Nebraskaland

April 2022 • Nebraskaland 43 Quality Incentive Program. They plant cover crops, manage their grazing to promote warm-season plants, plant trees and shrubs, created grassed buffer strips and waterways, and have created pollinator habitat, all while continuing to farm. "There's a place where they can definitely coexist and you can make a better living at your profession at the deer and the quail and turkeys and pheasants and bugs can make a better living at their profession," Chromy said, touting the benefits of the program and his desire to see more people involved for the sake of wildlife and not one of his jobs. "I'm a contractor by design. I do this for a living elsewhere, habitat improvement ag land restoration. So it's self-fulfilling because of what I do for a living. "But 60 to 70 percent of the people I contact about stuff don't know that they could be getting funding to go to the project. Build your property for the least common denominator. Fill in the lesser species and everything else will come. The biggest thing is do something." N Conservation Stewardship Program Since it was launched as a pilot program in 2004, the Conservation Stewardship Program has grown into the largest conservation program for working lands offered by the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service. The program offers 87 different practices and another 167 enhancements to those practices. While many are focused on improving crop and grazing land, it also has offerings that provide financial assistance to help landowners or managers create or improve wildlife habitat. Those practices include: planting trees, shrubs, cover, food or pollinator habitat; conducting prescribed burns; establishing wildlife corridors; leaving grain standing; managing woodlands to promote oak regeneration or ponds for fish; changing harvest practices to benefit wildlife; and building wildlife-friendly fences. "It's like almost anything under the sun can be done," said Eric Zach, Farm Bill Program manager with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. In Nebraska, there are currently 1,361 active CSP contracts covering nearly 3 million acres — twice as many acres as are enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program in the state. With higher crop prices, landowners have been hesitant to tie up ground in 10 or 15 year contracts, and enrollment in traditional CRP practices has been on the decline for more than a decade. In 2021, there were just 22.1 million acres enrolled nationally, well below the 25.5 million acre cap. The latest general signup period ended in March. Grassland CRP signup runs through May 13. Zach said CSP, which is open for continuous signup, is helping make up the difference in declining CRP acres, and that there is plenty of room for growth. "There's a lot of potential," Zach said. "It's just getting the word out and getting landowners to understand that opportunities exist beyond CRP to create wildlife habitat." "This is a voluntary, incentive-based conservation program. It's totally up to the landowner. It's all about what we can do to help the landowner with wildlife resources." To learn more about the Conservation Stewardship Program or other opportunities offered by the FSA, contact your local NRCS office and ask to speak to a Farm Bill Biologist. These individuals work one-on-one with landowners under a unique partnership between Game and Parks, the NRCS and Pheasants Forever.

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