Many restoration and stewardship practices are not implemented by farmers and ranchers because the process of obtaining the required permits is onerous.  This problem is especially frustrating when these conservation practices, if implemented, could produce important environmental improvements that complement the missions of the regulatory agencies.  For example, erosion control and stream bank stabilization projects can conserve soil and provide water-quality and habitat benefits. 

            The Partners In Restoration (PIR) Permit Coordination Program works to develop watershed-wide permits for specific conservation and erosion control practices implemented by land managers working in cooperation with the local NRCS and RCD.  When specific practices are permitted this way, it eliminates the need for project-by-project regulatory review while still ensuring regulatory compliance.

Sustainable Conservation, U.S.D.A. - Natural Resources Conservation Service, Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs), and State, Federal and Local Regulators

            The first PIR Permit Coordination Program was piloted in the Elkhorn Slough watershed in Monterey County in 1998.  With assistance from Sustainable Conservation, a nonprofit environmental group, the local NRCS and RCD obtained permits from seven regulatory agencies covering ten conservation practices that have the potential to produce a net environmental benefit.  The practices covered by the Elkhorn permits are:  critical area planting, diversion, filter strip, grade stabilization structure, sediment basins, grassed waterway, stream bank protection, stream channel stabilization, underground outlets, and water and sediment control basin.  As a result of the permit program, Elkhorn area cooperators are implementing a greater number of projects to enhance streams and wetlands than they had before.  More than 1.5 miles of streams have been enhanced, and at least 21,000 tons of sediment have been prevented from entering local wetlands.   Since then Sustainable Conservation, the NRCS, and local RCDs have replicated the process in five coastal watersheds.