do. This is how we start most of those programs This is where we interact we sit down with you the producer and find out what are your concerns? What are your objectives? How we can help you the most? Okay, this is one of the those programs I Really don't want to skip ahead because sometimes through the CTA and the technical assistance process is where we best identify Maybe equip is there out to go? Maybe CSP maybe something else or maybe none of the above We first what this looks like In terms of CTA takes many forms this can be as simple as a phone call to the office saying Hey, mr. NRCS guy. I've want to plant a tree out here. What should I plant? I'm looking for a good grass mix How do I improve my soil health? This can be really brief a walk in the door other things This can look like sit down sit down in the office walking through your complete branch operation or farm operation just really grasping hold of what what is the management that we have on the land and how We can best address it Again, it's not something I want to skip steps and a lot of this process starts on the land You know can't necessarily all be done on the ground. I Want to encourage you guys this process well be honest communicate with your planners talk to the NRCS Tell us about your good experiences. What are the bad experiences? What have you tried? This is work for me. This hasn't worked for me and Just helping us to be able to best realize best identify your your goals and your objectives Okay as the NRCS Believe it or not. We may not have every answer that you have every question that you have But as you've heard in the room already you've heard guys like Stan bolts As well as you'll hear Jerry Jason Miller this afternoon We've got a lot of experience and we visit with a lot of different projects in a lot of different country As an NRCS as an agency we have over 80 years of experience that would bring to the table This is something that we're excited to share with with everyone Some of the benefits for this program we've got as you can see up above Maintaining improving your private lands oops There we go We've got implementing better land management technologies So again, if there's another way something that we can adapt or bring into your operation That's going to make your management just a little bit better a little bit easier We've got maintaining protecting and improving your water quality and quantity Maintaining and improving wildlife fish habitat Enhancing your recreational opportunities Maintaining improving aesthetic character of the private land believe it or not Exploring opportunities to diversify their egg operations and develop and apply sustainable egg systems So as you can see the CTA program takes many shapes many forms And it will use all of this to apply toward private land management So these are non non federal lands that we're addressing here okay The second program I want to talk about with you guys is called the equip or the environmental quality incentive program This program really works good to follow CTA because it really addresses both our financial assistance and technical assistance For getting projects done on the ground Just like all of our programs We're looking to address to identify and address your soil your water your plants animals air all of these resources We go through the same planning process to help identify these up front in order to best identify How might we best address these alternatives ultimately? When we go through the planning process It doesn't have to be every goal every objective that we enter into this program You know we can pick and choose our goal is to find the best program It's the best tool to do the job and get accomplished our goals and objectives Okay, there's a few things I want you to know about the equip program Just in order to have best utilize it and apply it to your land First we have Operators and landowners are both eligible for this program Not all of our programs are that way The program will require following a conservation plan again It's an important step that we don't want to skip over making sure that we've you know had that discussion with you We've met on the ground. We've identified. What are your concerns? We've discussed alternatives how we might best address those concerns As well as putting this this plan into place Okay, there's an old saying out there that says you're either Planning to fail or you're failing to plan This really goes hand-in-hand Contracts may be single-year or multi-year contracts Payment rates are set for each practice. They do change every year Practices selected may be structural vegetative or management. I think this is really important Because even the best practice out in the field without or absent from the management may not Accomplish the same objective that you had in mind So it's really important that whatever whatever we're doing on the ground whether it be grassland cropland We're including that management practice And the last thing with the environmental quality incentive program is it is competitive There's a screening and ranking process that goes with every application that we work with it's not automatic Just for example this year where are we at with the equip program back in October? We established a Application deadline this doesn't mean that it's the only time that we can turn in an application We accept applications year-round for this program But we do need to establish a deadline so that we can we can process these applications in a timely matter in order to Be considered for the current year funds With that same program we're now in that screening process. We're going through the ranking We're hoping to The end of end of March Identify those applications that have been accepted for funding Okay, the third program. I'd like to visit with you about is the CSP or the conservation stewardship program This program is different The CSP program we're looking at helping you the producer with your existing conservation systems And then in addition to evaluating your existing management, we're going to address your priority resource concerns that we've identified ahead of time and also We're going to earn CSP payments for conservation performance Higher the performance higher the payment, you know, how do we do this? How many of you have gone through the CSP program before? Raise a hand a few of you. All right So if you have gone through this process, you might remember sitting in the office, you know With your NRCS feel left isn't going through an interview asking you a series of questions about How do you manage your cropland? What's your cropping rotation like? How do you fertilize? How do you graze? those types of things Looking at your your current management. This is where your this is where your points is where the screening takes place Okay This program is is definitely different than equip in that regard Few things I want you to know in terms of if you're interested in the CSP program It's got a lot of different benefits that we can utilize The first one is this is an operator-based program Like we've seen in the prior program equip was could be an owner or an operator CSP does need to be the operator We're looking at the individual who's on the ground making the day-to-day decisions You know doing the planting the tilling the grazing the move in the cattle reaping the benefit for their decisions Those are the individuals that we're working with They