Kamiak CSP applications due March 31

Landowners and producers in the Kamiak subwatershed have an opportunity to apply for CSP funding through the Palouse Watershed Regional Conservation Partnership Program.

This program is separate from CSP enrollment through the USDA, for which applications are also due March 31.

Tami Stubbs, conservation agriculture and farmed smart coordinator at the Palouse Conservation District, said these funds are specific for the Kamiak watershed and come from a federal NRCS grant awarded to the RCPP in January 2015. She said that grant provides the RCPP with $11 million in funding over the course of five years to distribute for technical assistance and on-the-ground projects such as riparian buffer installation, conservation tillage and agricultural conservation easement.

Stubbs said the funding specific to the Kamiak watershed is purposed “to target a specific area with very specific conservation needs.”

According to the press release issued last week to announce the funding, eligible applications “will work with RCPP staff to develop conservation plans that can be used to apply to federal and partner-assisted financial assistance programs.”

Stubbs also said another application for funding through the RCPP grant will open this fall and will be more widely available to the entire Palouse River watershed. She said that last November the first applications were received for that funding.

“The first applications were accepted last fall, and we're in the process of ranking those applications right now,” Stubbs said.

The $11 million available in funding over the course of five years includes the Kamiak subwatershed as a “small chunk,” Stubbs said, and also includes the entirety of the Palouse River watershed.

Stubbs said that anyone who is not sure if they own land in the Kamiak watershed should contact Dan Harwood at the Palouse Lake Conservation District to inquire. He can be reached at 509-638-3680 ext. 5. Stubbs is also available for questions and can be reached at 509-332-4101 ext. 111.