United States Department of Agriculture
Natural Resources Conservation Service		 New Mexico Go to Accessibility Information
Skip to Page Content

 

2005 Environmental Quality Incentive Program

Local Work Group Summary for Las Vegas

Introduction:

The Las Vegas Field Office is located in Northeastern New Mexico, approximately sixty four miles Northeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico.  The Field office services the Tierra y Montes Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), which is the majority of San Miguel County, New Mexico.  San Miguel County consists of approximately 11,145 acres of irrigated land, 7,382 acres are privately owned.  There are approximately 4,180 acres of non-irrigated croplands, 1,555,462 acres of rangelands, and 326,062 acres of woodlands.

Local Work Group:

On November 3, 2004 the Tierra y Montes SWCD, with the assistance of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, held a local work group meeting.  The purpose of the meeting was to solicit input from Local, State, and Federal agencies on the various resource concerns within the Tierra y Montes SWCD.  The meeting was advertised in the local newspaper, there were faxes to other Districts and letters of invitation were sent out. 

Priority Resource Concerns

The Local Work Group summarized major resource concerns for the following land uses:  Grazing land, Cropland, and Woodland.  Resource concerns identified factors associated with SWAPAH.  Resource concerns were prioritized as follows: 

  1.  Water Quantity
  2.  Water Quality
  3.  Soil Erosion
  4.  Invasive Woody Species
  5.  Forest Health
  6.  Invasive Noxious Weeds

Funding Considerations:

The Local Work Group advised that contracts be funded based on applications submitted according to land use.  Unallocated funds may be moved from one land use to another, as appropriate.

Funds will be distributed evenly by land use as follows:

  • Grazing land – 33%
  • Water resources – 33%
  • Woodland – 33%

Cost Docket:

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

Cost Share Rates, Incentive Payments, and Caps:

The cost share rate of 75% for specific practices was recommended by the Local Work Group.  Refer to Eligible Practices/Cost Share Rates document.  The 75% was set in order to place emphasis on identified resource concerns, in order to accomplish needed conservation work, as well as gain more program participation.  San Miguel County is economically depressed, based on the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census it was ranked as the second poorest county in the State of New Mexico.  In past years there has been minimal interest in NRCS programs due to producer financial constraints. 

An incentive payment of $1.00/acre has been established for Prescribed Grazing (528a), with a cap of $2,500.

An incentive payment of $10.00/acre has been established for developing/implementing Nutrient/Pest Management plans requiring soils testing and a record of Pesticide and Fertilizer applications.

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

Ranking Criteria:

The Ranking Criteria consists of the following categories:

  • Grazing Land
  • Cropland
  • Woodland

There will be a minimum requirement of 30 potential points on the ranking criteria worksheet for each respective land use in order to be considered for funding.  The ranking criteria will establish the environmental benefits of an application, as well as, the order in which contracts will be funded. 

Those applications with the highest points will be funded first.  Should there become a need for a tie breaker the application with the most (Points After) in Section 1: Forest Stand Improvement (666) Heavy Density for Woodlands will be funded first.  For Cropland the application with the most (Points After) for increased efficiency in Section 1: Water Quantity will be funded first, and for Grazing Lands the application with the most (Points After) in Section1: Plants will be funded first.

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

Timelines, Evaluation Periods

All applications and any supporting documentation must be submitted by January 28, 2005.

< Back to EQIP County Documents