Greetings Tribal producers and partners,

Our work together is going far to address natural resource concerns with Tribal members and on Tribal lands. Despite the challenges we have all dealt with over the past year, 2021 has also had many successes.

NRCS Montana focuses conservation efforts on Montana’s seven Indian reservations and Tribal producers with staff assigned to each reservation and annual funding allocated through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). Nationally, since 2017, 5% of EQIP and CSP funds are required to be set aside for socially disadvantaged producers of which Tribal applications are included. On average, Tribal farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners in Montana receive 22% of the general EQIP funding available each year. In 2021, the most recent complete fiscal year, the EQIP funding pool for socially disadvantaged producers was just over $1.6 million. However, voluntary conservation by Tribal producers exceeded that amount by nearly $1.5 million totaling 19% of Montana’s general EQIP allocation. In addition, agricultural producers and partners are encouraged to work with their conservation district and NRCS staff to develop a Targeted Implementation Plan that focuses on a specific natural resource concern and compete for even more funding.

A new funding opportunity in fiscal year 2021 included the Climate Smart Ag and Forestry initiative. Through this initiative, 14 Tribal contracts were funded for $2,499,621. NRCS Montana added more than $1.3 million to the national EQIP-CSAF allocation to fund all of the applications.

My thanks to the Fort Belknap Indian Community specifically for bringing the next issue to my attention. After hearing and understanding concerns regarding the NRCS payment schedule and the actual cost of doing business on reservations, I have discussed the challenge and communicated possible solutions with national NRCS leadership and am waiting for a reply. I will provide an update when information is available.

I want to recognize the Tribal partners, NRCS Tribal conservationists, and land managers that have all cooperated to get so much conservation on the ground this past year – supporting sustainable agriculture also supports our rural communities.

This newsletter is the first of a quarterly publication. I’ll continue to share timely information here and in other avenues such as the Tribal Conservation Issues committee meetings as will Kyle Tackett, our assistant state conservationist for partnerships and Tribal liaison, and our Tribal conservationists.

If you don’t know your local Tribal conservationist, they all introduce themselves in this newsletter. Give them a call. If you see them in town, say hi. NRCS is here to help people help the land.

I look forward to ever more productive collaboration and conservation implementation over the year to come.

Take care,

Tom Watson
NRCS State Conservationist