Leveraging
Partnerships
We collaborate with government agencies, municipalities, land trusts, schools, and other organizations to form mutually supportive partnerships, leveraging the diverse and extensive expertise and skillsets of individuals and groups across Maine to address the comprehensive conservation needs of our district and further our mission through innovative projects and initiatives.
Knox-Lincoln Partner:
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services
About Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS)
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides leadership and technical assistance to address natural resource conservation issues on private land throughout the United States. NRCS employees work to improve and protect natural resources in partnership with Maine's 16 Soil and Water Conservation Districts, federal, state and local agencies, farmers, landowners and communities.
NRCS programs take a voluntary, incentive-based approach to private land stewardship and conservation. This approach often takes shape in the form of cost-share programs which reduce the cost to agricultural producers and woodlot owners who are implementing, maintaining, and improving conservation practices. Through cost-share programs, NRCS and producers invest in solutions that improve agricultural operations while conserving natural resources and ecological function.
Partnership with Maine NRCS
The Knox-Lincoln Soil & Water Conservation District and NRCS partner to improve and protect natural resources while supporting the long-term sustainability of food production in Knox and Lincoln counties. This long-standing partnership leverages the expertise and resources of both organizations to provide comprehensive, innovative, locally led program delivery.
NRCS Financial and Technical Assistance for Producers
Maine NRCS provides financial and technical assistance that supports the planning, implementation, maintenance, and improvement of a wide variety of conservation practices in Maine.
NRCS delivers financial and technical assistance through programs, including:
NRCS develops initiatives which focus resources on specific conservation practices or natural resources. Initiatives can also help make the competitive program more accessible to different farmers. Current NRCS initiatives in Maine include:
Partnerships in Action
Knox-Lincoln SWCD Partnership with Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
National Water Quality Initiative: Conserving and improving water quality in the Sheepscot and Dyer River Sub-Watersheds
From 2019 to 2021, KLSWCD and NRCS-Maine partnered to provide outreach and education around the National Water Quality Initiative, an ongoing EQIP program that provides funding opportunities for implementing soil and water conservation practices in the Sheepscot and Dyer River sub-watersheds.
Funding for eligible producers in the Sheepscot and Dyer River Sub-Watersheds has been extended through Fiscal Year 2023.
Prescribed grazing in NWQI focus area. Photo credit: NRCS
Knox-Lincoln SWCD Partnership with Maine Natural Areas Program (MNAP)
Maine Natural Areas Program Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG): Using iMapInvasives Technology to Help Maine Producers Address Invasive Plant Problems
Funded through an NRCS EQIP Conservation Innovation Grant, this program allowed four Maine Soil and Water Conservation Districts, including Knox-Lincoln, to provide technical assistance to producers for invasive plant management in five Maine counties: Kennebec, Knox, Lincoln, Somerset, and Waldo from 2019 – 2021.
Asiatic bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) infestation