Environmental Quality Incentives Program
(EQIP)
The Program
The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is
a voluntary conservation program that provides technical, fi-
nancial, and educational assistance to farmers and ranchers. It’s
a tool that addresses significant natural resource concerns while
implementing conservation practices such as:
Stockwater development
Irrigation delivery and system improvements
Tree and shrub plantings
Grass seeding
Related management practices such as prescribed graz-
ing, irrigation water management, and wildlife habitat
management
The Assistance
EQIP activities are carried out according to an EQIP plan
of operation developed in conjunction with the producer.
Contracts for confined livestock feeding operations require
the development and implementation of a comprehensive
nutrient management plan.
EQIP offers contracts with a minimum term of one year
after implementation of the last scheduled practice and
maximum term of ten years. NRCS pays up to 75 percent of
the cost of certain conservation practices important to
improving and maintaining the health of natural resources in
the area.
Total cost-share and incentive payments are limited to
$450,000 per individual over the period of the 2002 Farm Bill.
2003 ANNUAL REPORT–COLORADO
The Treherns implemented prescribed
grazing in 1999, about a year and a half
before the drought hit the Trehern Ranch
south of Pritchett, Colorado. They credit
NRCS field office staff with helping them
understand their pasture’s potential. The
Treherns have installed an underground
pipeline and a watering tank with cost-
share funds from the NRCS Environmental
Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).
Because of their prescribed grazing
system, they also qualified for EQIP
drought assistance funding last year.
Ranchers Larry and Jeff Trehern with Joel Moffett, NRCS soil conservationist.
EQIP Funding Allocations
EQIP funds are distributed within Colorado’s 10
watershed areas. These watersheds areas are identified at
the local level and are re