As the District Conservationist working with local forest owners, our office occasionally has to ask for more thorough and intensive forest thinning treatments landowners or sometimes even contractors, perform as part of their Environmental Quality Incentive Program contract work. In the previous blog entry we explained how the EQIP program works and what timber thinning and fire mitigation practices qualify for federal cost share dollars to the landowner. This years cost docket has seen a return to the higher levels of reimbursement for FSI—Forest Stand Improvement, which is some instances can be up to $1300.00 for the landowner if he performs thinning, fuel reduction and either mulching (chipping) and/or forest slash removal (chipping, burning slash or hauling the slash away).
Refer to the attached FSI standards and specifications and the photos of recent thinning for more information on this practice; also be aware that we can reimburse for thinning that is not the typical tree plantation look, but can be more of clump thinning that looks more natural or aesthetically pleasing to some.
Contact the local NRCS office at 719-686-9405
District Conservationist: Leon Kot
Soil Conservation Technicians: John Segars and Jeremy Buss
Farm Bill Clerk: Kari Moore
treated ponderosa forest
NRCS Forest Stand Improvement-specification