The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently opened continuous enrollment opportunities for the new Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), according to the Wildlife Management Institute.

CSP is a voluntary program that was authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill. It replaced the former Conservation Security Program of the 2002 Farm Bill. Congress renamed and made adjustments to the program to improve its availability and appeal to landowners. Enrollment opportunity for CSP will remain open continuously and nationwide rather than on a rotational, watershed basis, which the earlier program used.

CSP will be administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). NRCS will group applications by periods, rank and fund them?based on the ranking?until the funding allocated for the period is committed. The first ranking period will expire on September 30, 2009. Congress capped enrollment in the program at just less than 13 million acres annually.

Each state will receive an acreage allocation for the amount of land that can be enrolled in CSP. These allocations will be based primarily on the amount of agricultural land in the state in relation to total agricultural lands nationwide. The program is open to all producers, regardless of operation size, crops produced, or geographic location. Eligible lands include cropland, grassland, prairie land, improved pastureland, rangeland and nonindustrial private forestland.

CSP is designed to reward landowners for their existing conservation activities and provide financial incentives for them to adopt more. Eligible activities include increasing use of native grasses, grazing management to improve wildlife habitat, forest stand improvement to enhance wildlife habitat and soil quality, establishment of wildlife corridors along with many others.

More information about CSP can be found at www.nrcs.usda.gov/new_csp. (pmr)