Attending: Rob Swanson, FSA; Roylene Rides
at the Door, Vicky Drew, and J. Eric Scherer, RI NRCS; Kris Stuart,
Southern RI Conservation District; Ken Ayars, RI DEM Division of
Agriculture; Liz Scott, RI DEM; Whitney O’Hanian, URI CES: and Tom
Sandham, Eastern RI Conservation District.
Introductions, Review Agenda, and Opening Comments
Roylene Rides at the Door, NRCS-RI State Conservationist,
welcomed everyone and thanked them for attending. Whitney O’Hanian, CES
Agricultural Agent was introduced to the group. Ms. Rides at the Door briefly
reviewed the agenda (attached).
Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)
Vicky Drew, CSP Program Manager, reviewed the FY 2007 CSP
Watershed nomination process and provided a brief overview of the FYs 2005 and
2006 CSP watershed selection process. A state map of all 8, 10 and 12 digit
Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) watersheds was distributed as well as a map showing
the 2005 and 2006 selected watersheds and the 1st and 2nd FY 2007 priority
watersheds being recommended. This year’s proposal will include multi state
watersheds with Massachusetts land area included. The Team agreed with the
staff recommendation on the 1st, but not the 2nd priority watershed for FY
2007. The Eastern RI Conservation District requested that the 2nd priority NOT
be submitted as they have not had time to work as much with the producers in
that are as they would like. The recommendations will be sent to the National
NRCS office for their review and approval.
The State Technical Team was presented with a current list
of State approved and nationally listed resource concerns. For the FY 2007 CSP
effort RI needs to select a third resource concern (soil and water quality are
the first two resource concerns) to be addressed by applicants for Tier II
contracts.. It was agreed to recommend that the third resource concern be Plant
Condition – Noxious and Invasive Plants.
Farmland and Ranchland Protection Program (FRPP)
Vicky Drew, FRPP Program Manager, reviewed the list of FY
2006 FRPP applicants with the STT and indicated that five applications were
approved for funding out of the 11 who applied. NRCS RI has requested
additional FRPP funds for this year with hopes that the program can fund
additional applicants or fully fund those approved. Ms Drew handed out a
spreadsheet showing the proposed FRPP FY 2007 Rule and Appraiser/Appriaasl
Standards to the Team to review. There will be a number of changes to the rules
for 2006.
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)
Vicky Drew, EQIP Program Manager, provided an update on the
FY 2006 conservation Innovation Grant program. She presented a list of those
applications that were approved for funding, including a brief description of
the project and the applicant’s name.
Vicky explained that there is a need to have an approved
(and updated) FY 2007 cost list for Farm Bill contracts by October 1st. The
National Office of NRCS is requiring that all states move more to actual costs
on their state cost lists and we will not longer be able to use ‘engineer’s
estimates’ as a cost place holder. NRCS RI staff are currently working on an
updated list and a draft of the cost list for conservation practices for FY 07
will be done for early September to be reviewed at the next scheduled STT
meeting.
Roylene Rides at the Door presented a draft deadline
schedule for Rhode Island NRCS to use in rolling out the Farm Bill programs.
The deadlines were selected to facilitate advanced outreach to the public, to
provide adequate time to have applications come in, be reviewed and ranked, time
to develop conservation plans and conduct status reviews, Quality Assurance
Reviews and follow up with clients.
Vicky Drew handed out the FY EQIP 06 Policies and discussed
FY 07 EQIP policies and the need to review these and other changes for FY 07. A
subcommittee of NRCS staff will be reviewing these policies. Tom Sandham and
Ken Ayars both volunteered to assist with this effort. It was recommended that
a forester also be asked to join the group. A date for the sub committee will
be established and member informed as soon as possible.
Due to the limitation of time, other reports were not
presented and will be presented at the next meeting.
Next meeting: September 6th, 2005 (9:30AM
– 12 Noon).
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