Missouri Soil and Water Districts Commission grants statewide variance due to extended dry weather

JEFFERSON CITY, MO, JUNE 21, 2018 - The Missouri Soil and Water Districts Commission granted a statewide variance during its June 13 meeting due to the impacts of extended dry weather since last fall. The variance allows grazing until Sept. 1, 2018, in livestock-excluded areas that are under maintenance of a state cost-share contract.

The variance applies to the following practices:

DFR-5 - Woodland Protection Through Livestock Exclusion DWC-1 - Water Impoundment Reservoir N386 - Field Border N393 - Filter Strip N472 - Livestock Exclusion WQ10 - Stream Protection

Any seeding in the excluded area that is within the first year of establishment should be evaluated carefully to determine if it can withstand grazing.

Interested individuals should contact their local soil and water conservation district to find out more about grazing previously excluded areas in the above listed practices. To contact your local soil and water conservation district office, or to find out more information, visit https://dnr.mo.gov/env/swcp/service/index.html.

Soil and water conservation practices are funded by the Parks, Soils and Water Sales Tax. Since voters approved the tax more than 30 years ago, Missouri has prevented more than 182 million tons of soil from eroding, thus improving the state’s water quality and keeping farmland productive.

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