The assistance for water projects will be provided through the environmental quality incentives program.
The four areas targeting water quality and water conservation include Walker Creek portion of the Colusa-Glenn subwatershed in Glenn County, Lower Snake River in Sutter County, French Camp Slough Watersheds in San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties, and Eastern portion of the San Joaquin River watershed in Stanislaus and Merced counties.
NRCS California State Conservationist Ed Burton said, "All of the new project areas are being made possible through an NRCS national landscape conservation initiative that is helping the Agency to provide voluntary incentives to farmers and dairy producers to improve the Bay Delta ecosystem."
The works on irrigated cropland will include a mix of irrigation efficiency improvements including irrigation water management, vegetative filtering practices, nutrient management, pest management, cover crops, sediment basins and tail-water return systems.
The works on dairies will include structures and management to capture, store, measure and distribute manure nutrients in a safe and useful way.
The NRCS Bay Delta assistance also includes a focus area where landowners are enhancing waterbird habitat in six counties in the Sacramento Valley; a partnered opportunity between NRCS and DOI’s Bureau of Reclamation to combine irrigation infrastructure improvements with on-farm improvements in irrigation; and the opportunity to voluntarily enroll lands in the NRCS Wetlands Reserve Program.
