Texas Administrative Code › Title 31 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION › Part 17 - TEXAS STATE SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION BOARD › Chapter 523 - AGRICULTURAL AND SILVICULTURAL WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT › Section 523.6 - Cost-Share Incentive Funding for Soil and Water Conservation Land Improvement Measures

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Purpose. The
				purpose of cost-share funding is to provide an incentive to landowners or
				operators to install soil and water conservation land improvement measures
				consistent with the purpose of controlling erosion, conserving water, and/or
				protecting water quality in accordance with a water quality management plan
				certified by the State Board.
(b)
				Definitions. For the purposes of this section the following definitions shall
				apply.
(1) Allocated funds--Funds budgeted
				through the State Board either allocated directly to a specific soil and water
				conservation district or to a cost-share incentive priority for utilization by
				multiple soil and water conservation districts. For the purposes of the
				chapter, funds directly allocated to a specific soil and water conservation
				district shall be referred to as a direct allocation.
(2) Applicant--A person who applies for
				cost-share incentive funding from the soil and water conservation
				district.
(3) Available
				funds--Monies budgeted, unobligated and approved by the State Board for
				cost-share incentive funding.
(4)
				Conservation practice(s)--The conservation land improvement measure(s) approved
				by the State Board and applied to the land to control soil erosion or improve
				the quality and/or quantity of water.
(5) Cost-share incentive funding--An award of
				money made to an eligible person for conservation land improvement measures
				pursuant to the terms of Agriculture Code §
										201.301.
(6) Cost-share incentive priority--A
				geographic location such as a watershed, a soil and water conservation district
				or other political subdivision boundary, or a specific agricultural or
				silvicultural activity, or a combination thereof, that is adopted by the State
				Board as a specified priority for receiving an allocation of cost-share
				incentive funding. Cost-share incentive priorities must be consistent with the
				purpose of controlling erosion, conserving water, and/or protecting water
				quality.
(7) District director--A
				member of the governing board of a soil and water conservation
				district.
(8) Eligible land--Those
				lands that are eligible for application of conservation land improvement
				measures using cost-share incentive funding.
(9) Eligible person--Any of the land holders
				eligible to apply for cost-share incentive funding or any person designated to
				represent the applicant as provided by a durable power of attorney, court order
				or other valid legal document.
(10)
				Eligible practices--Those conservation land improvement measures that have been
				approved by the State Board.
(11)
				Landowner--Any person, firm or corporation holding title to land lying within a
				soil and water conservation district.
(12) Maintenance agreement--A written
				agreement between the eligible person and the soil and water conservation
				district wherein the eligible person(s) agrees to implement and maintain all
				conservation practices included in the water quality management plan in
				accordance with the implementation schedule, all technical requirements of the
				applicable practice standards, and specified life expectancies of practices
				until such time that the certification of the State Board is withdrawn. The
				maintenance agreement shall specify that any practices installed through the
				payment of cost-share incentive funding, to any extent, must be maintained in
				accordance with the applicable practice standards and specified life
				expectancies regardless of whether or not the water quality management plan
				continues to be certified or not. Failure to maintain cost-shared practices may
				result in the requirement for all or a prorated portion of the cost-share
				funding to be returned to the State Board. It is the expectation of the State
				Board that a water quality management plan be maintained by the landowner for
				an indefinite period of time.
(13)
				Obligated funds--Monies from a soil and water conservation district's allocated
				funds or from a cost-share incentive priority which have been committed to an
				applicant after final approval of the application.
(14) Operating Unit--Land or lands, whether
				contiguous or non-contiguous, owned and/or operated in a manner that
				contributes or has the potential to contribute agricultural or silvicultural
				nonpoint source pollution to water in the state. An operating unit must be
				determined through mutual agreement by the holder of the water quality
				management plan, the soil and water conservation district, and the State Board.
(A) Contiguous lands under the same ownership
				and/or operational control must be considered one operating unit.
(B) Non-contiguous lands under the same
				ownership and/or operational control may be considered as more than one
				operating unit when there is mutual agreement by the soil and water
				conservation district and the potential holder of the water quality management
				plan unless the lands are associated with an animal feeding
				operation.
(C) An operating unit,
				when devised for an animal feeding operation, must at a minimum encompass all
				land or lands owned and/or operated by the holder of the water quality
				management plan that are used to produce feed that is consumed by the animals,
				as well as all land or lands owned and/or operated by the potential holder of
				the water quality management plan where manures or other agricultural
				by-products are beneficially used as a source of nutrients to produce food or
				fiber for any use.
(D) Land or
				lands within the scope of an existing operating unit for certified water
				quality management plan may not be separated from the existing operating unit
				to establish another operating unit unless the ownership of the lands being
				separated into a new operating unit has changed.
(E) Where mutual agreement regarding an
				operating unit's consistency with this section is not achieved by the potential
				holder of the water quality management plan, the soil and water conservation
				district, and the State Board, the State Board will make a final determination
				whether or not to certify the water quality management plan.
(15) Performance agreement--A
				written agreement between the eligible person and the soil and water
				conservation district wherein the eligible person agrees to perform
				conservation land improvement measures for which allocated funds are being
				paid.
(16) Practice standard--A
				technical specification for a conservation practice within the NRCS FOTG that
				contains information on why and where the practice should be applied, and sets
				forth the minimum quality criteria that must be met during the application of
				that practice in order for it to achieve its intended purpose(s).
(17) Priority system--The system devised by
				the soil and water conservation district, under guidelines of the State Board,
				for ranking approved conservation practices and for facilitating the
				disbursement of allocated funds in line with the soil and water conservation
				district's priorities.
(18) Program
				year--The period from September 1 to August 31.
(19) Soil and water conservation district
				(SWCD)--A governmental subdivision of this state and a public body corporate
				and politic, organized pursuant to Chapter 201 of the Agriculture
				Code.
(20) State Board--The Texas
				State Soil and Water Conservation Board organized pursuant to Chapter 201 of
				the Agriculture Code.