Grant County
Grant County has an area of 4,528 square miles, or 2.9 million acres. Over 60 percent of the county is publicly owned with national forests comprising approximately 54 percent of the county. The private land in Grant County, about 1.1 million acres, is made up of 70% rangeland, 24% forest, 4% irrigated and 3% dryland crop. The NRCS office, located in John Day, offers voluntary technical and financial assistance to private landowners interested in natural resource conservation improvements. Historically the NRCS has focused on rangeland and irrigation improvements, and more recently has started working on forest health improvements on private land.
Current Financial Assistance Opportunities for Farmers, Ranchers and Forest Owners in Grant County
The following Conservation Implementation Strategies are available to help Grant County agricultural producers address targeted resource concerns identified in the Long Range Plan. Click the project names below for more information:
- Grant County Invasive Annual Grass Control
- Drought and Wildfire Watering Strategy
- Ritter Upland Management
- Upper John Day River Flow and Protection Project
- Southern Blues Restoration Project
- Climate-focused sustainable livestock production in Oregon
- Sage Grouse Initiative - Oregon Strategy (WLFW)
Additional Funding Opportunities...
In addition to the local projects above, producers may also apply for statewide programs such as the Conservation Stewardship Program, the Organic Initiative, Seasonal High Tunnel Initiative, On-Farm Energy Initiative, and conservation easement programs. Visit with your local District Conservationist for more information on these and other programs, or visit the NRCS Programs webpage.
Local Work Group Meetings
Every year, NRCS hosts a Local Work Group meeting where farmers, landowners, conservation partners and other members of the community discuss the natural resource needs for the county. Based on feedback from those meetings, NRCS updates the county's Long Range Plan and develops new Conservation Implementation Strategies to address those resource concerns. You may contact us anytime to express concerns or comments about conservation needs in the county, and we encourage you to attend the next Local Work Group meeting in your county. For more information about Local Work Group meetings, contact your local NRCS office.