Now in its 4th year, Maryland’s Conservation Buffer Initiative provides farmers with attractive incentive payments to plant streamside buffers on farmland to improve the health of local streams and the Chesapeake Bay.
Donor Name: Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA)
State: Maryland
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 03/08/2024
Size of the Grant: Not Available
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
The Conservation Buffer Initiative Program provides grant funds from the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund and the Environmental Protection Agency to provide grant assistance to agricultural producers and landowners for the implementation BMPs to improve water quality by reducing nutrient loads near streams or other water courses adjacent to pasture, cropland, highly erodible land (HEL) or hydric soil.
Incentives to plant riparian forest buffers are available again this year. These payments are on top of the $4,000 or $4,500 per acre offered for installation. To encourage more tree planting, the new incentives include:
- A one-time bonus payment of $1,000 per acre to install forest buffers.
- Up to $330/acre/year to help cover costs associated with maintaining forest buffer viability and health for the first 5 years of the contract.
Eligible Lands
There are two ways that land can be eligible for the CBI program. Each application must meet one of these two categories to qualify.
Lands that have an established cropping history in pasture, commodity crops, hay or have been historically enrolled in a conservation program for at least one year out of the last five years, and are adjacent to watercourses2 or field ditches3 , are eligible to apply. Field ditches are not eligible to establish woody conservation buffers. Projects must be located on a farm as .”Project” means a project to prevent or control agriculturally related nonpoint source water pollution by establishing best management practices on a farm.
- Use best available resources to determine cropping history.
- Definitions for watercourses and field ditches are consistent with COMAR for nutrient management purposes.
- Field ditches are not eligible to establish woody conservation buffers
Alternatively, agricultural land without cropping history, adjacent to watercourses or field ditches may also apply, but must be designated as Highly Erodible Land (HEL) or hydric soils. The HEL determination will be based on FSA records and use available soils data to determine if hydric soils are at least 50% dominant in the buffer area.
- Highly Erodible Land (HEL) determination based on FSA records
- Hydric soils based on soils data (> 50% in buffer area)
Eligibility Criteria
- Once the land has been determined to be eligible there are still ways that the applicant can be denied. All farmers and landowners who are responsible for the management of eligible lands may apply. Farmers leasing lands must certify an active lease for the term of the buffer or provide an agreement from the landowner. Applicants who are ineligible to participate in USDA or MACS programs due to deceptive, non-conformance are also ineligible to participate in the MDA Conservation Buffer Initiative.
- Farmers and landowners must currently be in good standing with the MDA Nutrient Management Program, the MACS Program, and the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation Program, if applicable, to participate.
For more information, visit MDA.
