Funding offered to promote pines
People who own forestland in a part of western Arkansas can apply through May 3 for financial assistance to improve forest health, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service announced this week.
The announcement builds on a partnership that began in 2014 between the Conservation Service and the U.S. Forest Service.
The project lasts through 2021 and focuses on enhancing shortleaf pine tree forest ecosystems in western Arkansas and southeast Oklahoma, according to the announcement.
The agencies have tried to promote shortleaf pine trees, which are native to Arkansas and the southeast United States but have largely been replaced by loblolly pine trees that the agencies argue can be problematic for forest health.
Eligible areas include private lands within 10 miles of the Ouachita or Ozark-St. Francis national forests in Arkansas and private lands within each hydrologic unit code -- the federal codes for every watershed -- of surface drinking water supplies in counties within the national forests.
People can apply by visiting their local Natural Resources Conservation Service office, which are listed at nrcs.usda.gov.
Grants available for conservation
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service is offering about $300,000 to Arkansas landowners who plan to use "innovative conservation approaches and technologies," the agency has announced.
The funds come from the Conservation Innovation Grants program, part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program often used by farmers.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service will consider grant proposals that address "nutrient and sediment reduction in impaired watersheds; high tunnels; organic; irrigation; soil health; and adoption of cover crops in rice rotations," the announcement said.
Applicants can propose single-year or multiyear projects that last no more than three years.
The maximum grant award is $75,000, and the maximum proportion of a conservation project that will be covered is 50 percent. Applicants must have a nonfederal funding match to win a grant.
Applications must be submitted by 5 p.m. May 31 through www.grants.gov or by email at AR-Programs@usda.gov. Applications by mail will not be accepted.
Few threats seen to Arkansas snail
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will not designate an Arkansas snail for protection because no threats to the species rise to the level of challenging the species' viability, the agency announced this week.
The Arkansas mudalia lives in rivers within the White River watershed in Arkansas and Missouri, according to the agency.
The construction of two dams in the mid-20th century -- Norfork Dam and Bull Shoals Dam -- "likely inundated a large portion of the mudalia's original habitat and drastically changed the habitat downstream of both dams," the agency's announcement said.
But while habitat loss and degradation remain threats to the snail, "there is no known evidence of these threats currently acting on the snail's continued viability," the agency wrote.
The Arkansas mudalia is a small, round snail with a mottled orange shell. It typically grows to no larger than a half-inch. According to the Fish and Wildlife Service's review published on the Federal Register, the snail likely lives for two years and reproduces once in its lifetime.
The Fish and Wildlife Service's decision follows a review that the agency determined was necessary back in 2011. At that time, the agency found that the 2010 petition by the Center for Biological Diversity and others "presented substantial information indicating the Arkansas mudalia may warrant listing."
In its subsequent review, the agency found that the snail remains in 13 of its 19 historical habitats across five tributaries to the White River, and that several new populations have been discovered outside the historical range since 2005. Four of those new populations are on U.S. Forest Service land, "where pressures from habitat modification and degradation are minimal."
Metro on 04/09/2019