must Must have operated the land for a minimum of 12 months. We're demonstrating and rewarding you for the management You're doing so we want to see that history Must have controlled the land for a minimum of five years the CSP program is a five-year program So definitely we're looking for control the land for at least those five years We'll be expected to keep records of management and practices throughout the year Okay, one of the ways that we document That we are carrying out the management is is sitting down with you looking at your grazing records looking at your fertilizer records Identifying how are we carrying out these enhancements? How are we are we treating these concerns? Is there ways that we can prove and get a little bit more out of that program? We want to help you do that We talked about five-year contracts payments are made annually with this program maximum payment amounts are 40,000 per year And then like equip as well. This is a competitive screening and ranking process that we go with go through Okay, so the last and final program I want to visit you about today is called the RCPP program It's aimed at improving soil health wildlife habitat landscape productivity provides lanners with financial assistance for incorporating regenerative farming practices and Improving wildlife habitat and their for end diversifying your crop rotations and landscape use So this program through this part of South Dakota Is really focusing on the soil health and wildlife aspects It is a partnership program that we're we're carrying out The dual partnership is between NRCS and Ducks Unlimited There's two different areas of focus for this program for Potter County that is We're looking at the James River watershed, which covers a small portion of the eastern border of the state or of the county sorry And then also the prairie pothole working area. These are two different project areas two different sign-ups They'll be treated differently with the same goal in mind The prairie pothole working area does cover eastern South Dakota east of the river Parts of North Dakota and Minnesota What are some examples? That might might be covered in this in this program We're gonna be geared towards establishing cover crops This could include enhancing your cropland with wetland sites already present on the land Looking at grazing land improvements. So this could be fans could be pipeline Definitely introduced or intertwined with your grazing management plans Grassland restoration, this could be interceding And then as well wetland restoration. This isn't inclusive Hopefully this gives you an idea that hey, maybe I've got some land like this. I've got some projects in mind Maybe this would be a good fit for me If you have questions in regards to this program more about how to get involved how to carry it out Definitely encourage you to get in contact with your local NRCS field office There's another another individual Bruce toy with Ducks Unlimited Bruce here today. Would you mind standing up? So Definitely, thanks Bruce You bet All right With all the programs that we identified today, I want to just kind of cut bring back some key points We we looked at four main programs, you know four main programs that today You know with our discussion that can really help you achieve these same goals same objectives One of the things that programs do is they help bring a little bit of money to the table to offset some of the costs for Trying something new this is something that you wouldn't normally maybe do on your own The first point I have up here is allow time for conservation planning One of the biggest mistakes I see people make sometimes is rushing into things and going back and saying man I wish I would consider this I wish I would have done this differently or why didn't I consider this idea? Having that open communication with your your conservation or your NRCS field office and their partners Can go a long ways to making sure that you have a successful plan We're we're addressing We're addressing your goals and objectives as well Second point Conservation programs are a tool so keep in mind, you know the program is you know comes second We want to make sure that we're using the best tool for the job So and sometimes You know this includes more than one tool and how can we work these work through these together? If there's an NRCS program that we conclude if we can tie together with even another agency or another partner even better Looking at Fish and Wildlife Service looking at pheasants forever, you know We're always open to these kind of partnerships and getting the same common goals on the ground Select the right program So just like the tool we want to make sure that this program is going to have the best results for with what you're trying to achieve Again, you know, maybe maybe this you know one of our programs Isn't necessary and we can accomplish everything we're trying to do with Materials practice projects, you know what you already have on the ground you we'd still love to help you even through the technical assistance Maybe there's portions of your project we can prioritize and utilize a combination of programs to help Achieve your goals and objectives on the ground the third Conservation programs are voluntary So I'm looking at there is we may not always come knocking at your door, you know pick up the phone call us You know you guys need to reach out to us if you're interested if you got ideas start early in that planning process So it's voluntary You know, we want we're here to help And last and final communication Definitely it's important to Know who who your local nrcs feel lefts employees are, you know know who that the folks are in your neighborhood that can help Start that conversation early. This is what I would like to do, you know, how can I help improve this? How can I make this happen? Communications throughout the process as things change things you've tried things. You've done differently It's really really critical to the success of any project Okay, before I go I Want to make sure that I do highlight, you know, some of the folks in our our individual office here in Potter County If you've been to the nrcs field office, we're in the service center with farm service agency Over on the nrcs side if you walk in the door, we're on the left We've got two permanent full-time nrcs staff working in our office currently There's myself the district conservationist, and then we also have a soil conservationist James Beavers James We've got two other Individuals in our office that really help us get our work done the first one I have is fence river partner biologist Isaac full Thanks, I think I Isaac does does cover multiple offices, so he isn't in there for necessarily five days a week But he is a great asset to our office And definitely last but not least as our ultimate employee who is also the Potter County conservation district manager. Kimberly. Should we? Thank you in the corner She she's been with her office, you know a long time She knows a lot of the ins and outs and and helps us also get a lot of the work done in our office Okay, again, if you guys have any questions after the meeting feel free to stop by That's questions Anybody in the office as well. There's there's also several other nrcs individuals in the audience today that you know I'm sure would love to answer questions as well There's my contact information With that do we have time for questions