Project Search
Since its inception in 2004, CIG has funded hundreds of projects, boosting natural resource conservation while helping producers improve the health of their operations for the future. Use this tool to search for CIG projects based on any of the criteria listed below.
CIG projects from 2004-2009 may be missing information in the following categories: Resource Concern (specific), Conservation Practice, Production/Use.
Showing 1521 - 1530 of 1764 projects
Colorado State University/ Agricultural Experimental Station
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CO
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2006
The purpose of this award is for the grantee to create a comprehensive best management practices plan for reduction of ammonia emissions for cattle producers. Colorado State University will address a serious gap between researchers and agricultural producers when it comes to getting experimental results into practice. Some information is available in an accessible format, but little to none is available about ammonia, a gas that is getting major attention as of late due to its detrimental health and environmental effects. This project will create a comprehensive best management practices (BMP) plan for reduction of ammonia emissions for cattle producers. The plan will include ammonia reduction practices for every aspect of the operation including nutrition, barn and pen mitigation, waste management and processing, and land application. The is project will entail a comprehensive review of current literature will be conducted to evaluate current ammonia BMPs, testing of the most promising BMPs on-farm to evaluate their relative effectiveness, and a detailed survey of cattle producers to monitor current and future ammonia BMPs, with emphasis on feasibility, constraints, and cost leading to the compilation of an ammonia handbook highlighting BMPs with highest efficacy and lowest cost.
The Regents of the University of California
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CA
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2006
The University of California will manage codling moth populations in walnuts by pheromone mating disruption using aerosol puffers and validate pheromone application technology required for control of codling moth with an emphasis on "area-wide" control over multiple years. Aerosol puffers will be used to treat up to 2 acres each, and only have to be applied once per season, supplemented with an insecticide in the first year. In subsequent years supplemental sprays will be decreased or eliminated based on monitoring traps and canopy counts. This project will assist with and demonstrate the use of monitoring for CM damage for growers who are interested in implementation of pheromone mating disruption.
Marin Resource Conservation District
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CA
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2006
The project will demonstrate improvement in the effectiveness of on-farm composting for low pathogen dairy bedding production through co-composting with bulking agents derived from the local waste stream. The Marin Resource Conservation District will address the pressing need for an alternative to sand as a bedding material for Marin dairies. This pilot project will provide livestock producers and, equestrian facilities with a tool to help meet Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) standards and establish a much needed community composting facility and green waste drop off site to address the need for environmentally sound fire fuel and landscape debris disposition in West Marin.
Palmer Soil & Water Conservation District
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AL
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2006
Conservation tillage and/or crop rotation strategies have never been thoroughly evaluated or implemented to any degree in Southcentral Alaska. The project will utilize various implements and pieces of machinery that have not been nor are currently available in Alaska. Alaska’s growing season is very different from those in the lower 48 states, for which the current tillage, crop rotation, and residue practice guidelines are written. This project will innovate Alaskan-specific practice guidelines directly in collaboration with the agricultural producers who so desperately require them.
Meagher County Conservation District
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MT
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2006
Meagher County Conservation District will investigate the hydrology of the Upper Smith River Watershed and identify irrigation and droughts influence on the stream flow of the Smith River, so that informed decisions and plans of action can be made. Surface and ground water flowing in and out of the Smith River Watershed will be measured and tracked utilizing temperature as a natural tracer. Utilizing temperature, in conjunction with water level gradients, to determine the flow pattern and interaction between the ground water and surface water systems is a new and innovative technique that would allow hydrologic systems to be investigated at a greatly reduced cost to the present techniques in use.
West Virginia University
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WV
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2006
The beneficial attributes of bio-control agents like goats and sheep have not been well understood in West Virginia. West Virginia University proposes a three-year project to evaluate the usefulness of goat and sheep as bio-control agents to implement prescribed grazing protocols for the utilization and management of invasive plant species. An educational workshop will be included as a part of this project to teach farmers methods to incorporate sheep and goats into a multi-species grazing system. We will then facilitate and demonstrate a cost share program with 30 selected farmers for a prescribed grazing system to improve brush management in the Potomac Valley Soil Conservation district. An effective marketing pool for the sale of the goat and sheep produce will be developed to orient future distribution patterns. Finally, an economic analysis will be carried out to determine the economic differences between bio-control and traditional chemical and mechanical control methods.
