Getting Started With CSP
By Erez Brandvain, Conservation Technician
The Washtenaw County Conservation District now has a full time Conservation Planner to help you develop a Conservation Plan and enroll in the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). CSP is a program through the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS). The program encourages landowners and producers to step up their conservation efforts, and rewards those who have already implemented conservation practices by making it easier to adapt new ones by offering financial incentives. For those who are new to NRCS Programs but interested in NRCS, strong efforts are made to bring those landowners and producers into the program as well, and they are encouraged to apply. CSP differs from other NRCS program in that it specifically focuses on conservation practices, rather than infrastructure. CSP helps agricultural producers maintain and improve their existing conservation systems and adopt additional conservation activities to address priority natural resource concerns. Participants earn CSP payments for conservation performance-the higher the performance, the higher the payment.
Practices in the CSP program are referred to as enhancements and are designed to address resource concerns on operations. The word enhancement is used because by adapting these practices, the operation is enhancing its conservation efforts and taking conservation to the next level. Currently, the NRCS offers roughly 200 enhancements. Enhancements are broken up into four categories: soil, water, plant, and animal. Regardless of the type of operation you may have or what type of resource concern you may have, there will be an enhancement available for your operation in one of the four categories. Examples in each category are as follows:
Practices in the CSP program are referred to as enhancements and are designed to address resource concerns on operations. The word enhancement is used because by adapting these practices, the operation is enhancing its conservation efforts and taking conservation to the next level. Currently, the NRCS offers roughly 200 enhancements. Enhancements are broken up into four categories: soil, water, plant, and animal. Regardless of the type of operation you may have or what type of resource concern you may have, there will be an enhancement available for your operation in one of the four categories. Examples in each category are as follows:
Enhancement Category |
Enhancement Number, Practice |
Soil |
E329A, No till to reduce soil erosion |
Water |
E590B, Reduce risks of nutrient loss to surface water by utilizing precision agriculture technologies |
Animals |
E528A, Maintaining quantity and quality of forage for animal health and productivity (grazing) |
Plant |
E666l, Forest stand improvement to rehabilitate degraded hardwood stands |
How do you go about signing up for CSP? To start, get a hold of the Washtenaw County Conservation District’s Conservation Technician, Erez Brandvain. Erez will meet with you on your farm or property to conduct an assessment and identify any environmental resource concern. Together, Erez and you, the landowner or operator will discuss what your conservation goals may be. From there, the appropriate desired enhancements will be selected, and a Conservation Plan will be put together for free, by Erez and NRCS staff. There is an application process and it is not guaranteed that a candidate will be chosen. However, everyone who is interested should apply, and there is no cost to have the initial meeting and conservation plan set up.
To make an appointment, please contact Erez at [email protected], or 734-302-8714.
To make an appointment, please contact Erez at [email protected], or 734-302-8714.
