USDA/FSA

[Bob Peters]

I'm curious what if any the United States Department of Agriculture/Farm Service Agency does for wildlife habitat? I remember other members bringing it up that they work with them on habitat projects/improvement? I was just asking one because I'm curious, and two because I enjoy talking to people that do this work and also to gain knowledge on pheasant biology and habits in my hunting areas. Thanks for any info you can give on this subject as I don't know much about these organizations.

 

[McFarmer]

Tons of information available. The USDA as it relates to habitat is largely divided between the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS).

The FAS is an administrative branch, they collect the records and spend the money, to a large degree. The NRCS is the technical side, they do the measuring, deciding on where and what. The county level offices do the majority of the hands on work. Bear in mind they do a huge amount of other work for the agricultural community, habitat work is secondary to their mission.

You really need to work with both, our county folks are super to work with. They are very knowledgeable and they do what they can to see the programs succeed.

If you are older you might know them as ASCS and SCS.

Lots of information on their web pages.

 

[Wolfchief]

McFarmer is correct---the FSA does a lot of the disaster claims work for the government such as administer disaster loans for farmers during drought etc. They administer the various USDA Farm Bill programs such as government farm payments, CRP signups and a host of others. The FSA also has a lending component which oversees operating and capital loans to beginning and distressed farmers. In the banking parlance we referred to them as "lenders of last resort"; if the local bank turned him down ( typically in my area the FSA required that a farmer present 2 turn-down letters prior to application with FSA) then the FSA lenders would determine whether they could lend to the farmer. The FSA folks are often overworked and understaffed but if treated courteously most of them can be quite helpful. As an ag banker I worked with them frequently.

The NRCS is the conservation component of the USDA--Soil Conservation Service--they work with farmers to ensure compliance with conservation aspects of the Farm Bill, do soil mapping (ie each county's "soil survey") which is a plethora of info on soil types, aerial photos of the county, etc. They administer cost-share programs such as CREP, and a lot of others, and will help a client (farmer/landowner) improve his property such as digging a farm pond, etc. They are generally low-key people with a lot of local knowledge of the soils and geography of a county. The thing to remember about these two organizations is that they are "boots on the ground" and can be informative about wildlife in general. For instance, in an earlier post I described my contact at the Chamberlain, SD with a nice FSA lady, Rachel, who took time to tell me what she knew/has heard about bird numbers locally--AND she gave me the phone number of the Pheasants Forever bird biologist who shares an office with her. If these people are not individually knowledgeable about pheasants specifically, most of the time they can put you in contact with someone who is.
These agencies are somewhat underutilized by the average hunter, I think.

 

[sdviking]

The NRCS can help you. I would recommend you talk with them and see if they will go to your site and walk the ground. They will ask what your goals are and give you advice on what they can do to help you achieve those goals. They can also tell you what government programs you may be eligible for and the level of financial cost share is available. Located normally with the NRCS is the County Conservation District. The Conservation District normally can plant your grasses, cover crops, food plots etc. additionally they can plant your trees, lay fabric and some even have watering and tree maintenance programs.