Invasive Species Control

Alabama USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides funding to producers for invasive species control.  This resource concern, designated by the NRCS State Conservationist, is funded by the 2008 Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP).

Invasive plants can be eliminated in many Alabama counties if action is taken now. This will result in greatly increasing the productivity of the land resources. This project has three main objectives:

1. Increase the overall awareness of the problem of the following targeted invasive species:
    

   kudzu cogongrass Chinese tallowtree

   Japanese climbing fern mutiflora, Cherokee, and macartney rose

2. Provide an incentive to landowners to control these invasive species on their lands and therefore protect the land resource and its productivity. 
    
3. Prevent the spread of invasive plants to non-infested lands.

Description

The project will provide incentive payments to landowners willing to control the targeted invasive species on their property. Incentive payments will be made to participating landowners for three years with contracts ranging from three to five years.

Landowners will be expected to treat invasive plant infested acres according to treatment plans developed with the assistance of technical experts. Payments will be based on actual treatment (infested) acres.

Guidelines

The following guidelines should be followed to determine applicant qualifications and administer this project.

1. Eligible lands are those infested with the targeted species.
2. Eligible landowners, producers, or operators are those which will have control of the eligible land for the period of the contract and meet other eligibility requirements of the EQIP.
3. Only infested (treatment) acres are eligible for the incentive payments. Acres will be rounded to the nearest one acre. Areas of 0.1 to one acre will be funded at the  one acre rate. A minimum of  one acre is required for participation in this project. Payments will be limited to a maximum of 50 infested (treatment) acres.
4. Payment will be 3 years of incentive payments based on the species being controlled.
5. The tract, field, or management area will be included in each contract and conservation plan. For example if an applicant has 10 acres of treatment area within a 40 acre tract which he manages as a unit, the contract and associated plan will include the 40 acre tract. The boundaries of the tract and the treatment areas will be shown on the contract plan map.
6. An initial treatment and follow-up treatments are required where needed. Contracts will be for a minimum of 3 years to a maximum of 5 years with a limit of 3 years of payments.
7. Land currently enrolled in CRP is not eligible for participation in this project.

Additional information

These documents require Adobe Acrobat.  All will open in a new window.

Cogongrass Information (all will open in a new window)

Alabama NRCS Cogongrass Brochure (8.5"x11") (PDF)
Alabama Cogongrass Job Sheet No: 595a (PDF)
Cogongrass (PDF, 214 KB)
Cogongrass: Wanted DEAD not Alive! (Auburn University)
Cogongrass National Park Service
Nonnative Invasive Plants of Southern Forests: A Field Guide for Identification and Control (Forest Service)
Identifying and Controlling Cogongrass in Georgia
Stop Cogongrass Hitchhikers (Alabama Cooperative Extension System)
Weeds in the Sunshine (University of Florida)

Cogongrass identification photos

Fact Sheets

*Chinese/European Privet  (PDF, 232 KB)
Japanese Climbing Fern  (PDF, 214 KB)
*Japanese Glossy Privet (PDF, 193 KB)
Kudzu (PDF, 205 KB)
Non-Native Roses (PDF, 211 KB)
Tallowtree (Popcorntree) (PDF, 205 KB)
*Tropical Soda Apple (216 KB)

(*for information only - not all species are funded under EQIP)

Posters for Field Offices to Print and Display  

8x11 (1.43 MB) 
11x17 (2.83 MB)

Contact the local Service Center for further guidelines and details of the program

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