12/07/05 WHIP deadline approaching

12/07/05 WHIP deadline approaching

Washington Ag December 7, 2005 Landowners interested in developing or improving wildlife habitat in Washington have until December 30th to apply for cost-share assistance through USDA's Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program or WHIP. The program administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service provides technical assistance and financial assistance to non-federal landowners and tribes. Dave Brown, assistant State Conservationist for Programs with the Washington NRCS, says the emphasis is on creating permanent wildlife habitat. Brown: "Tree and shrub plantings are a major tool that we use to do that. Providing wildlife watering sources. We can get into some small scale wetland projects with our WHIP program. It varies depending upon where you are at in the state." If you are interested just visit your local NRCS office and fill out an application. Brown: "No big deal there. From there they will work with one of our local conservationists to evaluate their property and what kind of wildlife habitat issues they might want to address with our program." The WHIP application deadline again is December 30th. I'm Bob Hoff.
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