NRCS Sets Feb. 3, 2006, Application Deadline for Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program

Little Rock, Ark. – The Natural Resources Conservation Service announced today the sign-ups for its Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program will continue through Feb. 3, 2006. Applicants may sign up for the program at local USDA service centers.

The program addresses wildlife habitat in riparian areas, wetlands, uplands and cave ecosystems; and elk, quail and ivory-billed woodpecker habitat. Each area will have specific conservation practices eligible for cost-sharing that benefit certain wildlife species.

Applicants will be ranked according to how the wildlife habitat development plan will effect certain wildlife populations. The plans will be developed by the landowner with assistance from an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission biologist and NRCS conservationist. The plans will be implemented during a long-term agreement that generally lasts from five to 10 years from the date the agreement is signed.

A wildlife habitat development plan outlines management practices as well as establishment practices such as planting and seeding. Plans include practices to manage plant succession in fields and forests and may prescribe management techniques such as burning, disking and mowing herbaceous stands.

Plans may also include forest management practices such as forest stand improvement by herbicide treatment and harvesting small groups of trees to create the proper density, composition and age of the stand for different wildlife species. On wetland areas, plans outline dates and rates of water drawdown to encourage different species of annual native plants for waterfowl and shorebirds.

The Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program is a voluntary program for people who want to develop and improve wildlife habitat primarily on private land.

WHIP has proven to be a highly effective and widely accepted program across the country. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 reauthorized WHIP as a voluntary approach to improving wildlife habitat in our nation.

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