OSCIA waits for go-ahead on species at risk incentive program for 2014

Friday, May 9, 2014

by SUSAN MANN

An Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association representative says he remains optimistic the federal and provincial governments that funded the Species at Risk Farm Incentive program in previous years will fund a similar program this year.

Association operations director Andy Graham says “details are not worked out yet.” But “it’s not uncommon to find ourselves in this position in May. The good news is we are in discussions and we’re optimistic something’s going to come together that will build on the success of the previous programs.”

Graham adds it’s too early “for us to say with any kind of certainty what the program’s going to look like.” In addition, he couldn’t say when decisions will be made.

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Canada funded the previous programs.

The 2013 program “offered very appealing” cost-shared funding for farmers doing certain types of best management practices projects, he says. “The way the program did work is if the producer could provide documentation that supported their proposed practice then it effectively elevated the potential cost share that was available to them.”

The Species at Risk Farm incentive program has been available for the past six years but the program’s design has evolved. “We’ve been very pleased with how the farm community has rallied behind the opportunities associated with the Species at Risk Farm Incentive program,” he says.

In other species at risk news, the natural resources ministry has posted a proposal on the Environmental Registry to add five species at risk to the Endangered Species Act. They are: the eastern sand darter (a fish), Hine’s emerald (a dragonfly), Hungerford’s crawling water beetle, Pitcher’s thistle, and wavy-rayed lampmussel. Adding the species to the Act would prohibit people from damaging or destroying their habitats. People have until June 16 to comment on the proposal.

The natural resources ministry says in its information posted on its website about some of the species, such as the eastern sand darter and the wavy-rayed lampmussel, that farmers and landowners can help improve fish habitat and keep Ontario’s water safe and clean by maintaining natural vegetation next to creeks and rivers and keeping pollution and soil from washing into the province’s rivers and streams. The ministry advises farmers to fence off streamside areas to keep cattle and their manure out of the water.

Farmers might be eligible for funding assistance to do projects that help protect habitats from the Ontario soil and crop association program, the ministry says. BF