The Hominy Creek Project has several cost-share opportunities available to landowners in the watershed. The practices are designed to help you improve the production of your land. Following is a brief summary of the practices that are most commonly used:

Permanent Vegetative Cover Establishment

If you have a field, or fields that currently don't have an adequate stand of grass on them, you can get assistance to establish either grass or a grass legume mixture. Cost-Share will pay up to 75% of the cost of establishment, including the cost of seedbed preparation, seed, lime and fertilizer necessary for establishment.

Permanent Vegetative Cover Enhancement

If you have pasture fields you would like to add legumes to, you can get cost-share assistance to add legumes. This assistance will cover up to 75% of the cost of the no-till drill, seed, and the lime and fertilizer necessary to add legumes to your pastures. You can receive assistance for up to 160 acres.

Planned Grazing Systems

If you are interested in improving your pasture management, you can receive cost-share assistance for interior crossfencing, providing additional livestock water sources, and establishing warm season grass pastures. Just about any type of cross fence is cost-shareable from a single strand electric fence to a four strand barb-wire fence. Water sources such as pipelines and tanks (both permanent and temporary), and ponds can be cost-shared.

Permanent Vegetative cover—Critical Areas

If you have gullies or other eroded areas on your land you would like to fix, you can receive cost-share assistance to do this also. Cost-share is available for earthmoving, lime, fertilizer, seed, seedbed preparation and mulching. If the gully problem is severe enough, you could also receive cost-share to build a pond to solve the erosion problem.

And—

• Forest Improvement
• Woodland/Stream Protection Through Livestock Exclusion
• Plugging Abandoned Wells Sinkhole Improvement
• Alternative Watering Systems to provide an alternative watering source for livestock
• Woody Vegetation Control Woody Edge Enhancement
• Fescue Conversion (Herbaceous Vegetation Control)
• Reinforced Stream Crossing to cover cost of installing a stream crossing
• CRP (CP-22, CP-29) - Conservation Reserve Program for Streamside Protection.
• WHIP - Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program for landowners with wildlife concerns.

All practices that you receive cost-share assistance with must be maintained for a certain minimum time period. The Vegetative Practice is five years, all other practices are ten years.

As you can see, owning land in the Bear Creek area provides you with unique opportunities to improve your land. If you are interested or have other questions, please call us at the Bolivar Office.