Project Search
Since its inception in 2004, CIG has funded hundreds of projects, boosting natural resource conservation while helping producers improve the health of their operations for the future. Use this tool to search for CIG projects based on any of the criteria listed below.
CIG projects from 2004-2009 may be missing information in the following categories: Resource Concern (specific), Conservation Practice, Production/Use.
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Showing 601 - 610 of 1802 projects
National Association of Conservation Districts
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DC
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2014
A body of research shows the benefits of practices such as strip/no-till, cover cropping and crop rotation. Some of these practices can be successful under certain soil and climate conditions, but not in others. More information is needed on what works well and under what conditions. Also, detailed economic and cost-benefit information is needed. This project will overcome barriers and significantly increase the number of farmed acres nationwide that are successfully managed for soil health, appropriate to local conditions.
West Virginia Conservation Agency
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WV
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2014
Nitrogen is an essential plant nutrient and a significant source of water quality impairment. The Chesapeake Bay is an estuary impaired with excess nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment. This project will develop a series of demonstration plots and education and outreach opportunities to elevate producer participation in no-till, cover cropping and environmental stewardship programs. The focus will be on intercropping legumes with com as an in season cover crop (living mulch). A successful demonstration of the concept is the first step to implementation. These demonstration plots will serve as living examples of the power of cover cropping and conservation. To highlight the benefit of these innovative techniques, state of the art soil testing technologies will be used to monitor soil quality and nutrient status. The data coupled with real demonstration plots for producers to examine will lay the groundwork for the next generation of best management practice development and innovation. The lessons learned from these demonstration plots will be used to develop new West Virginia Best Management Practices and set the stage for a brighter more environmentally sound future for agriculture.
Implementing Whole-Farm Approaches to Improve Soil Health and Farm Resiliency in Northeast Minnesota
County of Carlton / University of MN
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MN
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2014
In northeast Minnesota, farm profitability and resiliency are declining as a result of poor soil health. Historically, NRCS has guided the areas farmers and ranchers on individual conservation practices such as: rotational grazing, out wintering cattle and reduction of tillage on crop land. These efforts have shown varying degrees of farmer adoption because the individual conservation practices have not been well integrated into the Farm-level production system and production goals. This project will demonstrate and evaluate an innovative Farm-level approach to soil health by including a variety of conservation practices systematically. The implementation of this project will offer new potential for expanding EQIP and farmer adoption of soil health practices.
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
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FL
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2014
Florida’s 47,500 farms produce nearly 300 different commodities on more than 9 million acres of land and employ 2 million people, contributing over $104 billion to the state’s economy each year. Energy expenditures account for 6.5 percent of Florida farms’ operating expenses, and nearly $375 million annually. This project will establish the Farm Renewable and Efficiency Demonstration program, which will create Mobile Energy Labs (MELs) that conduct on-site evaluations of the potential for Energy efficiency and renewable Energy upgrades on individual farms. After participating in an evaluation, farmers will be eligible for grants for the implementation of MEL recommendations. Emphasis will be placed on conducting outreach and technical assistance with historically underserved producers. Finally, a study will be completed on the effectiveness of the program, and the future Energy needs of agricultural producers in Florida. Reduction of Energy usage will result in not only monetary savings for farmers, but significant environmental benefits.
Montana State University
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MT
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2014
Greater sage-grouse populations have been in decline in the western U.S. since the 1950s. Many factors have been highlighted as explanations of sage-grouse declines with chick and brood survival being directly linked to annual recruitment; however, the specifics of these vital rates are a poorly understood component of sage-grouse ecology. Much research has been conducted on the selection criteria used by female sage-grouse when choosing a brood site and the results have provided a foundation for land management considerations aimed at improving sage-grouse Habitat and ultimately recruitment of chicks. However, the criteria that female sage-grouse use for Habitat selection may not provide insight into the relationship between the site resources and chick and brood survival. The mechanisms which influence daily chick and brood survival need to be better understood and these data should be used to establish a prerequisite program which implements Habitat management strategies that affect annual recruitment and, ultimately, sage-grouse conservation. One thing which is known to positively drive chick and brood survival is the abundance of arthropods (insets, spiders, etc.) near brooding locations. Another component of chick and brood survival is the distribution of West Nile virus, a deadly infection transmitted to sage-grouse by mosquitos. Populations of pollinators (bees, butterflies, moths, etc.) have also been in decline in recent years. On rangelands, pollinators are a key component and provide essential services to the plant communities on which sage-grouse and their food arthropods depend. The project team’s ongoing research shows that both food arthropods and pollinators benefit from the same land management practices. Specifically, the Sage-Grouse Initiative rest rotation cattle grazing program not only increases the abundance of food arthropods but that it also increases the abundance of pollinators in years with near normal precipitation. Other current research indicates that sage-grouse nest success is also higher in pastures enrolled in the Sage-Grouse Initiative. Ultimately, the some linkages are becoming clear in that sage-grouse, food arthropods and pollinators are dependent on similar Habitat qualities. This project will further evaluate and demonstrate the benefits of rest rotation cattle grazing by developing metrics which land managers can use to assess food arthropod and pollinator Habitat quality based on the vegetation diversity and structure. The distributions of vectors of West Nile virus based on the rest rotation grazing program will also be evaluated. These factors will be incorporated into land management practices which will also help keep ranches profitable and native landscapes, on which rangeland species depend, intact for future generations.
