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Please provide your input by clicking the link below and completing our Local Work Group Survey
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Local work group meetings are held a minimum of once per year, in person and are open to the public. However, we welcome input from community stakeholders year-round.
What is a Local Work Group? A Local Work Group (LWG) in Arkansas is a sub-committee of the State Technical Committee that provides recommendations on local and state natural resource priorities and criteria for conservation activities and programs. Who is the Local Work Group? A mix of resource professionals, local landowners, crop and livestock producers, and other interest or business groups that gather to provide information, analysis, and recommendations to USDA officials in charge of implementing conservation in your County. What is a Natural Resource Concern? A natural resource concern is an expected degradation of the soil, water, air, plants and trees, or animal resource base to an extent the sustainability or intended use of the resource is impaired. In Laymen's terms: What challenges or concerns are your experiencing or have noticed as it relates to conservation efforts on your property or in the community? Examples of natural resource concerns: Wind erosion, concentration of salts and other chemicals, seasonal high-water table and other chemicals, nutrients transported to ground water, emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHGs), plant productivity and health, plant structure and composition, feed and forage imbalance, inadequate livestock water quantity, quality and distribution What is the Purpose of Local Work Groups? LWGs provide recommendations to USDA-NRCS on the local and state natural resource priorities and criteria for conservation activities and programs. Your local natural resource priorities may become State priorities (for example – a local priority might be that Stakeholders are concerned that cost-share rates are too low and this could cause the State to evaluate and increase the cost-share rates for practices statewide.) Local Work Group funds are a portion of Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) funds that are allocated to each District specifically for their local natural resource concerns. The District and/or Boards utilize the input from the Local Work Group meeting to allocate those funds to designated practices relevant to your county. Another important aspect of LWGs is identifying educational and training needs of Stakeholders. | ||||
406 W. Wade Avenue, Suite 2
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