Working Lands Programs
The North Dakota Natural Resources Trust offers several different cost-share programs in North Dakota that promote livestock grazing as a management tool for improving grasslands. If you are unsure which program may be right for your operation, please give our office a call or email one of our biologists listed under the program contact below. We would be happy to assist you. Our current working lands programs with available funding include:
Trust Programs
Working Grasslands Partnership (WGP)
The WGP provides landowners with voluntary options to help develop expiring CRP acres into a livestock grazing systems that will also benefit grassland birds.
Cost-share Practices: Fencing & Water Installation for grazing
Counties: Statewide
Contact: Terry Allbee, (701) 223-8501, terry@naturalresourcestrust.com
Grazing Resiliency in the Bakken (GRB)
GRB provides landowners and ranchers the opportunity to increase their water supplies to livestock and implement fencing for rotational grazing systems providing future drought resiliency.
Cost-share Practices: Fencing & Water Installation for grazing
Counties: Western ND - Adams, Billings, Bottineau, Bowman, Burke, Divide, Dunn, Grant, Golden Valley, Hettinger, Mercer, McHenry, McKenzie, McLean, Mountrail, Morton, Oliver, Renville, Sioux, Slope, Stark, Ward, & Williams
Contact: Eric Rosenquist, (701) 223-8501, eric@naturalresourcestrust.com
Wildlife and Livestock Dams Enhancement Project
WLD assists private landowners to create, enhance and restore wetland habitat in North Dakota for the benefit of wildlife populations and livestock production.
Cost-share Practices: Wetland creations, Wetland dam repairs & Wetland restorations
Counties: Statewide
Contact: Rick Warhurst, (701) 223-8501, rick@naturalresourcestrust.com
For landowners enrolled in NRCS EQIP practice 314 (brush management), you may qualify for an additional $100 per acre offset for juniper removal.
Cost-share Practices: Juniper Removal
Counties: McKenzie, Dunn, Billings, & Slope
Contact: Cara Greger, (320) 808-4897, cgreger.ndwf@gmail.com
The Trust and other partners are offering a Continuous CRP sign-up incentive payment to qualified landowners in select counties.
Qualified Practives include: CP23A, CP37 and CP38
Counties: Adams, Barnes, Grand Forks, Nelson & Sargent
Contact: Terry Allbee or Heather Husband, (701) 223-8501, terry@naturalresourcestrust.com & heather@naturalresourcestrust.com
Other Partner Programs
The Meadowlark Initiative website provides a comprehensive list of programs and practices available through private, state and federal conservation partners.
Meadowlark Initiative Programs
For one-on-one assistance, contact:
Heather Husband, Meadowlark Initiative Coordinator
(701) 223-8501, heather@naturalresourcestrust.com
Farm bill conservation programs are designed to provide voluntary options for farm and ranch producers to improve conservation on their property. Farm bill conservation programs, along with other farm bill provisions that influence land use and cropping patterns, provide the single biggest impact on the North Dakota landscape and have the largest influence on natural resources and wildlife populations of any governmental program. To learn more about available programs, here are the links to the USDA administering agencies:
- Conservation Reserve Program – CRP
- Grassland Reserve Program – GRP
Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS)
- Environmental Quality Incentive Program – EQIP
- Conservation Stewardship Program – CSP
- Water Bank Program - WBP
The Trust has a long history of working with landowners to preserve, restore, manage, and enhance grasslands and wetlands in North Dakota. The Trust is committed to working with landowners and partners on a variety of wetland and grassland projects across the state.
Past Trust Programs
Bakken Development and Working Lands Program (BDWLP)
Provided assistance with managed grazing infrastructure, grass seeding, cover crops and soil rehabilitation.