Navajo Nation
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AZ
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2014
Many unknowns exist regarding baseline data for natural resources on Native American reservations. Existing technologies to examine and assess wildlife diet are becoming more costly, time-consumptive, and inefficient in their abilities to produce reliable results. This project will help alleviate both issues by introducing a new and innovative technology for assessing wildlife diet for a Native American tribal wildlife resource. The new conservation technology may prove more efficient at producing results for wildlife than the old method, will provide baseline data for the Native American tribal Fish and Wildlife Department, and will provide knowledge that can then be transferred to Native American tribal natural resources personnel for future use in conservation efforts. The main objectives of this study are to 1) use an innovative conservation technology to assess wildlife diet for a socially and economically important natural resource: mule deer, 2) provide baseline wildlife diet data to the Navajo Nation Department of Fish and Wildlife for said natural resource, 3) compare results from the new diet assessment technique to an older, well used technique and 4) transfer the knowledge from the innovative diet technique to the Navajo Nation Department of Fish and Wildlife for future conservation use.
Willamette Partnership
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OR
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2014
Floodplains are a source of critical ecosystem services, including flood storage, improved water quality, fish and wildlife Habitat, open space and groundwater recharge. They are also a nexus of regulatory and economic pressures. This project will take the best available science, combined with policy innovations, to create a package that communities and producers can use to better manage floodplains, including marketbased incentives. The Nature Conservancy has built Floodplains by Design, a tool for urban floodplain planning that the City of Portland has effectively implemented in several areas, and that could be adapted to prioritize floodplain restoration opportunities on working lands. The Freshwater Trust is building tools to quantify nutrient and temperature reduction from floodplain restoration on farms, which can be adapted and supplemented with Habitat and other metrics to inform local comprehensive planning. Willamette Partnership has built tools to assessment Habitat functions with U.S. EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that can be adapted to streamline permitting for floodplain conservation practices with farmers and cities. Those same tools can also be used to help farmers and conservation practitioners communicate how restoration benefits their neighbors in cities and can help cities communicate how their practices benefit agriculture downstream. This project will also help NRCS better leverage investments through the Wetland Reserve Program, Floodplain Easement Program, Environmental Incentives Quality Program and other initiatives by coordinating with local, city and county planning agencies and state natural resource agencies to target investments, quantify outcomes and create additional incentives for landowners to participate in these programs and contribute to floodplain health.
Winrock International Institute of Agricultural Development
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AR
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2014
Individual farmers have experimented with rotational livestock grazing on Cover Crops across the country, primarily as a means of improving their financial bottom line. The economic gain associated with this innovative enterprise stacking is estimated at $66 per acre, a figure that does not account for productivity gain or reduced nutrient inputs. Combining rotational grazing and multi-species Cover Crops also significantly build soil health, increases water infiltration, reduces erosion and increases the productive capacity of the land. This project will establish and monitor approximately 50-acre, side-by-side control and treatment plots within corn fields on eight farms. Demonstrations will span two full years of cropping/cover cropping. Current management practices will be maintained on control plots. On treatment plots, the project team will work with farmers, first to introduce multi-species Cover Crops and then to strategically release and rotate cattle across the plot, which will graze down and trample the cover. Detailed profit and loss data and soil health and fertility measures on each pair of plots will be collected. All existing analyses indicate this practice will generate more direct revenue than it costs to establish. Over time it will re-build soil health, reducing the need for nutrient inputs, decreasing flooding and erosion, increasing drought tolerance, and ultimately, increasing crop and livestock yields and revenue from a single land base.
Copper River-Ahtna Inter-Tribal Resource Conservation District
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AK
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2014
The Natural Resources Conservation Service has recognized Alaska Native Corporation as agricultural lands and subsistence food production and harvest as an agricultural product. Native private corporate ownership in Alaska is over 44 million acres. This has created a significant number of historically underserved and beginning farmers. In addition, tribal conservation districts are being developed to help serve these landowners in Alaska. Many of the traditional NRCS EQIP and other practices need to be adapted to Alaska and applied in new, innovative ways. In addition, tools such as ecological site descriptions are needed in Alaska to help effectively link NRCS programs and practices with beginning farmers and their unique subsistence resource production issues. This project will develop technical expertise on wildlife, Habitat and forestry and provide advisory services to land managers for two native corporations and eight regional tribes. These activities will help NRCS better serve its primary clientele in Alaska and will help other tribal conservation districts recognize their opportunities to positively support sustainable subsistence food production in their districts.
Texas A&M AgriLife Research
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TX
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2014
Wastewater and solids manure handling are two of the most important environmental issues confronting animal production facilities in the U.S. Limited technologies are in place to solve the issue of scarce water resources as well as proper handling of manure that could become a resource for the animal facilities. The main goal of this project is to demonstrate a proven water treatment and recycling technology and a biomass conversion system for electrical power. In addition, nutrient loading will be reduced and the wastewater holding structure will simply become a holding pond with reduced solids loading and hence nutrient loading. Several trainings, workshops, field days and demonstration will be organized and implemented through this project leading up to the final demonstration of the combined water treatment and reuse as well as possible net metering of the power generation output.