Watershed Agriculture Council
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NY
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2006
Animal waste is one of the main management challenges for dairy farms of all sizes. The identification of increasingly comprehensive manure management systems may result in benefits for agricultural producers and their advisors alike. One such manure management system in limited use is a bedded pack. A bedded pack utilizes a dry bedding material such as straw, hay or wood shavings creating an area for the feeding, watering and storage of livestock and their waste materials. Reports on farms using bedded packs have not focused on the actual impact on the farmer once this management system is adopted. In this project a comprehensive investigation of the producer-based experience of managing a bedded pack system will be performed. The experiences of those advising producers will be evaluated to determine if this system provides a better conservation alternative to more traditional, capital-intensive projects. The technical and operational outcomes will be disseminated to relevant audiences through field demonstrations of the system, presentations on project methodology and published results of the evaluation.
Compost Bedded Pack Barn - An Environmentally Friendly Combination of Waste Storage & Animal Housing
Robert Boldt/ We Gotta Farm
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NY
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2006
The purpose of this award is for the grantee to construct two compost bedded pack barns, an environmentally friendly combination of waste storage and animal housing for use by dairy cows. The compost bedded pack system seeks to exploit the benefits of storage, nutrient retention, application timing while minimizing or eliminating odor, spills, etc. This system will eliminate liquid manure storage, its costs and hazards. Seventy-five to eighty percent of daily manure production is captures on the pack itself. Therefore housing and manure storage are one unit. Since the bedded pack is part and parcel of the barn it is roofed. The texture of the compost when it is spread is much like damp potting soil. This is stable product that will have no runoff as would liquid.
Wisconsin Family Forests, Inc
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WI
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2006
Wisconsin Family Forests, Inc. will define and pilot a multi-owner planning and management program for landscape-level, sustainable management on fragmented, family forestland; develop a business plan that identifies a realistic mix of public funding and participant fees that will encourage long-term survival and growth of sponsors that host the program; and evaluate the project as a statutory program for countering forest fragmentation, improving forest health and generating certified forest products.
Efforts will focus on the three pilots in the first phase. Two are being administered by Wisconsin Family Forests in the Baraboo Bluffs and Door County. A third is located in the central sands area (near Wisconsin Rapids) as part of the Stora Enso Family Forest landowner assistance program. The initial phase includes establishing the operational elements of the sustainable forestry plans and coordinated harvests, developing an effective marketing strategy, recruiting participants, providing them with management assistance, developing a tracking system, etc. The second phase (concurrent with follow through on the pilots) will be to shape future public policy toward family forest management in Wisconsin, thus institutionalizing multi-owner forest management. We will collect data on results from the three pilots, write and present reports to evaluate the project, complete the scoping assessment and organize public forums to discuss the projects future potential.
Efforts will focus on the three pilots in the first phase. Two are being administered by Wisconsin Family Forests in the Baraboo Bluffs and Door County. A third is located in the central sands area (near Wisconsin Rapids) as part of the Stora Enso Family Forest landowner assistance program. The initial phase includes establishing the operational elements of the sustainable forestry plans and coordinated harvests, developing an effective marketing strategy, recruiting participants, providing them with management assistance, developing a tracking system, etc. The second phase (concurrent with follow through on the pilots) will be to shape future public policy toward family forest management in Wisconsin, thus institutionalizing multi-owner forest management. We will collect data on results from the three pilots, write and present reports to evaluate the project, complete the scoping assessment and organize public forums to discuss the projects future potential.
The Curators of the University of Missouri
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MT
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2006
The University of Missouri will demonstrate the profitability of utilizing soil and water conservation techniques on farms to improve pastures. At the University of Missouri Bradford Research and Extension Center a series of demonstrations will be set up that feature techniques that incorporate soil and water conservation that promote wildlife diversity. These demonstrations will be part of a larger management plan for the entire research center that includes management of native warm season grasses and native forbs for conservation and wildlife. A key feature for these demonstrations is that copy yield and economics will be determined for each of the techniques. Changes in bird numbers from these techniques will be determined from monthly bird counts by the local Audubon Society.