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California NRCS State Conservationist Announces Award of Funds Through the Conservation Innovation Grant Program

Posted on: Thursday, 3 August 2006, 12:00 CDT

DAVIS, Calif., Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- State Conservationist Lincoln E. Burton announced today awards of nearly $371,000 in Conservation Innovative Grants (CIG) to six California organizations. The funds, provided through USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), will assist the groups in developing and refining cutting-edge technologies to help agricultural producers maintain viability and improve their operations.

"Cooperative efforts such as those supported through this program provide an excellent opportunity for public-private partnerships that can effectively promote innovative technologies and approaches to environmental enhancement on working lands," states Burton.

Burton said that in addition to the national criteria used in administering this 2002 Farm Bill program California has added an emphasis on helping farmers, ranchers and other land manager with methods to enhance wildlife habitat and comply with environmental regulations.

Following is a list of California's 2006 Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) Awardees:

Entity Proposal Title Funding Approved UC Fresno - Kearney Farm Water and energy $70,000 Agricultural Center conservation: Coupling conservation tillage with overhead, low-pressure irrigation systems. $74,800 The Xerces Society, Inc. Restoring Pollination Function on Farms and Ranches in the CA Central Valley. Collaborative Research and Assessment tool for CA $59,750 Designs for Agriculture- naval orange industry: DBA Protected Harvest Implementation phase. Sustainable Conservation Safe harbor agreements: $68,712 Building knowledge and planning for future adoption. San Jacinto Basin Forage Crop Production $22,140 Resource Conservation Demonstration Project. District Food Alliance Promoting Market $75,000 Incentives for Conservation. Total Funding Approved - CA CIG Grants: $370,402.00

This is the second year that CIG grants have been made available by the NRCS California state office. Eighteen proposals were screened by technical teams as well as subcommittees of the California State Technical Advisory Committee. Final selection was by the CA State Conservationist. Selected California CIG awardees can receive up to $75,000 with a 50 percent nonfederal match required.

The 2002 Farm Bill established the CIG grants as part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). The grants seek to engage multiple sectors of the agricultural community such as state and local agencies, community organizations, businesses, and others in identifying, testing, and implementing innovative environmental solutions and accelerating technology transfer.

Additional information regarding the CIG program and the 2006 year program awards is available at: http://www.ca.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/cig/ or from Alan Forkey, Program Manager, NRCS, Davis, California; alan.forkey@ca.usda.gov or 530-792-5653.

Natural Resources Conservation Service

CONTACT: Anita Brown, +1-530-792-5644, or Alan Forkey, +1-530-792-5653,or Mark Parson, +1-530-792-5660, all for Natural Resources ConservationService

Web site: http://www.ca.nrcs.usda.gov/

Source: PRNewswire

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