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Washington | Conservation Stewardship Program

CSP
Apply by: October 20, 2023

The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) helps you build on your existing conservation efforts while strengthening your operation. 

Your Stewardship Goals. Our Assistance.

Have you ever looked across your property and thought about some land management goals you would like to
take to the next level? Maybe we can help.

No one knows more about your land than you do, and no one knows more about conservation than we do.
Together we can develop a plan tailored to your land and your goals to help you increase productivity and protect
the value of your land.

Our Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) helps you build on your existing conservation efforts while
strengthening your operation. Whether you are looking to improve grazing conditions, increase crop yields, or
develop wildlife habitat, we can custom design a CSP plan to help you meet those goals. We can help you
schedule timely planting of cover crops, develop a grazing plan that will improve your forage base, implement notill
to reduce erosion or manage forested areas in a way that benefits wildlife habitat. If you are already taking
steps to improve the condition of the land, chances are CSP can help you find new ways to meet your goals.

Sustainable Production

CSP is for working lands. It is the largest conservation program in the United States with 70 million acres of
productive agricultural and forest land enrolled in CSP. Thousands of people that have made the choice to
voluntarily enroll in the program because it helps them enhance natural resources and improve their business
operation.

CSP participants are seeing real results. Some of these benefits include:

  • Improved cattle gains per acre
  • Increased crop yields
  • Decreased inputs
  • Wildlife population improvements
  • Better resilience to weather extremes

Through CSP, we can help you build your business while implementing conservation practices that help ensure the
sustainability of your entire operation. Good land stewardship not only conserves the natural resources on your
farm, ranch or forest, it also provides multiple benefits to local communities, including better water and air quality
and wildlife habitat, as well as food and fiber.

For more information on producer-specific enhancements, please visit Enhancement Factsheets

Washington CSP-IRA Ranking Date is April 19, 2024.

For more information on Inflation Reduction Act ranking dates please visit the page HERE

Washington CSP FY24 Payment Schedule HERE

Washington CSP-GCI FY24 Payment Schedule HERE

Washington State Contact

Misty Seaboldt
Programs Specialist
11707 E. Sprague Avenue, Suite 302
Spokane Valley, WA 99206
misty.seaboldt@usda.gov

Apply for CSP

If you are ready to take your conservation efforts to the next level we are here to help. Applications are accepted throughout the year. Specific deadlines are set for ranking and funding opportunities.

The CSP application deadline for FY24 funding considerations was October 20, 2023.

Applicants must:

  • Control or own eligible land.
  • Comply with adjusted gross income limitation (AGI) provisions.
  • Be in compliance with the highly erodible land and wetland conservation requirements.
  • Develop an NRCS CSP plan of operations.
  • Provide a map(s) that identifies and delineates the boundaries of all eligible land uses and acres included in
  • the operation.
  • Identify any ineligible land that is part of the operation as described above.

Establish Eligibility with USDA Farm Services Agency (FSA)
Each applicant must establish themselves as a USDA customer and attain all Farm Service Agency (FSA) eligibility requirements

Important information regarding FSA eligibility

One eligibility requirement that is not instantaneous is the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) determination. On
average, AGI determinations takes 3 weeks to be processed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Submitting your AGI form to FSA on the last day could result in your AGI eligibility not being met by the cutoff date for FY24.

FSA offices can be found by visiting the USDA Service Center Locator to find the NRCS and FSA representatives
for your county.

Eligibility

Agricultural producers and owners of non-industrial private forestland and Tribes are eligible to apply for CSP.
Eligible land includes cropland, rangeland, pastureland, non-industrial private forestland and other farm or ranch
lands.

CSP Enhancements for Washington | FY 2024

A CSP enhancement is a conservation activity used to treat natural resources and improve conservation
performance. Enhancements are designed to maintain or exceed the quality criteria, or stewardship level, for the
resource concern. Enhancements tied directly to conservation practices standards exceed the minimum treatment
requirements of the standard to address additional criteria or considerations. Conservation practice standards and
quality criteria for resource concerns can be found in sections II and III of the Field Office Technical Guide. Review the CSP Enhancements for Washington State HERE.

Ready to get started?

Contact your local service center to start your application.

Find Your Local Service Center

USDA Service Centers are locations where you can connect with Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, or Rural Development employees for your business needs. Enter your state and county below to find your local service center and agency offices. If this locator does not work in your browser, please visit offices.usda.gov.

How to Get Assistance

Do you farm or ranch and want to make improvements to the land that you own or lease?

Natural Resources Conservation Service offers technical and financial assistance to help farmers, ranchers and forest landowners.

how to get started

To get started with NRCS, we recommend you stop by your local NRCS field office. We’ll discuss your vision for your land.

NRCS provides landowners with free technical assistance, or advice, for their land. Common technical assistance includes: resource assessment, practice design and resource monitoring. Your conservation planner will help you determine if financial assistance is right for you.

We’ll walk you through the application process. To get started on applying for financial assistance, we’ll work with you:

  • To fill out an AD 1026, which ensures a conservation plan is in place before lands with highly erodible soils are farmed. It also ensures that identified wetland areas are protected.
  • To meet other eligibility certifications.

Once complete, we’ll work with you on the application, or CPA 1200.

Applications for most programs are accepted on a continuous basis, but they’re considered for funding in different ranking periods. Be sure to ask your local NRCS district conservationist about the deadline for the ranking period to ensure you turn in your application in time.

As part of the application process, we’ll check to see if you are eligible. To do this, you’ll need to bring:

  • An official tax ID (Social Security number or an employer ID)
  • A property deed or lease agreement to show you have control of the property; and
  • A farm number.

If you don’t have a farm number, you can get one from USDA’s Farm Service Agency. Typically, the local FSA office is located in the same building as the local NRCS office. You only need a farm number if you’re interested in financial assistance.

NRCS will take a look at the applications and rank them according to local resource concerns, the amount of conservation benefits the work will provide and the needs of applicants. View Application Ranking Dates by State.

If you’re selected, you can choose whether to sign the contract for the work to be done.

Once you sign the contract, you’ll be provided standards and specifications for completing the practice or practices, and then you will have a specified amount of time to implement. Once the work is implemented and inspected, you’ll be paid the rate of compensation for the work if it meets NRCS standards and specifications.