USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service plans to commit up to $ 35 million over the next three years to help landowners conserve grasslands and wetlands in the Prairie Pothole region. That includes South Dakota and State Association of Conservation District’s President Frances Fritz says she’s glad to see a stepped up effort to encourage conservation practices with incentives.

Under the program ,producers gain access to a mix of technical and financial assistance to restore wetlands and grasslands and help mitigate a recent regional trend of conversion of these lands to crops. Fritz says having funding come from both the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and Carbon Credits through Ducks Unlimited and NRCS is also beneficial.

Fritz says this specific funding package comes at a good time when conservation already took a funding hit in the recently passed farm bill.