Wasco County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) provides local leadership in implementation of several full-scale watershed enhancement projects focused on improving watershed health.  Working in close partnership with Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) our team's strength is our ability to develop and implement scientifically sound, economically feasible resource management plans for private landowners.

The goal is to establish seven to twelve Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) buffer agreements (on anadromous fish streams) which will be signed by landowners annually, committing desired property to CREP rules, i.e. shrub/tree/grass planting, weed control, livestock exclusion.  Wasco SWCD staff will track contracts to ensure a smooth process between landowners and partner agencies.  This tracking entails monitoring the approval process on completed plans through SWCD, NRCS, and FSA County Committee sign-off and Farm Service Agency (FSA) contracting.  Work elements reflecting this quantity of agreements include 7 regular plus 5 placeholders.  If the actual quantity of agreements exceeds 12, then additional work elements will need to be added by amendment.

This program meets a critical need in Fifteenmile Watershed in particular where existing Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) riparian lease agreements are expiring.  This project fills a critical staffing need to conduct assessments and develop plans to address the growing backlog of potential projects.  Plans developed under this project are used for federal contracts to implement riparian buffers.  The SWCD uses the USDA NRCS Nine step planning process to develop these plans: (1) Identify problems and opportunities, (2) Determine Objectives, (3) Inventory resources, (4) Analyze resource inventory, (5) Formulate alternatives, (6) Evaluate alternatives, (7) Decision - Select Alternative, (8) Implement the Plan, (9) Evaluate plan (monitor).

Notes:
Operation and Maintenance (O&M) are not required in this project:
Actual O&M is a funded item in the CREP contracts whereby the landowner receives a small fee per acre to cover maintenance costs.  The landowner is responsible under the contract for the maintenance.  O&M is funded by USDA.

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is included as a cost item.  This is accomplished through visual inspections.  Additionally, records of stream miles, acreage and number of plans completed will be tracked for reporting purposes:
Farm Service Agency (FSA) has programmatic responsibility for managing CREP contracts to ensure contract terms are being met.  NRCS has responsibility for technical supervision of all installed practices.  NRCS delegates authority to the SWCD to provide this technical supervision as long as the SWCD adheres to NRCS standards and specifications.  Through this delegation, SWCD technicians will use the NRCS Stream Visual Assessment Protocol (provided by NRCS) as the principal monitoring and evaluation tool to evaluate and describe both pre- and post- CREP project conditions.