Good stewardship begins with good planning. The Stewardship Program promotes sound stewardship practices through planning and technical advice with the potential to apply for financial assistance for eligible landowners. Landowners are often faced with complex natural resource and economic issues when managing their property. Stewardship Plans address natural resource concerns by serving as guiding documents for land management that lasts for 10 years. These plans can then be used while applying for financial assistance and associated regulatory permits. For more information about the federal stewardship program, please visit the U.S. Forest Service's Forest Stewardship Program website.

Anyone with 2 or more acres on nonfederal land can have a Stewardship Plan. Stewardship Plans can accomplish a broad spectrum of management goals including restoration of watershed and riparian areas, habitat enhancement, invasive species removal, and port-wildfire rehabilitation. If you’re interested in creating a Stewardship plan, or if you need to update your existing one, NDF's collaborative team of foresters and land managing professionals are available to help. Please visit our Nevada Division of Forestry Stewardship Landowner Interest Form to fill out Nevada Division of Forestry Stewardship Landowner Interest Form (link). 

The planning process is a collaboration. Nevada Division of Forestry utilizes the The 9 Steps to Conservation Planning from the National Conservation Planning Partnership(link). The first part of the process is to identify the problems and opportunities of the landscape in accordance with the goals of the Forest, Rangeland, and Watershed Action Plan(link). Once those challenges and beneficial features have been documented NDF staff and landowners can outline the priority landowner objectives. The next step includes a site visit where NDF staff will meet with the landowner to tour the landscape and inventory the available resources. Following the site visit, NDF staff will analyze the resource data and formulate alternative options for land management. These alternatives presented are the plan. The landowner and NDF will evaluate the proposed plan for effectiveness and feasibility. The landowner will select their preferred plan alternatives and the plan will be signed and finalized. Please see Flow Chart Below for a visual representation of the Stewardship Planning Process.

Once you have your Stewardship Plan:  The landowner and NDF will evaluate any potential funding options based on the eligibility requirements. There are several funding options potentially available to meet the needs of each eligible landowner or organization. Many of the funding options require a match and are reimbursement only for funds.  Using the primary land management objectives outlined in your Stewardship Plan will help determine the best grant options available. Some options include:

• Landscape Scale Restoration  Funding Program
• Conservation Education Funding
• Natural Resource Conservation Service EQUIP
• Natural Resource Conservation Service  CSP
• Urban and Community Forestry Grants
• Nevada Sagebrush Ecosystem Program

To see all other funding options through Nevada Division of Forestry and our Collaborators follow this link.

The plan is implemented. NDF and the landowner will oversee project implementation and follow up with evaluating the project successes and challenges. They will then discuss any modifications and update the plan as necessary. The plan will be active for 10 years and require a thorough update at the end of the 10 years.

The right tools for the job are important. Nevada Division of Forestry offers several different resources and Some of the tools available for use from Nevada Division of Forestry include:

• Prescribed Fire
• Conservation Camps
• Sagebrush Ecosystem Conservation
• Biomass and Forest Products
• Aviation Resources
• Nursery Services
• Seedbank
• Wildfire Rehabilitation and Restoration
• Permitting

Join Our Email List. Starting in 2025, the Nevada Division of Forestry's Stewardship Program will be sending out a monthly email discussing the available funding opportunities and upcoming news from the Division. To join please send an email to ndfstewardship@forestry.nv.gov detailing your name and the email address to be enrolled.

Non-Discrimination Statement. In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs). To file a complaint of discrimination: write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.