On Monday, February 25th, 2019, the Boone County Conservation District Board of Supervisors voted on moving regular Board Meeting times. This change is from every third Monday of each month at 7:00pm to every third Tuesday of each month at 6:00pm. This change in times is in effect immediately.
The next Board Meeting will be on March 19th, 2019 at 6:00pm. All Board Meetings are open to the public.
The Northern Kentucky Solid Waste Management Area and the Northern Kentucky Household Hazardous Waste Action Coalition are joining forces to help residents of Boone, Campbell, and Kenton Counties properly dispose of household hazardous waste. Select items will be dropped off on Saturday, November 3rd, from 9am to 2pm at UC Health Stadium in Florence, KY.
For this event, WE NEED VOLUNTEERS LIKE YOU! Volunteers will be assisting vendors with unloading cars and sorting through materials.
You can choose to work a full- or half-day! Breakfast and lunch will be provided. Children over the age of 12 can volunteer (with an adult). This event is great for community service hours!
To sign up, contact your county’s Solid Waste Coordinator:
Boone: Mike Wilson, [email protected], 859-344-3151
Kenton: Melissa Grandstaff, [email protected], 859-392-1919
Campbell: Allyn Reinecke, [email protected], 859-547-1873
By NACD Director of Government Affairs Coleman Garrison
As the 2014 Farm Bill expiration quickly approaches, NACD has ramped up communication efforts with policymakers to determine the next steps. Based on the conversations with congressional staff and House and Senate Agriculture Committees leaders’ statements, it is likely the Sept. 30, 2018, expiration date will come and go without a new farm bill or extension of the previous bill. As conservation districts interact with landowners in their communities and continue to work with USDA agencies, NACD wanted to provide an update on what to expect.
NACD received word the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) anticipates without a full-year extension, most new enrollments for farm bill programs will be put on hold. These programs are authorized on a year-to-year basis. With an expiration or short-term extension, USDA will not have the authority to process new applications. Based on the current versions of the House and Senate Farm Bills, Congress intends to change USDA programs to the point that processing new program applications will not be in line with congressional intent.
Current program contract holders will continue to receive assistance, as the year their contract was signed was previously authorized. Additionally, while some functions of NRCS employees are funded through technical assistance dollars from farm bill programs, Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) also funds NRCS staff through the annual appropriations process. Funding for the federal government also expires on Sept. 30, but it is likely Congress will pass a bill funding functions at USDA through Dec. 7, 2018, and avoid a potential government shutdown of NRCS operations.
NACD continues to advocate for a farm bill to be reauthorized as soon as possible. Delaying passage into the next Congress means the whole process would start over. While there are concerns with each chamber’s individual version, NACD believes there is a great opportunity to merge the two farm bills into a final bill supporting the locally-led, voluntary, incentive-based conservation delivery system.
For more information about NACD’s response to each chamber’s version, visit the NACD Farm Bill webpage. Want to contact your Member of Congress? Visit the NACD Grassroots Advocacy webpage for resources and guidance.
Read the original article here: http://www.nacdnet.org/2018/09/28/2014-farm-bill-expiration-whats-next/.
News Release
USDA NRCS in Kentucky Announces First Application Cut-Off Period for the 2019 Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) will be November 2, 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Ian Young, Supervisory Natural Resource Manager
[email protected]
Lexington, KY, September 18, 2018. The USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Kentucky is encouraging landowners, farmers and producers to visit their local NRCS office now to receive information and apply for conservation technical assistance and possible funding opportunities.
The application process for NRCS’s conservation programs is continuous, but funding selections for specific programs are made throughout the year. For the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Kentucky NRCS has announced that applications for assistance for seasonal high tunnels, on-farm energy, certified or transitioning to organic, Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI), National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI), and conservation activity plans received by November 2, 2018, will be evaluated and contracts will be entered by January 31, 2019. MRBI and NWQI are offered only in certain locations, but the other efforts are statewide.
Applications for practices to treat resource concerns not covered above will be accepted, but those applications will not be processed until after February 2019. A later cutoff date will be identified for these applications and will be posted on the Kentucky NRCS website.
For more information about EQIP or the other programs offered by NRCS, visit us on the web at www.ky.nrcs.usda.gov or contact your local NRCS service center at http://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app.
EXTENDED – The Boone County Conservation District (BCCDKY) is offering a part-time Conservation Intern position in partnership with Northern Kentucky University (NKU).
This internship will include field work, education program experience, networking opportunities, and MORE! If you attend NKU and are interested in a stipend and internship credit, apply here.
DUE OCTOBER 15TH BY 6PM. Contact Megan Clere ([email protected]) for additional details.
The Boone County Conservation District (BCCDKY) is offering a part-time Conservation Intern position in partnership with Northern Kentucky University (NKU).
This internship will include field work, education program experience, networking opportunities, and MORE! If you attend NKU and are interested in a stipend and internship credit, apply here.
DUE SEPTEMBER 17TH BY 2PM. Contact Megan Clere ([email protected]) for additional details.
This year, the Boone County Conservation District (BCCDKY) will be participating in STEM Day Out, on July 18th! We are so excited to show students what BCCDKY and STEM is all about. Get ready, Greater Cincinnati Region! Registration has been open to the public – register your kid today!
To sign your kid up, register here.
In February, Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) Region 4 accepted the Gunpowder Creek Watershed Plan and Supplement as the first Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Alternative plan for the state. A TMDL Alternative is a restoration approach that details a plan and a set of actions pursued in the near-term designed to attain water quality standards. The TMDL Alternative lowers the priority for TMDL development in anticipation of the plan addressing impairments and meeting water quality standards and removing the requirement for a TMDL to be developed. […]
To read the rest of this great article, click here!
News Release
USDA NRCS in Kentucky Announces Second Application Cut-Off Period for the National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI) and Irrigation Water Management funded through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) will be May 18, 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Ian Young
[email protected]
Lexington, KY, March 22, 2018. The USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Kentucky is encouraging landowners, farmers and producers to visit their local NRCS office now to receive information and apply for conservation technical assistance and possible funding opportunities.
The application process for NRCS’s conservation programs is continuous, but funding selections for specific programs are made throughout the year. For the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Kentucky NRCS is in the process of funding applications from the first batching period which ended November 17, 2017. Kentucky NRCS has announced a second batching cut-off for applications that are eligible within the National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI) counties, as well as the statewide Irrigation Water Management (IWM) effort. The second batching cut-off for these two EQIP opportunities will be May 18, 2018.
NWQI assists producers to address high-priority water resource concerns in small watersheds with streams or water bodies that have been targeted based on specific environmental concerns. Kentucky has four NWQI watersheds: Mocks Branch, Clarks Run, Cane Run and Gunpowder Creek. Visit your local NRCS office or visit us on the web at https://www.nrcs.usda.gov to see if your land falls within one of the four watersheds.
The IWM effort is new to Kentucky NRCS this year. The objective of this technical assistance and funding opportunity is to address irrigation efficiency on land that has been irrigated at least two out of the last five years. If you are currently irrigating cropland, and meet the irrigation history requirement, visit your local NRCS office to see if you may be eligible for practices that would increase your irrigation efficiency.
For more information about EQIP or the other programs offered by NRCS, visit us on the web at www.ky.nrcs.usda.gov or contact your local NRCS service center at http://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app.