Do any of you have any experience with Federal CSP grants on your property? A forester was recently recommending that I should look into pursuing such a grant.

I Googled it and I think this must be what he's talking about:

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs-initiatives/csp-conservation-stewardship-program

The best approach would be to contact your local NRCS/USDA office- A Conservation Stewardship Program is not available until you have completed several EQUIP Programs with them. Most likely they would cost share in a Forest Management Plan (CAP106) as the first step, this has to be completed by a Technical Service Provider in your area, some loggers and foresters are but not all. The Forest Mangement Plan will take an inventory of your trees and make recommendations for best practices, clear cuts, single tree selections and future plantings. The advantage to working through the NRCS is - it's your plan and you manage it with their support. In your area, I would highly recommend Peter Anderson from Sound Forest Management (715) 681-0674 peter@soundforestmanagement.com. I've seen serval plans and his approach as a hunter and forester is not only comprehensive but will integrate your wildlife goals into the plan. He has several You Tube videos out also.

Good to know.

Currently I utilize MFL and WFLGP.

I met the deadline for applying for the Federal EQIP and/or CSP Grant. The application seemed to be the same form for each, and the the guy said he will get back to me & we can discuss which if any of those Fed grants might be most applicable. Tomorrow I meet with the DNR Forester as part of my WFLGP application.

I’m on my second 5 year CSP contract on my property.
It’s ridiculously easy money.

Let us know how it goes and what hoops you have to jump thru.
I might also look into it.

I had contracts in the CSP program for years. Do the simplest and cheapest contracts you can. Don’t cost yourself money by entering a contract that pays great but will end up costing you in the end. All the green programs look good but can really cost you

I have both CSP and EQIP, don't do stuff just to get a contract. Do stuff you want on your property and if NRCS pays for all or part of it you'll be happy. I'm doing Timber stand improvement, glade and savannah restoration. CSP is kind of a reward for implementing conservation/ environmental improvements. Payments under Eqip will often pay cost of a contractor or let you make a good wage if you do work yourself. CSP payments in my experience won't change your life but will help fund continued improvements. The process isn't fast and is multiple stages. Be patient. I got an EQIP to get a forestry plan, then got a EQip contract for the above items. My CSP is on pasture land, where I've installed a rotational grazing system. I think funding looks promising for the next few years.

Speaking from the forestry side some of the stipulations may not be inline with production timber management. So at times you may have to alter your management strategy just to get the money. An example: They are requiring us to plant and maintain 20% hardwood species in a stand we want to be pine. That’s easy enough if you have an SMZ running through the tract but if you have a tract you want to manage for 100% pine it’s a little difficult. Another battle we have to fight is they don’t want to cost share planting loblolly because it wasn’t native here (I argue it was native). So the southern half of my county they agree it was native and will cost share but the northern half you have to plant short leaf to get the money. It doesn’t matter that the timber companies have planted loblolly surrounding your property. Also on the pasture side they cost share planting non native grass(Bermuda) and don’t have any stipulation about maintaining 20% weeds. It is good to get the assistance of a professional to help develop a management plan for your property. The problem is a lot of the time it’s an intern or someone fresh out of college doing the management plans. The good part of the program is they usually pay a big chunk if not all of what your are wanting to get done.

I got my packet in the mail yesterday for CSP. I haven't read through it yet but it's a big packet & has a lot of places I have to sign. This appears to be sort of a prequalification, to register w/ NRCS so to speak. I applied 2/10 & got the packet late last week. I've never done a Federal program before so I'm not fully sure what to expect. Thanks for the input so far.

CSP is another govt program that normally your local nrcs office does not like to promote as there are a tons of hoops to go through. Good chance if you read much about it - you will soon know more about it over the soil con who is tasked to build it for you. Stick to your guns and put up with the govt red tape and you should be pleased with the payments for what enhancements you need to do. States administer it differently and payment rates vary. Generally there are some easy enhancements and some difficult ones.
You have to be prepared for stoopid though.........cause some of the things they say just plain don't make common sense but you gotta do them to play by the rules.
I might be able to help with direct questions as I administered it for 4 years previously but have been out of it since the last farm bill.

AJE -

I recommend strongly to go into the office, sit down and ask all the questions to either your DC RC or SC - district conservationist, resource conservationist, or soil conservationist. Please make them do the jobs they were hired for. Mailing out packets reduces the applications........
I assisted several young farmers in North Dakota and Iowa and never once had them tell me it was not worth the efforts they put in for it. The program itself is a pain to administer - but I really miss working with the landowners and seeing them improve the lands.

I don't but have had an assessment and an overall conservation audit done on my ranch. It was a very helpful new idea and just great common sense approuch and review of land management. No charge but no improvements or suggestions were made to date.

In some of these program's grants are granted from requests but in return all land must be open to public hunting. Would like to hear about the folks here that have taken advantage of their grants and if they had to open land up for public hunting etc.

Yes I have participated in CSP an EQIP in Missouri, North Dakota and Iowa. Under CSP and EQIP no land was open for hunting. I can think of NO Fed govt program that makes it mandatory for hunting or open access as that is always controlled by state laws.

Thanks for your response. What are the requirements for the landowner? Do they have in have any skin in the game? Is there a split percentage of money for the project that the grant was written for?

What are parameters for receiving the money? Thanks for sharing your information.

Thanks.

I have a plan for what I want. Whether the federal program is something that can help me achieve it is TBD. I'll probably send in the packet this week as it's basically a prequal just to get it so I can even start the application process. If what they propose looks bad I can always balk before I sign it or not sign on to the program if it looks like it isn't for me. I'm optimistic it'll work out though. I was happy the Forester recommended the program to me.

Been there done that. First contract was crazy good easy money. We would have been stupid not to take it. Second contract not nearly as good as new limits came into the program. Next contract offer they now want a timber management program. Nope that was a deal killer my brother and I. We bought our land in 1985, we logged and started managing for wildlife then. When logging county foresters we called county clowns. No way they were telling us how to manage our timber and land. Program has changed a lot from what it was.

It'll be interesting how it goes. My land is in MFL so the Feds can't just come in and say do this and do that if it doesn't comply with my legal MFL obligation.

Reqs of landowner are they must maintain the level of conservation they are currently doing and perform at least one enhancement on each type of land you have - be it forest, pasture, cropland, farmstead/other areas. You have all the skin in the game - you are the one making the decisions but you do have to agree to the enhancment you select and carry it out to the NRCS standards and specs which sometimes are frustrating........

For example - my fifth year payment was held up as they said my pollinator plots did not meet the standards and specs.......they didn't check them until year 5 of the contract and we had a declared drought in our county and yes they looked horrible when they looked at them. I probably could have fought it harder and appealed the decision but it was not worth it to me and I truly wanted better plots for pollinators. I reseeded at a cost to me about $350 and that extended my contract about 9 months but I got my 5th year payment of around 6k..

It will work out for me though as I am going to have some land logged off while I am out of contract and then re-apply again and do other enhancements. It is a decent program but you have to understand working with the govt is frustrating at times.

Our NRCS office would have required us to hire one of their foresters as well. I spoke with two they listed for us and neither would work with us on our management goals for our properties. Be sure to look into what the objective of your timber and habitat lands are.