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Conservation
Stewardship Program
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Ranking Pool |
Priority Resource Concerns | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Animals | Plants | Soil Erosion | Soil Quality | Water Quality | |
| Agricultural Land | X | X | X | ||
| Non-industrial private forestland | X | X | X | X | |
New York State has been divided into three CSP Ranking Pools:
Northeast
Northwest
Southeast
Click on the map
for a full screen view of the Ranking Pools, or download a .pdf to print.
Full screen view
This document requires
Adobe Reader.
New York Ranking Pools Map and Priority Resource Concerns (PDF; 181 KB)
Individuals, entities, and Indian tribes operating agricultural or private non-industrial private forest land may be eligible for the program.
Eligible lands include privately owned cropland, grazing land, nonindustrial private forest land, and agricultural land under the jurisdiction of an Indian tribe. The lands must be under control of the applicant for the duration of the Conservation Stewardship Program contract, which is five years. The entire agricultural operation must be enrolled and must include all agricultural land that will be under the applicant's control for the term of the proposed contract that is operated substantially separate from other operations.
Areas within the operation that are not in agricultural production or that are developed, such as farm headquarters, barnyards, feedlots, manure storage facilities, machinery storage areas, and material handling facilities are not eligible for a program payment. Also not eligible are public lands and private lands currently enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, Conservation Security Program, Grassland Reserve Program, and the Wetlands Reserve Program.
The Conservation Stewardship Program is offered as a continuous signup, and applications are accepted year-round with periodic ranking cutoff dates announced during the year. To be considered for the current funding round, applicants must complete the following steps by September 30, 2009:
complete a Producer Self-Screening Checklist (available further down this page)
work with the local USDA Service Center to verify their program eligibility
submit an NRCS-CPA-1200, Conservation Program Application (available in the Documents and Forms area of this page)
submit an operation map, aerial photograph or overlay that identifies their agricultural and/or forest operation and associated acreage amounts
Once these steps are completed, NRCS will work with applicants to enter information about the operation in the Conservation Measurement Tool (CMT). The CMT is an online questionnaire that collects information on land uses, existing conservation, and additional conservation activities the applicant is willing to undertake in order to estimate the conservation performance level the applicant will achieve. Using the information entered, the CMT determines:
whether the applicant meets the land stewardship threshold necessary to participate in the program
the applicant’s ranking score
the payments that the producer will receive if he or she ranks for funding
For this first sign-up, the agency will establish payment rates after the conclusion of the first ranking period, using enrollment information to set uniform, national payment rates per land use. After payment rates are established, applicants will decide whether to move forward with the contract.
CSP Estimated Payment Ranges
This link will direct you to our National USDA NRCS Conservation Stewardship
Program Web page. Please use your browser's Back button to return to this
page.
To better help you prepare for your appointment to complete the Conservation Measurement Tool, the following documents contain the questions you will be asked. There are general questions and land use specific questions. For agricultural land applications that include land in close proximity to streams or waterbodies, you will also need to answer the water questions.
These documents
require
Adobe Reader.
Agricultural land
Crops (PDF;
59 KB)
General (PDF;
10 KB)
Pasture (PDF;
16 KB)
Water (PDF;
10 KB)
Non-industrial private forestland
General (PDF;
10 KB)
Forest (PDF;
15 KB)
Applications will be evaluated and ranked for funding relative to other applications addressing similar priority resource concerns in Ranking Pools specific to geographic areas and land uses.
In addition, the program provides opportunities for beginning farmers and ranchers and socially disadvantaged producers. Nationally, the program aims to enroll at least five percent of total program acres operated by beginning farmers and ranchers and another five percent operated by socially disadvantaged producers. Within each specified geographic area and land use, beginning farmers and ranchers and socially disadvantaged producers will have a separate funding pool.
The Conservation Stewardship Program offers participants two possible types of payments:
Annual Payment
Payments are made for installing and adopting additional conservation activities, and improving, maintaining, and managing existing activities. Conservation activities are conservation systems, practices, or management measures needed to address a resource concern or improve environmental quality through the treatment of natural resources, and includes structural, vegetative, and management activities, as determined by NRCS.
Supplemental payment
Payments are made for the adoption of resource-conserving crop rotations.
The annual payment limitation for a person or legal entity is $40,000. A person or legal entity cannot exceed $200,000 for all contracts entered into during any five-year period.
Before applying for the CSP, individual producers and legal entities are encouraged to use a Producer Self-Screening Checklist first to determine whether the program is suitable for them or their operation. The checklist is available in the National NRCS Web page, and at your local NRCS office.
2009 Conservation Stewardship Self-Screening Checklist
This link will direct you to our National USDA NRCS Conservation Stewardship
Program Web page. Please use your browser's Back button to return to this
page.
If the Producer Self-Screening Checklist results indicates that you meet applicant, land, and stewardship eligibility, you should contact your local NRCS office for the next step in the application process.
"Enhancement" means a type of conservation activity used to treat natural resources and improve conservation performance. Enhancements are installed at a level of management intensity that exceeds the sustainable level for a given resource concern, and those directly related to a practice standard are applied in a manner that exceeds the minimum treatment requirements of the standard.
Each of the links below will
direct you to our National USDA NRCS Conservation Stewardship Program Web page.
Please use your browser's Back button to return to this page.
State
Supplemental Information
for Conservation Activities
These documents require
Adobe Reader.
AD-1026, Highly Erodible Land Conservation (HELC) and Wetland Conservation (WC) Certification
(PDF; 116 KB)
CCC-926, Average Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) Statement
(PDF; 129KB)
FSA-211, Power of Attorney
(PDF; 361 KB)
NRCS-CPA-1200, Conservation Program Application and Appendix
(PDF; 38 KB)
CSP
Resource Conserving Crops (PDF; 8 KB)
SF-1199, Direct Deposit Sign-Up Form
(PDF; 109 KB)
Each of the links below will direct you to our National USDA NRCS Conservation Stewardship Program Web page. Please use your browser's Back button to return to this page.
If you think you may be interested in the Conservation Stewardship Program, contact your local NRCS office for the next step in the application process. If you are not currently eligible for the Conservation Stewardship Program, NRCS may be able to assist you through other conservation programs. Contact your local NRCS office or visit the NRCS New York Programs Web site.
Additional information can be found at our national NRCS Conservation Stewardship Program Web site.
Sarah Kron
Highland, New York
Telephone: 845-883-7162, Extension 3
Don Pettit
Syracuse, New York
Telephone: 315-477-6504
Lynn Betts, USDA NRCS
Tim McCabe, USDA NRCS
If you encounter a problem with a document on this page, have questions, suggestions, or find a broken link, please contact Gary Vandawalker at 315-477-6546.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service provides leadership in a partnership effort to help people conserve, maintain, and improve our natural resources and environment.
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