Special EQIP Dollars Earmarked For Wildfire Relief Help In Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas And Colorado

The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is announcing the availability of more than $6 million in funding to implement practices that will help private farmers, ranchers and forest landowners affected by wildfires in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

In Oklahoma, agricultural producers in Beaver, Harper and Woodward Counties will be eligible for wildfire relief assistance. Funding will be delivered through NRCS’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and applications will be accepted until April 21, 2017.

“We stand by Oklahoma’s farmers and ranchers in their recovery from these devastating wildfires,” said Gary O’Neill, State Conservationist for NRCS in Oklahoma. “I encourage affected producers to take full advantage of our financial and technical assistance.”

NRCS will assist local producers with practices such as restoring scorched grazing land, rebuilding fencing, protecting damaged watersheds and implementing various conservation measures to mitigate losses.

EQIP is a voluntary program that provides financial and technical assistance to agricultural producers to help plan and implement conservation practices that address priority local and state resource concerns. Producers must submit a complete program application, establish “farm records”, and other documentation to support eligibility to be considered for financial assistance through EQIP.