Funds available for Kootenai River restoration
January 28, 2013
Landowners in the Kootenai River Basin in Boundary County may be eligible for USDA cost-share funds to restore fish and wildlife habitat on their property. Boundary County is the focus of a special Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) initiative to provide funds through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.

Landowners along the Kootenai River or along major tributaries, such as Deep Creek, are priority applicants. The signup for this program runs through March 15, 2013.

This habitat restoration project in the Kootenai River Valley focuses on bank restoration, riparian planting, grazing management practices, and upland wildlife habitat improvements.

“Using funding authorized by the Farm Bill, NRCS can share in the cost that landowners face when they implement conservation practices on farms, ranches and working forests, that support a healthy ecosystem,” said Ree Brannon, NRCS District Conservationist in Bonners Ferry.

NRCS provides financial and technical assistance for conservation projects through the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative. Types of work include installing livestock fencing, creating buffers, stabilizing stream banks, restoring riparian plants along tributary streams, pasture and hay land planting, and weed control.

For more information or to apply to this project, please contact the Bonners Ferry NRCS office at (208) 267-3340, extension 102, or stop by the office, located at 6813 El Paso in Bonners Ferry.