2004 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 9 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.  Many resource concerns were brought up and discussed, combined, and prioritized.  The number one priority was Rangeland – inclusive of Grazing Management with the number 2 priority being Water Resources – inclusive of irrigated croplands, dry croplands, and pasture and hayland, and water resources management.  Other concerns discussed included natural resources education, small operators and limited resources farmers, lack of funding, too much regulation, erosion control and bureaucracy – working with other agencies.  As the meeting came to an end, getting conservation on the land and simplifying paperwork were the key focus.

Priority Resource Concerns:

Consensus was reached by the Local Work Group to have Rangeland (Grazinglands) as the number 1 priority and Water Resources the number two priority.  Water Resources will include irrigated and dryland cropland, and pasture and hayland.  The other resource concerns which were brought up and discussed, the Local Work Group members came to a consensus that the Grazing Lands and Water Resources would end up addressing those concerns. 

Funding Considerations:

80% of the funding will be allocated to the Grazinglands 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 - Please refer to the Cost Docket link for specific information.

Eligible Practices - Please refer to the Eligible Practices link for specific information.

Cost-Share Rate and Incentive Payments - Please refer to the link for specific information.

Ranking Criteria - Please refer to the Ranking Criteria links for specific information.

Timelines, Evaluation Periods

Please refer to the EQIP Application Information link.

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