Wildlife-Friendly Livestock Ponds

Overview

The conservation goals and funding priorities of the Wildlife-Friendly Livestock Pond ranking pool is to provide financial and technical assistance for the implementation of conservation practices on eligible agricultural operations to support aquatic, riparian, and upland habitats for California Red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) and California Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma californiense).

Eligible agricultural landuses for the fund pool are restricted to grazed rangeland because of the habitat needs of these two species. Natural areas such as associated agricultural lands not in agricultural production are also eligible.

Ponds may be restored to hold their original quantity of water and will therefore increase the potential to hold water in a field for livestock use. Improvements to livestock ponds may also improve inadequate stock water issues that compromise the ability of a land manager to properly utilize and manage forage.

Other possible treatments may reduce the amount of sediments coming into a pond, which in turn extend the number of years that pond will hold sufficient amounts of water.

Due to the high potential for listed species to be affected by the proposed projects, programmatic permits held by the NRCS, the Alameda County Resource Conservation District, and the Contra Costa Resource Conservation District may be utilized, when appropriate.

Complying with regulatory permits ensures that the goals of this initiative are met via habitat improvements for California Red-legged frog and California Tiger Salamander. All practices implemented with financial assistance from EQIP must follow Federal, State, and local regulations.

The following sections include the applicable land uses, resource concerns, and conservation practices for the ranking pool.

Land Uses

The descriptions below are the general NRCS land use definitions - applications should fit within, but do not need to exactly match, these descriptions. Below are the applicable land uses for the ranking pool.

• Range: Land used primarily for the production of grazing animals. Includes native plant communities and those seeded to native or introduced species, or naturalized by introduced species that are ecologically managed using range management principles.
• Associated Agricultural Lands: Land associated with farms and ranches that are not purposefully managed for food, forage, or fiber and are typically associated with nearby production or conservation lands. This could include incidental areas, such as odd areas, ditches and watercourses, riparian areas, field edges, seasonal and permanent wetlands, and other similar areas.
• Grazed: Where grazing animals impact how land is managed.
• Wildlife: Where the applicant is actively managing for wildlife.

Resource Concerns

The goal of conservation planning is to help each client attain sustainable use and sound management of soil, water, air, plant, animal, and energy resources, based on related human considerations (SWAPAE+H).  Below is a list of priority resource concerns for the ranking pool.

Conservation Practices

NRCS conservation practices eligible for financial assistance through ranking pool are listed in the below table. For more information about NRCS conservation practices visit the following website link: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/technical/?cid=NRCSDEV11_001020.

For certain conservations practices, a limit to the amount of financial assistance has been established in certain regions. Practice payment caps are established in consultation with local partners and to allow limited financial assistance support to reach more participants. Please contact your local field office if you have questions. A maximum payment amount per contract or practice is not allowable. Practice payment caps are applicable per agreement item.

Interested Applicants

For more information about EQIP, how to apply and program eligibility, interested applicants should contact a NRCS field office in the county which you own land or where you have an agricultural operation. 

USDA-NRCS, Alameda County Livermore Local Partnership Office (925) 371-0154 Alyson Aquino, District Conservationist

USDA-NRCS, Contra Costa County Concord Service Center (925) 672-4577 Clarimer Hernandez-Vargas, District Conservationist