New Jersey Audubon Offers Small Grants for Natural Resource Conservation on Farms

GOSHEN –New Jersey Audubon (NJA) has created a small grants program focusing on soil and water conservation within four main focal areas in southern New Jersey. Farmers and producers of the Greater Hammonton area, Maurice and Upper Cohansey Rivers, Upper Salem River area, and the western Cape May Peninsula are eligible to receive funding for projects addressing resource concerns on their property. This small grants program is supported by the William Penn Foundation and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and has the goal of protecting and conserving the region’s chief source of freshwater, the Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer.
The Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer supplies 35 billion gallons of clean water to South Jersey residents annually.  The aquifer spans a third of the state and underlies part of every county in South Jersey, with 65 percent of water consumed going to the public water supply and much of the remainder to agricultural irrigation. NJA has been working with partners to conserve this essential resource through advocating the use of agricultural best management practices on private lands, and providing monetary incentives to apply these practices on the ground. 
“The goal behind this grant program is stewardship of the resources, which many farmers believe in very strongly,” said Jean Lynch, Stewardship Project Director at New Jersey Audubon. “But farms are also businesses, and when a business changes the way it operates, it has to consider the costs as well. By offering some financial assistance we can help producers carry out good conservation practices for the benefit of the farm, the local soil and water resources, people, and wildlife.”
When combined with technical and financial assistance programs from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), NJA’s grants offset the costs associated with a number of practices that build or preserve soil health, conserve water, and protect water quality.
A large amount of irrigation water is often lost to runoff, wind, and evaporation. By simply updating an irrigation system, a farm can bring its irrigation water use efficiency from 55 percent up to 85 percent. Farmers can employ irrigation water management by using special sensors to detect soil moisture levels to support more targeted water delivery, further conserving water resources. A new irrigation system’s fuel efficiency is often much better than the old system, leading to significant cost savings on fuel as well.
NJA also offers funding for riparian buffers to separate cropland from wetlands. Native grasses, shrubs, and trees intercept runoff from crop fields, removing sediment and chemicals that would otherwise enter streams and rivers. This practice can prevent pollution and provide shade, shelter, food, and other benefits to wildlife. 
In addition, NJA provides a dollar amount per acre for practices such as grassed waterways and diversions that redirect pooling on agricultural land; cover crops that suppress weeds and build nutrients in the soil; and reduced till practices that allow organic material to build up within the soil.  These practices, and many others, can all be employed to protect soil and water resources on a property while creating suitable wildlife habitat.
In the first year of this small-grant program, NJA has contracted practices on more than 800 acres of land. Funding is available through 2017, and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis to qualified applicants.
For more information or to apply for the small grants program, please contact Brittany Dobrzynski at brittany.dobrzynski@njaudubon.org or 609-861-1608 ext. 31.