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Lower Willamette and North Coast Animal Feeding Operations

Counties: Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Marion, Multnomah, Polk, Tillamook, Washington and Yamhill

Primary Resource Concern: 

  • Field sediment, nutrient and pathogen loss - Pathogens and chemicals from manure, biosolids or compost applications transported to surface water
  • Air quality emissions - objectionable odor
  • Terrestrial habitat - Terrestrial habitat for wildlife and invertebrates

Project Description
Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs) have the potential to significantly impact water, air, and soil resources, posing risks to public health and the environment. Although AFOs are a significant part of the farm economy in northwest Oregon, many AFO operations face economic challenges that make developing and implementing a Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan (CNMP) difficult. This Conservation Implementation Strategy (CIS) seeks to address this problem by focusing on AFOs that need to develop and/or implement CNMP structural and management practices in a nine-county area.

Conservation Practices Offered

  • Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan (102)
  • Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan Design and Implementation Activity (101)
  • Composting Facility (317)
  • Fence (382)
  • Field Border (386)
  • Filter Strip (393)
  • Heavy Use Area Protection (561)
  • Nutrient Management (590)
  • Roof Runoff Structure (558)
  • Waste Facility Cover (367)
  • Waste Storage Facility (313)
  • Solid/Liquid Waste Separation Facility (632)
  • Manure Transfer (634)
  • Underground Outlet (620)
  • Watering Facility (614)
  • Pumping Plant (533)
  • Pipeline (516)

Project Partners

  • Soil and Water Conservation Districts
  • Oregon Department of Agriculture
  • Oregon Dairy Farmers Association
  • Oregon State University Extension
  • Technical Service Providers
  • Tillamook Creamery
  • NRCS Oregon
  • Private landowners

Application Questions
NRCS uses prioritization questions to evaluate applications for this initiative. See the list of workload prioritization questions on the Oregon EQIP page. Ranking questions below will also apply.

Ranking Questions

  1. Water quality: Does the EQIP Plan of Operations include one or more of the following practices along at least 25% of stream reaches needing new or wider buffers in the enrolled tracts?: Field Border (386), Filter Strip (393), or Fence
    (382).
  2. Water quality: Does the EQIP Plan of Operations include Nutrient Management (590) on at least 50% of the cropland and pasture in the enrolled tracts?
  3. Air quality bonus: Does Nutrient Management (590) in the EQIP Plan of Operations include injection of manure or incorporation of manure on the same day as application? If points awarded for this question, application receives points
    for previous question.
  4. Water quality: Does the EQIP Plan of Operations include one or more of the following practices to address water and/or air quality: Waste Transfer (634), Roof Runoff Structure (558), Waste Separation (632), Heavy Use Area Treatment (561)?
  5. Does the EQIP Plan of Operations include one or more of the following practices to address water and/or air quality: Waste Storage Facility (313), Roofs and Covers (367), Composting Facility (317). Points are only awarded for this question if the EQIP Plan of Operations includes contract items for Technical Service Provider design (911), installation (912), and check-out (913), or if the client provided practice designs stamped by a licensed engineer prior to
    the ranking deadline.
  6. Pollinator habitat: Does the EQIP Plan of Operations include one or more of the following practices that will include using a vegetative mix that will improve pollinator habitat: Field Border (386), Filter Strip (393).
  7. Is the EQIP plan of operations for a Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan (CNMP) to be written by a Technical Service Provider (TSP)?