The mission of the Morrow Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) is to conserve, protect, and develop soil, water, and other natural resources for the economic and environmental benefit of the residents of Morrow County.  

In partnership with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) the district has the ability to develop and implement scientifically sound and economically feasible resource management plans for private landowners at the local level.

This project will implement riparian buffer/filter systems in Morrow County and address limiting factors identified in the Umatilla Subbasin Summary (which includes Willow Creek), John Day Subbasin Summary, Umatilla Willow Subbasin Plan (in development) and the Willow Creek Watershed Ag Water Quality Management Plan (AgWQMP SB1010).

One FTE will be dedicated to the outreach and promotion of state and federal funding programs along with the technical planning support needed to implement approximately 15 riparian buffer agreements in this contract year.  Buffer widths will average from 35 to 180 feet on each side of qualifying streams and will include such practices as fencing, riparian plantings and off stream watering facilities to benefit livestock and wildlife.  Existing programs, i.e. Continuous Conservation Reserve Program (CCRP) and Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), will cover actual implementation costs on a cost-share basis, lease payments, and maintenance costs.  Incentive payments are also available to the contract holder.  A cost-share incentive amount has been included in the project budget for first year agreements to entice adjoining landowners to participate in the programs when incentives are unavailable from other funding programs.  Other funding may also be used as available.  Leases will be for 10-15 year periods.  This program meets a critical need in the Mid-Columbia Basin.  Technical staff shortage for conducting assessments and developing plans has created a growing backlog of potential buffer projects.

Morrow SWCD will continue to provide vehicle liability and collision insurance for the length of this agreement.

Notes:
Operation and Maintenance (O&M) are not required in this project:
Actual O&M is a funded item in the CCRP/CREP contract whereby the landowner receives an additional payment to cover maintenance costs.  The landowner is responsible under the contract for maintenance.  

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is included as a cost item.  Additionally, records of stream miles, acreage and number of plans completed will be tracked for reporting purposes:  Farm Service Agency has programmatic responsibility for contract spot checks to ensure terms are being met.  NRCS has responsibility for technical supervision.  The SWCD will conduct annual inspection of additional items cost shared under this contract.  The SWCD will use the NRCS Stream Visual Assessment Protocol as the principal M&E tool to evaluate and describe both pre- and post-project conditions.

Before and after photos will be archived in individual landowner files.

Cost-share incentive explanation:
In order to get as many landowners involved in conservation measures as possible, additional incentives may be used.  CCRP/CREP programs offer cost-share incentives.

A budgeted incentive amount for this contract could be used to include reaches not otherwise eligible for the program.  Such as, if a landowner has two reaches he wants to protect with buffers and a section between them doesn't qualify, this buffer contract incentive would provide the funding to include that section.

Another situation where additional incentives could improve a landowner's willingness to participate would be to increase the available USDA program incentive to enroll high value or highly productive land into a buffer system.

A third situation concerns USDA payment limitation rules.  If a landowner has reached the payment limitation for CCRP they are not eligible to receive further lease payments.  Supplemental Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) funding allows the Conservation District to offer an enticement to put land in buffers.