Over $350,000 worth of USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) contracts were awarded to private landowners in Plumas and Sierra Counties in 2019 for fuel reduction / Forest Health projects. Dan Martynn, District Conservationist for the Quincy Local Partnership Office, encourages any forest landowners who are interested in protecting their property and the community they live in from the threat of wildfire to contact his office and find out how they can sign up to receive similar funding.
EQIP is a voluntary program that reimburses landowners to hire a contractor or do work themselves on their own property according to an agreed to Plan developed between the NRCS and the applicant. EQIP is a competitive program and projects compete for funding throughout the northern Sierra region. Landowners who have never participated in USDA Programs before will need to work with the local NRCS office to establish Farm records before they can participate in EQIP. The time line for projects to go through the Plan development and ranking process for selection generally takes 3 to 6 months.
To find out more about the USDA NRCS’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) you can visit their website at www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/ca/home/ or call Dan Martynn at 530-283-7511. His office is located at the Plumas NF Supervisors Office in Quincy.
