2007 Environmental Quality Incentive Program

Local Work Group Summary for Grants

Introduction:

The Grants Field Office (FO) is located in the city of Grants in Cibola County in the Northwest quadrant of New Mexico.  The field office services the Lava Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) which includes portions of Cibola, Catron, Sandoval, and McKinley Counties.  Also, a portion of the McKinley SWCD in McKinley County is part of the service area.  Included in Cibola County are the Cebolleta Land Grant, Cubero Land Grant, Acoma Pueblo, and minor portions of Navajo Lands.  Over 1.2 million acres of Private, State, and Tribal Lands are serviced out of the Grants FO. Approximately 661,000 acres are within the Lava SWCD and 559,582 are in McKinley County.  Federal Lands, including BLM and Forest Service, also make up a good portion of the lands serviced by the Grants FO.  These lands are important because many producers utilize allotments in these land statuses. Most of the area supports agricultural uses, with a majority of land being rangeland and used for livestock grazing.  Irrigated and dryland cropland occur in small fields in valleys next to streams and arroyos throughout the field office service area.  While most fields are small in size, the fields are culturally and economically significant.  Pasture and Hayland acreages make up the greatest portion of the acreage.  Woodland plays a minor role in the local economy, where in the past it was very significant. 

Local Work Group:

The Local Work Group is very diverse and made up of representatives from the Lava SWCD, NRCS, Pueblo of Acoma, Navajo Eastern Agency, US Forest Service, FSA, County Committees, BIA, BLM, NMDA Field Representative, County Extension Service, EID, NM State Land Office, local City and County Governments, Rio San Jose Flood Control District, 9 Irrigation Groups, NM State Engineers Office, USFWS, and 2 Land Grants.  Areas that are represented include the Cebolleta Land Grant, Cubero Land Grant, Pueblo of Acoma, Irrigated and Dryland Croplands, as well as those Federal, State, and Private Grazing Lands within the Grants Field Office Service area. One meeting was held by the Local Work Group to review resource concerns, establish priorities, application periods and deadlines, county component cost lists, ranking sheets, cost-share rates, fund distribution, eligible practices, coordination across field office boundaries, and state and national policies.  Representatives from 6 of the groups and agencies attended and provided input at the Local Work Group Meetings.  The Lava SWCD chaired the meetings.  Review of the Lava SWCD’s Long Range Plan, Mission Statement and resource concerns from past Local Work Group meetings and stakeholders meetings took place at each meeting.  Resource concerns were reviewed and discussed, no changes were made.  The number one priority is still grazing lands– inclusive of Grazing Management with the number 2 priority being Water Resources – inclusive of irrigated croplands,  pasture and hayland, and orchards.  Other concerns discussed included natural resources education, beginning farmers and ranchers, and limited resources farmers, lack of funding, and erosion control.

Priority Resource Concerns:

Consensus was reached by the Local Work Group to keep Grazing Lands as the number 1 priority and Water Resources the number two priority.  It was agreed by the LWG members that these two categories will capture most of the resource concerns within the SWCD service area and will apply to both Tribal and non-Tribal lands.

Funding Considerations:

80% of the funding will be allocated to the Grazing resource concern and the remaining 20% of the funding will be allocated to the Water resources concern for both the Tribal and Non-Tribal funds.

Cost Docket:

The 2006 cost docket was reviewed and discussed with no recommended changes for FY 2007.  However, recommendations from adjacent work groups will be considered and the cost lists will be updated as appropriate.

Please refer to the links for the cost docket and eligible practices to view the final practices, cost share rates and component costs.

Eligible Practices:

Please refer to the links for the cost docket and eligible practices to view the final practices, cost share rates and component costs.

Cost-Share Rates, Incentive Payments, and Caps:

The Local Work Group will use the cost-share rates designated in the cost docket as recommended by the NRCS-SO.  Incentive payments were discussed and should be added if they are required as part of the ranking criteria.  No cost caps were recommended for any of the eligible practices.

 Please refer to the links for the cost docket and eligible practices to view the final practices, cost share rates and component costs.

Ranking Criteria:

The new national ranking tool criteria for grazing lands and water resources will be used.  Local issues have been submitted for inclusion in the ranking tool.

 Please refer to the ranking criteria links to view the final approved criteria.

Timelines, Evaluation Periods:

All applications and supporting documentation must be submitted by November 3, 2006.

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